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Project Based Instruction:

An opportunity to develop learners autonomy
Abstract
The aim of this article is to propose Project Based Instruction and Learning as an
approach to develop learners autonomy in the language classroom. We share an
ICT tool which aim is to encourage young students to work with projects, in order
to use language in real situations and become aware of current issues around the
world. Project Based Instruction focuses on a specific form of work that promotes
independent work, reflective thinking and self-evaluation. The name of the Web
page proposed is Taking IT Global, and its mission is to empower youth to
understand and act on the world's greatest challenges.
Key words
Project Based Instruction, Language Instruction, Autonomy, Self-evaluation,
Teenagers, ICT tools.
Introduction
Nowadays it is believed that teenagers must learn how to be responsible for their
own learning, capable of planning, thinking critically, and managing their own
learning process. But how do we promote that? Benson states that in order to
foster autonomy in the classroom, teachers need to provide learners with the
opportunity to make significant choices and decisions about their learning. They
also need to help them develop abilities that will allow learners to make these
choices and decisions in an informed way. (Benson, 2001)
Benson (2001) states that English language instruction should encourage learner
autonomy while building a sense of self-esteem, as well as cultural identity. In
addition, effective instruction must incorporate different learning styles and multiple
intelligences. Then, how can we include all these concepts to our language
lessons?
According to recent theories on language teaching, some aspects that teachers
might consider, are: recognizing the importance of learner autonomy for teenagers
in the language learning process, developing activities that are effective for

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teaching English while also building teenagers self-esteem and cultural identity,
self-assessing their own learning styles and intelligences and becoming skilled at
incorporating a variety of themes in English Language Instruction; creating a more
learner centered English class by focusing on the particular needs of teenagers;
being actively involved in the students learning, providing a range of learning
options and resources, offering choices and decision making opportunities,
supporting the learners and encouraging reflection.

Project Based Instruction
The aim of this article is to propose the use of a specific Web page to promote
Project Based Instruction in the classroom, which is at the same time based on the
Content Based Instruction Approach.
The Content Based Instruction Approach works with at least two main categories:
content and language. Within the content it takes into account the learning
strategies, skills development, objectives, technology skills, social skills, and
cultural objectives. In relation to the language objectives it focuses on the
linguistic concepts, vocabulary, communicative functions, and grammatical
structures. The Content-obligatory language is a term used to describe the
vocabulary, grammatical structures and functional expressions that learners need
in order to gain knowledge of a curricular subject, to communicate that subject and
to take part in classroom tasks in a non-native language.
There are a wide range of project typesservice learning projects, work-based
projects, and so forth, but authentic projects all have in common these defining
features (Dickinson et al., 1998; Katz & Chard, 1989; Martin & Baker, 2000;
Thomas, 1998): they develop a thematic unit plan that engages teens in projects
which are meaningful and fun, are student centered, include a beginning, middle,
and end; deal with real world problems where students do first hand investigation.
Promote sensitivity to local culture, have specific goals related to curriculum, ask
for tangible product, establish connections among academic life and work skills,
offer the opportunity for feedback and assessment and give the opportunity for
reflective thinking & self-assessment.


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Railsback (2002) mentions the advantages of Project-based Instruction:
It prepares children for workplace, increases their motivation, connects learning at school
with reality, provides collaborative opportunities to construct knowledge, increases social
and communicative skills, increases problem solving skills, sees connections between
disciplines, provides opportunities to contribute, uses individual learning strengths and it is
a practical real world way to learn.

To include Project-based instruction, teachers have to examine curriculum
standards and required units for the class, choose a theme that is meaningful and
relevant to students, brainstorm ideas to incorporate real-life situation and tasks,
choose, organize and order the activities and incorporate projects that can
encourage learner choice and autonomy.

To outline the project goals, the class most define the situation or problem of their
interest, write the project description and purpose, determine the performance
specifications, establish the rules for work, have a list of project participants with
roles assigned, and define the type of assessment.

Railsback (2002) defines eleven steps for working with projects:
1. Students and teacher agree on a theme for the project.
2. Students determine which the final product will be.
3. Students and teacher structure the project.
4. Teacher prepares students for the language demands and copes them with
what they know.
5. Students do the research on the topic.
6. Teacher helps students to select relevant information.
7. Students compile and analyze the information to identify the most relevant.
8. Teacher prepares language improvement activities to help students
succeed with the presentation of their final product.
9. Students present their final project.
10. Students evaluate their projects.
11. Students reflect on their experience.

Herman, Aschbacher, and Winters (1992) have identified five questions to
consider when determining learning goals:
1. What important cognitive skills do I want my students to develop?

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2. What social and affective skills do I want my students to develop?
3. What metacognitive skills do I want my students to develop?
4. What types of problems do I want my students to be able to solve?
5. What concepts and principles do I want my students to be able to apply?

