Students’ Perception on the Teacher’s Orientation, Mentoring and Ongoing Support in Project-Based Learning: A Case Study in Vietnam

Abstract

Project-Based Learning (PBL) has for long been an effective approach in education. It is widely incorporated in various educational contexts. While great emphasis has been put on its positive influences on students’ learning, teachers and students’ perspectives of the approach, and challenges in the process of implementing the approach in various contexts, interest in how students think of the teacher’s contribution remains fairly limited. The current study, therefore, is an effort to fill the gap by placing its focus on students’ perception on the teacher’s orientation, mentoring and ongoing support in Project-Based Learning in a Vietnamese context. Participants in the study are 174 freshmen coming from 4 seperated classes in the same course named Presentation skills in two different school years in Faculty of English Linguistics and Literature, University of Social Sciences and Humanities- Vietnam National University, HCMC, Vietnam. Data is systematically collected from a web-based questionnaire and students’ end-of-course reports in 2018 and early 2019. The results of the study reveal that the majority of the students highly appreciate and benefit from the teacher’s orientation, mentoring and ongoing support in PBL. Suggestions from the participants in the study are also noted as good references for the teacher’s upcoming teaching stratergies. The study contributes to the current understanding of PBL in education and provides solid support for further exploitation of other aspects of the approach in Asian contexts.