2016 Fiscal Year Research-status Report
The Longitudinal Learning Effects on Engineering Students in an English Project-Based Learning Curriculum: An Inter-Faculty and Business Community-Designed Program at a Japanese National University
| Project/Area Number |
15K16793
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| Research Institution | University of Fukui |
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Principal Investigator |
ヘネシー クリストファー 福井大学, 学術研究院教育・人文社会系部門(総合グローバル), 助教 (50727732)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
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| Keywords | project-based learning / 第二言語習得 / collaborative learning / STEM education / ESL / EFL |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
For FY2016, the researcher and cohort implemented a revised version of this PBL curriculum from FY2016 October to February based on analysis of different qualitative sets from the first two iterations of this PBL curriculum (conducted in FY2014 April-August and FY2015 October-February). Data analysis using grounded theory research methods (Thornberg & Charmez, 2014; Holton & Walsh, 2017) were utilized to inform revisions in the course and as the primary research methods in documenting and analyzing the longitudinal research scheme. The research analysis based on student class journals and questionnaires specifically prepared for this project in FY2016 indicate the revisions made were positive, particularly with regard to English vocabulary development, presentation skills, and improved in-class time management.
Themes suggested a year ago at the end of FY2015, including improvement in professional English ability as well as presentation, research, collaborative, critical thinking, and time management skills continue to be prevalent in the current research analysis. With these themes in mind, the researcher has developed a scaffolding structure for PBL course design which was utilized in implementation of the FY2016 implementation of this curriculum, and will be written about in a research paper currently being written for FY2017.
For dissemination of current research results, the researcher and cohort presented at two domestic conferences and one international conference, as well as published a research paper in a peer-reviewed university bulletin during FY2016.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
2: Research has progressed on the whole more than it was originally planned.
Reason
The research by in large is going according to the initial research proposal. Some variation in data collection methods has occurred due to new discovery in the data and also in research methods.
Specifically, data from weekly reflective journals has been documented with no issues. Interviews with professors related to the course were conducted with no issues. Interviews with course participants was delayed, though, primarily because the researcher needed to investigate the emerging themes more to develop an interview protocol for implementation, as well as the logistic difficulties with conducting such interviews. Yearly questionnaires are being conducted with all participants from each iteration, however, some participants have been difficult to contact, resulting in some non-participation at this level of the research. Still, each iteration of the course has over 70% participation rate for questionnaires currently, and 100% participation rate for weekly reflective journals.
As for the overall research, distinct themes associated with the longitudinal effects of participating in an engineering PBL curriculum for English-language acquisition have emerged and are being solidified in the new data from different implementations of the course with new participants. These new data sets are informing the research and collaborator in the creation of an interview protocol to be conducted with a certain set of participants to obtain even richer qualitative data for FY2017.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
In FY2017, the researcher plans follow the timeline set out in the original proposal. Specifically, further collection of data through questionnaires, as well as semi-structured interviews on 12 students, four from each iteration of the PBL curriculum, with an interview protocol developed on the themes that have been identified from the current data (weekly journals and questionnaires). Interview participants were chosen based on their gender and major to allow as much rich data as possible. The longitudinal data collected from these various sources (questionnaires, weekly journals, and semi-structured interviews) will allow for a deep, triangulation-based analysis, which will inform the researcher and research collaborator for their three planned presentations (one domestic, two international) and one research paper.
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| Causes of Carryover |
The researcher was accepted for presenting at the Singapore RELC 2017 Conference in March FY2016, but due to scheduling conflicts, ultimately could not attend. Also, the costs for travelling to Cambodia for CamTESOL were significantly less than expected.
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| Expenditure Plan for Carryover Budget |
The researcher hopes to attend a different international conference in lieu of the one missed in March FY2016. Also, with the large increase in the amount of data to analyze collected from the long research interviews described above, the researcher will purchase a new computer as the research collaborator will be much more involved in the analysis of this data, and a computer will be crucial for participation in this analysis. Finally, the researcher will apportion some budget for the transcription of interviews described above for FY2017. These interviews will provide an important set of data for analysis into the participants' longitudinal perceptions of project-based learning in an English environment -- a crucial component to this research.
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