Jurnal 5 PRODI PENDIDIKAN BAHASA INGGRIS

IMPLEMENTING PROBLEM-BASED LEARNING IN STIMULATING
STUDENTS’ SPEAKING ABILITY
By : Humiras Betty Marlina Sihombing, S.Pd, M.Pd
English Literature Faculty
University of Darma Agung Medan
ABSTRACT
This article was the reflection of author’s experience on trying out the teaching of
English Speaking class, by implementing Problem-Based Learning Method. The steps of
Problem-Based Learning were summed up. Both successful and unsuccessful lessons were
discussed, and then, lesson learned was provided.

Keyword: Teaching based on Prolem Based Learning Method
.
school up to university level as a
Introduction
compulsory subject to learn.
Teaching English at University is
Communication is an essential need
different from teaching it at primary up to
for human being. One of the ways in
senior high school. The students at

communication is through speaking. It is
university are categorized as adult
very important to master speaking skill.
learners. They are more responsible than
In order to do it, students must be trained
the young learners are because;
to use English in communication orally.
previously before entering their major
The frequency in using the language will
they have decided to enrich their
determine the students’ speaking skill,
knowledge on their chosen major that is
and without implementing the experience
English. Besides, the syllabus of English
of learning the language in the real life; it
particularly for speaking subject demands
is difficult for the students to master
the students to be able to communicate in
speaking
skill.

Hence,
speaking
English very well. The time they will
competence can be accomplished by
graduate from the university. However it
practicing it orally.
is not so simple to master the skill. Based
In addition, Speaking is one of four
on the author’ observation on one of
language skills. It is a productive skill in
University in north Sumatera many
the sense that speakers produce sounds of
problems occur dealing with it.
the language. Basically, speaking is
Generally, the students came from
intended for two-way communication.
different school background. It affects
The speaker and the listener negotiate the
their
ability,

because
different
meaning of what they say. Speakerbackground will produce different ability.
listener interaction takes place in real
For more specific problems that the
time, thereby allowing very little time for
author found are: First, it is related to the
the speaker to respond to the listener if
condition of students who have limited
the rules of a conversation to be
vocabulary, which in turns make them
maintained .
unable to express their ideas during
In Indonesia, English is considered
teaching-learning process. Second, they
as a foreign language (EFL). Educational
usually use their Batak language as their
institution had introduced it since primary
J-DA | 30

mother tongue. Third, the students rarely
practice to speak English during
teaching-learning process. For instance,
when the lecturer asks them to make
conversation with other friends in front of
class the students become ashamed,
unwilling, and unconfident to speak. The
main reason for this is because they are
afraid of making mistakes. Fourth, most
of the students are not confident to use
English in speaking class. Finally, the
students are not interested in the material
given to them.
In connection with students’
problem, the lecturer sometimes cannot
handle the class based on the students’
problems. The main problem is the way
to manage the class. During the teachinglearning process, the lecturer should
make the students enjoy and interested in
the materials. Indeed it is a hard work for

getting the students attention.
However it will be a very big
challenge for all the English lecturers. In
teaching English to adult learners, the
lecturer should be able to create the
interesting and various materials. Based
on the author’s experience, when she was
a student in a certain university, she was
very disappointed with her speaking class
because she got only a little bit from it.
Her lecturer only asked her to write a
short conversation and then practice it
with her friends. Usually way of teaching
like this does not encourage students’
spirit in learning.
Considering her bad experiences
during studying this subject before she
wants to give something new for her
students. It is by using Problem Based
Learning method. This method allows

the students-learn about a subject in the
context of complex, multifaceted, and
realistic problems. It lets the students
working in groups, with this way of
learning students are able to
study
identify what they already know, what
they need to know, and how and where to

access new information that may lead to
resolution of the problem. The role of the
instructor is that of facilitator of learning
who provides appropriate scaffolding of
that process by (for example), asking
probing questions, providing appropriate
resources, and leading class discussions,
as well as designing student assessments
(Barrows, 1996). In addition, this method
offers a concept that learning is a
product

