A Study Of The Influence Of Project-Based Learning On Key Competencies In English Subject Of Junior High School Students

With the continuous reform of English teaching and learning,key competencies in English subject have gradually become a hot spot for educational research.As stated in the China New English Curriculum Standards,the English curriculum needs to achieve its important goal of cultivating students’ key competencies in English subject.Project-based learning,as a new teaching model that emphasizes student-centered teaching,has attracted the attention of Chinese academics in recent years.However,few scholars have explored the impact of project-based learning on students’ key competencies in English subject,especially the role of project-based learning in junior high school students’ key competencies in English subject.This study takes this niche to study the effects of project-based learning on junior high school students’ key competencies in English subject.The study takes junior high school students as the research subjects,project-based learning as the independent variable,and junior high school students’ key competencies in English subject as the dependent variable,aiming to figure out the following three research questions:1.What influences does PBL have on the junior high school students’ language learning ability of key competencies in English subject?2.What influences does PBL have on the junior high school students’ language competency,cultural awareness,and thinking quality of key competencies in English subject?3.How do the teacher and students view PBL?In this study,89 eighth-grade students from class 2015 and class 2016 of M High School in Changsha,Hunan Province were invited,with class 2016 as the experimental class and class 2015 as the control class.The same pedagogical knowledge was taught to the experimental and control classes,with the experimental class using the project-based learning method and the control class using the traditional teaching method in the form of the 3P model.Before the teaching experiment,participants finished the adapted SILL(pre-survey)and an English test(pre-test).After the experiment,adapted SILL(post-survey),an English test(post-test),a summation questionnaire,and interviews were completed by the participants.By utilizing SPSS to analyze the collected data,the author concludes the following findings:1.The project-based learning can effectively enhance students’ overall language learning ability,including a significant enhancement of abilities in utilizing memory strategies,cognitive strategies,compensation strategies,affective strategies,and social strategies,but no significant enhancement in abilities in utilizing meta-cognitive strategies.2.The project-based learning can improve students’ language competency but not significantly,while students’ cultural awareness and thinking quality can be improved quite evidently by PBL teaching experiment.3.The teacher and students are generally supportive of project-based learning and are willing to continue to participate in project-based learning activities.The study confirms that project-based learning is conducive to junior high students’ development in key competencies in English subject.The findings of this study can provide pedagogical insights for junior high school English education,contribute to the promotion of junior high school students’ development of key competencies in English subject,and provide new ideas for the research of key competencies in English subject and project-based learning.