There are some elements that most be part of the projects in order to be
successful, and the students take advantage of the time invested in their research.
Steinberg (1998) established The Six As of Project-Based Learning Checklist
(adapted from Steinbergs Six As of Successful Projects in Steinberg):
1. Authenticity
2. Academic rigor
3. Adult relationships
4. Applied learning
5. Active exploration
6. Assessment practices.

It is important to mention that students in high school are teenagers who may
not have adult relationships, but when we want them to become responsible for
their own learning, it is necessary that they begin to develop adult relationships.
When working with projects it is important that everyone has a role in their team
and that he/she is engaged with what is meant to do.

A proposal for Project Based work
As we mentioned before this article has the intention to share and promote the
use of a Web page to work with projects in the English Classroom. The name of
the Web page is Taking It Global.
Taking IT Global's mission is to empower
youth to understand and act on the world's
greatest challenges. They use the power of online communities to facilitate
global education, social entrepreneurship, and civic engagement for millions of
youth worldwide. Their vision is:
To work with youth everywhere actively engaged and connected in shaping a more
inclusive, peaceful and sustainable world. They serve youth primarily between the ages
of 13 to 30. They offer global online social network and hub for civic participation,
content & tools for educators to facilitate rich, interactive learning experiences, outreach
& collaboration tools for events, networks, campaigns, and causes, research,
development, and sharing of best practices on youth engagement. Facilitated learning
experiences through workshops, webinars, and e-courses.



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From my experience, working with this Web page has been an interesting and
worth doing activity, one cannot imagine where the students interests can lead
to, and the wide range of topics they research about. Some of them are really
worried about current issues and make the connections with their own
environment. The social networks had a new different use for them and they
seemed to be happy to share what they learnt and invite their friends to become
part of their projects. A percentage of their grade consisted on evaluating how
many people had read about their projects. We discussed in class and if they
had started making some difference with their projects. Last year some of my
students chose topics as garbage recycling, animal welfare and human rights.
To start working with our students
we just need to join the Web
page in the following URL:
http://en.tigweb.org/ Once an
account has been created the
different tabs of the Web page
can be explored. There is a tab about the Community, another with Action Tools
where an action guide can be downloaded (it helps readers explore issues they
care about, and suggests ways they can take action and involve others in
making a positive difference). There are other tabs with resources,
organizations; for example in the Youth Media tab students can create their own
blogs, post information and link their social networks with their projects in order
to share and have an impact in their communities.
The kinds of global issues which students can work with are: Culture,
Education, Environment, Globalization, Health, Human Rights, Media, Peace
and Technology.
The idea of this Web page is to lead and guide students to develop their own
projects while joining other projects founded by already organized associations
in order to get ideas, to participate in debates about the different issues and to
become commited with the society. Students do research about their topic of
interest, select information; discover what has been done about the topic
around the world and in their country. At the end of the project students present
their products and their evaluation has to do with the attention they gained in
their communities, the amount of people that became aware of any of the

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issues by reading about their research and by sharing their final product which
can be a video, a blog, a web page or a poster.
Once students finish working with their projects the can self-evaluate. Some
questions the students can answer in a reflection piece are (Edwards, 2000):
What were the projects successes?
What might I do to improve the project?
How well did I meet the goals?
What was the most difficult about meeting the goals?
What surprised me most?
What was my group best team effort?
Worst team effort?
What were the skills I used?
How can I practice these skills in the future?
What was my final project evaluation?

Conclusion
Nowadays the ICT offer a wide variety of tools which can be used in the English
classroom. Web pages like Taking It Global promote the use of language in real
situations. They encourage young students to get involved in different kinds of
issues which will also contribute to educate sensitive human beings prepared to
interact in our high demanding societies. The projects that our students build up
will also develop their autonomy by having them work on topics of their own
interest. As the web page is easy to use, teenagers have no problems to find
and post information; the Action Guide is a brief document which shows them
how to start and develop a project. The different tools provided by the page
are really helpful whenever participants have any doubts in deciding what
follows on the development of their projects. Teachers are guides and monitors
who can help with the correct use of language, with providing them with ideas
on how to organize the information and with motivation to be active participants
in their projects.

Bibliography
Anderson G. (n.d.). Teaching Teenagers. Retrieved from
http://www.cambridge.org/servlet/file1E;M+LALL
+Art+AndersonTeachingTeenagers.pdf?ITEM_ENT_ID=2421966&ITEM_VERS
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Benson, P. (2001). Learner autonomy in the classroom. In D. Nunan (Ed).
Practical English Language Teaching. (pp.289-308). New York, NY: Mc Graw
Hill
Ralisback, J. (2002). Project Based Instruction: Creating Excitement for
Learning, Portland, Oregon. Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory.
Shin, J.K. (2007). Developing Dynamic Units for EFL. English Teaching Forum,
44 (2), pp. 2-8.
Stoller, F.L. (1997). Project Work: A Means to Promote Language Content.
English Teaching Forum, 35 (4).