of cognitive and social
interactions originating in a problemfocused environment (Greeno et al.,
1996).
Moreover, the writer assumes that
Problem Based Learning is the more
suitable way for teaching Speaking
subject especially it contains the
motivation.
“Advanced Academic English
Speaking is a required course provided
for students majoring in Teaching
English as a Foreign Language (TEFL). It
is intended to be a basic course for
graduate learners’ preparation on English
competency before they enter their field
of study. The course description
emphasizes the practice of listening and
speaking English academically through
discussion,
lecturing,

and
oral
presentation. Seventyfour students have
enrolled for this course. They include one
Papua and others are bataknese. As an
instructor, one has to design an
instructional method to suit the students’
different backgrounds. ”This scenario is
of my own. It is different from most of
my English lecturing and learning
situations. First of all, the course focuses
on aural-oral language skills, without
particular content emphasis, as stated in
the course description. The main purpose
of the course is merely to help learners to
improve and adjust their English
speaking and listening skills for high
level of competency required for graduate
students in this field.

J-DA | 31

Secondly, all of the seventy four
students are adult learners each of whom
has experienced learning English at
somewhat different levels. Finally, the
students are from different cultural
backgrounds in which instructional
experience can vary, especially in terms
of teaching and learning expectations. All
of these classroom aspects need to be
addressed in planning the course.
Planning the Lesson
From the previous situation, many
questions were of my concern as I was
assigned to instruct this course for the
first time. What kind of contents should I
implement for the course? What kind of
materials and textbooks should I use?
What teaching methods and activities

should I employ? How would I
encourage my students to participate in
classroom activities? How would I
prepare the lesson in order to suit the
needs of the students whose English
backgrounds were totally difference?
And the following was part of my plan.
In response to the content issue, I
assumed that teaching English as a
foreign language, as suggested by the
field of study, could be useful and
relevant to what they were going to
encounter in the future classes that
emphasized research methods and
teaching methodology in English
teaching and learning. I decided to
choose some units in American
Breaktrough by J.C. Richard. M N. Long
for the topics of discussion. Each unit of
the text was theories grounded and

centered on the teaching of English. It
could serve as teaching backgrounds for
other courses. I picked up some of the
units for classroom activities along with
some other supplementary materials
about tips speaking English from various
sources including the World Wide Web.
Three specific goals were clarified as for

the students: 1) to become better
accustomed to hear and speak in English;
2) to be able to express opinions and
ideas appropriately and; 3) to be able to
perform a presentation with confidence.
As a starting point, video recording of the
learners’ speaking English was conducted
twice at the early stage of teaching, for
the students to assess their own
performance
in
both
individual
presentation and group discussion. The
students had an opportunity to view the
video tape a week later after the
recording their own performance without
my comment on the language they used
except on the clarification of the content.
It was made clear to the students;
especially the ones who are Bataknese,
that I did not criticize them because it
might lower their self-confidence of
speaking English. However, as I
expected, the lecturer rely mostly on
reading their notes instead of speaking
freely based on their understanding of the
concepts. For the rest of the semester, I
had to find some effective strategies to
encourage the students to speak freely as
much as possible and one of the methods
I employed was Problem-based Learning
method (PBL).
Problem-Based Learning Method
PBL was introduced to the
instructors at Nakhon Ratchasima
Rajabhat University (NRRU) by the
Office of Research and Development
who wanted to promote classroom
research for the university instructional
reform. Seminars on the topic were held
and field trips to Khon Kaen University
(KKU) were organized for the instructors
who were interested in conducting a
classroom research by implementing
PBL. During a seminar at KKU, the
instructors had an opportunity to observe
the actual PBL group meeting of students

J-DA | 32

at the Medical School and had learned
about the PBL process as the following:

2. The secretary writes the responses on
flap charts.

KKU 7 steps in small group session
Step 1: Term clarifying
Step 2: Problem listing
Step 3: Brainstorming
Step 4: Hypothesis setting
Step 5: Learning objective identification
Step 6: Analysis
Step 7: Synthesis

Step 4: Hypothesis setting
1. Each group sets hypothesis based on
the discussion in step 3.
2. The secretary writes the responses on
flap charts in terms of cause/effect
diagram.

The action plan for each step is outlined
as the following:
Getting Start
1. Students are randomly divided
into 3 groups, with 7-8 students in
each
group.
2. Two members of the group are
assigned special roles, one as a
leader and the
other as a secretary.
3. Tutor explains the steps of class
activities as in the attached
handout.
Problem–based Learning Procedures
Phase I (2 hours of class time discussion)
Step 1: Term clarifying
1. Each group receives the scenario as in
the handout.
2. The groups study the scenario and
clarify
the
terms
for
precise
understanding.
Step 2: Problem listing
1. Each group raises some questions
about the scenario.
2. The secretary writes the questions on
flap charts.
Step 3: Brainstorming
1. Each group brainstorms to find out the
possibly answers/solutions for each
problem raised in step 2.

Step 5: Learning objective identification
1. Each group identifies their learning
objectives in order to test the hypothesis
stated in step 4.
2. The secretary writes the learning
objectives on flap charts.
Phase II (5 hours of self-study and 2
hours of class time discussion and
presentation)
Step 6: Analysis
Students in each group search for the
answers/solutions in response to each
hypothesis posted in step 4 by conducting
self-study or meeting with a resource
person.
Step 7: Synthesis
1. Students in each group conceptualize
the contents of this case-study model
implementation.
2. Students in each group perform oral
presentations about their work to class in
English.
Originally, PBL, defined as a curricular
method, emerged from the field of
medical sciences over three decade ago
(Barrows, 2000). However, in the field of
language education, it is considerably
young method of inquiry.
Implementing
Learning Method
classroom

in

Problem-based
a speaking

J-DA | 33

Within the field of language learning and
teaching, PBL engages language students
in learning how to learn while they also
learn language and content. Generally in
my classroom, as Mathews-Aydinli
(2007) has suggested, I act as a coach for
or facilitator of activities that students
carry out themselves. My role does not
simply present information or directly
control the progression of work. Instead,
I provide students with appropriate
problems to work on, assist them in
identifying and accessing the materials
and equipment necessary to solve the
problems, give necessary feedback and
support during the problem solving
process, and evaluate their participation
and products, with the goal of helping
them develop their problem-solving as
well as their language and literacy skills.
Mathews-Aydinli (2007) has also
concluded the four main steps of PBL
process for students which are:
1. Being introduced to the problem;
2. Exploring what they do and do not
know about the problem;
3. Generating possible solutions to the
problem and;
4. Considering the consequences of
each solution and selection the
most viable solution.
There are also suggestions for teacher by
Mathews-Aydinli as the following:
1. Pre-teach. The teacher needs to
make sure students understand the
goals and benefits of a problembased approach for language
learning and emphasizes the
importance of using English in
problem-solving activities.
2. Introduce problem and vocabulary.
The teacher may use pictures,
video, or texts to introduce the
problem to students. Students also
need to be prepared for vocabulary
related to the problem. The teacher
may ask students about previous
personal experiences with the

problem and provide pre-reading
exercises about it.
3. Group students and provide
resources. Firstly, the teacher needs
to make sure that students
understand the problem and the
expectations of them that there is
no single answer or solution, and
that students need to choose what
appears to be the most viable
solution to them and be prepared to
explain why they chose that
solution. Secondly, the teacher
should give students access to
resources such as the Internet,
books,
magazines,
brochures,
newspapers,
television,
and
telephones and make sure that
students are aware of the range of
resources available and know how
to use them. Finally, group the
students with different language
backgrounds and proficiency levels.
4. Observe and support. The teacher
observes students and provides
support as needed, by do not
attempt to direct their efforts or
control their activity in solving the
problem. While observing, the
teacher takes notes and provides
feedback on student participation in
the activity and on language used
during the activity.
5. Follow up and assess progress. The
teacher provides students with
opportunities to present and share
the results of their work, provides
follow-up activities based on
his/her observation and assesses
students’ participation and success
in the activity.
The benefits of PBL in language
learning are various. It is widely accepted
that utilizing problem solving activity
promotes
construction
of
useful
knowledge, develop reasoning strategies
and effective self-directed learning
J-DA | 34

strategies, increase motivation for
learning,
and
become
effective
collaborators (Hmelo and Evensen,
2000).
Particularly
in
language
classroom, PBL promotes meaningful
interaction in the classroom. The
interactions that occur while students
were dealing with real-world issues and
problems are more meaningful and
authentic than interactions produced
during activities such as assigned role
plays or repetition of dialogues. Since
PBL shifts the emphasis on learning
activity from teachers to students, it can
also help students become more
autonomous learners who will transfer
the skills learned in the classroom to their
lives outside of the classroom (James,
2006). As to activate learners to interact
with each other in listening speaking
class, PBL can be powerful. To my
assumption, while students are focusing
on the problem to be solved, they will try
to overcome the linguistic hindrance,
retrieve prior knowledge of the language
to be used, and finally, become skillful
language users. Utilizing PBL in the
Teaching of Listening and Speaking.
After intensive literature reviews on the
topic and with the support of the Office
of Research and Development, I decided
to incorporate PBL into my English
Speaking class of Teaching English
departments’ students in Teaching
English as a Foreign Language program.
The teaching plan covered four weeks of
instruction; the first two weeks were for
students’ preparation, to be familiar with
the seven steps of performing the task.
The students were divided into three
groups, with seven to eight students and
an instructor in each group. Then, each
group was assigned to a problem based
on the use of teaching material designs.
Flip charts were attached to each side of
the classroom wall. With two instructors
eaten in the middle of the class,
classroom environment was somewhat

different from the traditional one. Facing
the flip charts on the wall, each group had
got many different ideas from the
activities in which English had been used
as the mean of communication. As the
methods were first introduced, I
explained the process to them when they
needed. In the following class, each
student presented what he/she had
learned to the group and in front of the
class. The introduction section to
problem-based learning seemed to go
well, in a relaxing atmosphere, to
motivate and trigger students to
communicate and participate in the
discussion.
For the third-week lesson, students
were introduced to one scenario
concerning with an authentic problem
occurring in teaching and learning
English. This time, students were using
video-taped by the Office of Research
and Development as a part of the class’
project. However, it seemed like students
were too overwhelming with the
problem; they were unlikely to satisfy
with the results of what they were doing.
When I let them work all by their own,
they seemed to confuse about how to
carry out the activity, especially, step 4
Hypothesis setting and step 5 Learning
objectives identification. They seemed to
have the expectation that I gave them
comments after their completion of each
stage. Once I did, which was my big
mistake, the sense of uncertainty filled up
the classroom. I agreed with them that the
problem was unclear so that they were
not sure where it would lead them to. At
that moment, I had to reconsider the
scenario and decided to break it into two
parts. So, scenario 2 in the following
week was connected to scenario 1 in
terms of content provided. From then, the
class had come to normal.
Lesson Learned

J-DA | 35

From my experience of using PBL
in a classroom, I have found out that the
PBL is effective to stimulate prompt
speaking in students as they are focusing
on solving the problem and help them to
gain listening input from interactions
with peers. However, PBL has to be welldesigned, especially the scenario set for
the content to be learned, and the
instructors need to be well-trained, e. g.
to know when and how to break into the
discussion appropriately and to be very
patient and supportive in the way they
interact with students. “Considerations
for lecturer,” as pre teaching, introducing
problem and vocabulary, grouping
students, providing resources, observing
and supporting students, and conducting
the follow up and progress assessment
are very useful and thus, PBL can be
considered as a powerful alterative way
of teaching listening and speaking
English.

References
Barrows, H. (2000). Preface. in D. H.
Evensen, and C. E. Hmelo. (eds.)
Problem-based
Learning: Research Perspective Learning
Interactions. London : Lawrence
Erlbaum Associates.
Hmelo, C. E. and Evensen, D. H. (2000).
Problem-based Learning: Research
Perspective Learning Interactions.
London : Lawrence Erlbaum
Associates.
James, M. A. (2006). Teaching for
transfer in ELT. ELT Journal, 60
(2), 151-159.
Long,, J.C. Richard M.N. American
Breaktrough.Cambridge:
Mathews-Aydinli, J. (2007). ProblemBased Learning and Adult English
Language Learners. in Center for
Adult
English
Language
Acquisition
(CAELA).

Washington, DC : Center for
Applied Linguistics.
Spratt, M., Pulverness, A., and Williams,
M. (2005). The TKT Teaching
Knowledge Test Course. New York
: Cambridge University Press.
Appendix
Scenario 1
All undergrads attending College are
required to complete three English
foundation courses by their second year.
Most of them are successful for these
classes in terms of grading. Apparently,
however, after their completion of the
three courses, their English language
performance is still unsatisfactory.
1. Term clarifying
 College undergrads
 English foundation courses
 Successful for the classes
 Grading
 English performance
 Unsatisfactory
2.

Problem listing
 Why is their English language
performance
still
unsatisfactory?
 How has English been taught
at this university?
 What about the evaluation?
 What
is
the
learning
environment like?
 How many students are there
in each normal class?
 What
are
the
English
backgrounds of the students?
 What is the work load of the
instructors?

3. Brainstorming
 Why
is
their
English
language performance still
unsatisfactory?

J-DA | 36

 Not have enough time to
practice/not
have
an
opportunity to use it in daily
life or with foreigners.
 How has English been taught
at this university?
 Teacher
centered/
use
traditional method/use first
language instruction/
 Why
do
the
students
successful for classes? / How
do they pass the exam? /
What kind of evaluation do
they take?
 Multiple choice exams/ the
test
is
not
standardized/students cheat.
 What
is
the
learning
environment like?
 Small
rooms/old
rooms/crowded
rooms/heterogeneous
rooms/homogeneous
rooms/rooms without air
conditioners/class starts too
early/too late.
 How many students are there
in each normal class?
 Big/small/medium classes
 What are the English
backgrounds of the students?
 Low
motivation/poor/late
class attendance/miss class
frequently
 What about the instructors?
 Over
teaching
load/not
qualified/inexperienced/none
natives of English









traditional method/ relying on
first language instruction.
The examination for English is
based on multiple choices.
The
test/grading
is
not
standardized.
The students cheat for the exam.
The learning environment is not
suitable for effective learning:
insufficient technology support;
small, old, crowded rooms;
heterogeneous
rooms,
homogeneous rooms; rooms
without air conditioners; class
starts too early, too late; too big,
small classes.
The students have low motivation
of learning/are usually late for
classes and miss class frequently.
The
instructors
work
overload//are
not
qualified/inexperienced/not
enough natives of English.

5. Learning objectives identification
 Clarifying ELT problems in This
department
6. Analysis
 Study a particular ELT problem in
this department
7. Synthesis
 Propose the significance of the
problem

4. Hypothesis setting
 The students fail to communicate
in English because they do not
have enough time to practice/not
have an opportunity to use it in
daily life or with foreigners/The
curriculum is not suitable.
 At this college, English has been
taught as lecturer centered/ using
J-DA | 37

J-DA | 30