95 “Unconsciously, we could analyze the texts. In other words, we could
analyze the texts critically. Usually, I only analyze the texts based on their main ideas. Now, I could also find the power in balance in the texts as
well.” A8-E34-CTS “Not only in analyzing the texts, I could also think in a broader sense.
Moreover, I could also be more critical in facing a problem.” A8-E36- CTS
In line with Evi’s extracts above, it can be interpreted that through her CDA project, she could improve her way of thinking and her ability in analyzing the texts. In
addition, she could also change her habit when she read certain texts by not only looking at their main ideas, but also looking at the deeper sides.
Regarding critical thinking skill, Tretten and Zachariou 1995, p.8 mentioned that Students, working both individually and cooperatively, can feel
empowered when they implement effective work habits and use critical thinking to solve their problem. Moreover, they also assert that the students is also able to learn
and or strengthen their work habits, their critical thinking skills, and their productivity. Throughout this process, students may gain new knowledge, new
skills, and positive attitudes. In addition, Ata, mentioned that when doing her group presentation, she
could increase not only her knowledge, but also her language skills especially her speaking and writing skills. She said that her public speaking skill improved since
doing a lot of group presentations. She further added that she could present materials for about one hour with various vocabularies. She uttered that
“I could enrich my knowledge. And by doing presentation, I could practice my public speaking skill. So, I could present my presentation for about one
hour since I like speaking. I could also broaden my knowledge and my vocabulari
es.” A6-A46-LSK “I felt like I became more fluent both in speaking and writing. I used to stop
using English before entering ELS. However, since studying in ELS, I had
96 to use my English since there were a lot of assignments and presentations
requiring the use of English. Automatically, I felt the positive changes in me.” A6-A48-LSK
In line with Ata’s extracts above, Fragoulis 2009 and Bell 2010 state that there are six benefits of implementing PBL in teaching English as Foreign Language.
One of them is by applying or implementing project based learning, the students
can have an optimal opportunity to improve and to develop their language skills.
97
CHAPTER V CONCLUSIONS, IMPLICATIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS
This chapter consists of three sections namely conclusions of the research, implications and recommendations. The first section presents the summary of the
findings and the answers of the research question. The second section presents implications of this study. The last section presents the suggestions which can
contribute English learning and teaching.
A. Conclusions
This study aims at describing and interpreting ELS Students’ lived
experience of project based learning. The process in revealing the lived experience is done through collecting texts from three ELS students batch of 2015 from three
different streams or majors namely, Dewi from the education stream, Evi from the linguistics stream, and Ata from the literature stream who have experienced the
phenomenon containing the essence of the experience. The meanings assigned by the participants are interpreted under bracketed meanings, namely pre-figured and
emergent meanings. Pre-figured meanings were constructed based on the discovery of conceptual truth. Meanwhile, the emergent meanings were developed based on
the empirical truth. Both meanings reflect the scientific truth of ELS students’ lived experience of project based learning.
Overall, there are six meanings gathered. Those meanings then are divided into two sections namely pre-figured meanings which consist of four meanings
derived from the logical or conceptual truth and emergent meanings which consists of two meanings derived from the empirical truth. The pre-figured meanings are
98 authentic learning, learning autonomy, cooperative learning, and multiple
intelligences. The emergent meanings are understanding others and personal development.
The first pre-figured meaning is authentic learning. Dewi, Evi, and Ata shared differently about their experience in authentic learning. Dewi shared that she
and her group had to create an English program as well as the course for hotel receptionist in Yogyakarta in PMD course. Evi, on the other hand, mentioned that
she had to analyze the texts by implementing CDA approach with her friends. Lastly, Ata, experienced group presentation in her British and American Literature
and Literary Criticism classes based on the topics given by their lecturers. From their shared experiences, authentic learning emerges through the real-world tasks,
the authentic situations, and the use of other resources such as internet. The second pre-figured meaning was learner autonomy. Learner autonomy
emerges since in doing project, the authority is provided so that the students can control their learning from the beginning of their study to the end of their course
program. Dewi, Evi, and Ata in their shared experience mentioned that when doing their projects, they experienced learner autonomy through having initiatives so that
the projects can be finished or completed in time or on time, learning in learner- centred setting and through communicating the progress of their projects to not only
their friends, but also their lecturers. The third pre-figured meaning was cooperative learning. Cooperative
learning contextually means that working together with their friends or peers or group members to finish the projects. Dewi, Evi, and Ata in their shared
experiences, mentioned that when doing projects, they worked on their projects
99 together with their group members involving the face-to-face promotive by having
group discussion, and the individual accountability meaning each of the group members can be given the tasks evenly so that each of them can give contributions
to the group. The last pre-figured meaning appeared during the logical truth was multiple
intelligences. Contextually, multiple intelligences emerge since every student in the group, absolutely possesses different intelligence from one and another. Dewi, Evi,
and Ata, shared that when they worked on their group projects, three of them explore their own interest on the topics, and they also enlarge their opportunities to
improve their learning potentials in their own projects. There were also two emergent meanings appear during the texts gathering.
They were understanding others and personal development. The emergent meanings were determined based on the participants’ shared experience gathered
from the in depth interview. The first emergent meaning is understanding others. Through doing projects, Dewi, Evi, and Ata can improve their understanding
towards their friends’ characters and their friends’ needs as well. Understanding others is important when doing projects since most of the time, the participants
work together with their peers or partners in order to achive their learning goals. The second or the last emergent meaning is personal development. When
doing their group projects, Dewi, Evi, and Ata, mentioned that they could feel some changes in their personality such as being more disciplined, more open-minded, and
more independent. By having personal development, the participants can improve the way they behave, the way they feel, and the way they think towards certain
circumstances or conditions. In addition, they could also become critical thinkers,
100 increase language skills, and present paper at the seminar. Contextually, it
consciously proves that doing projects is not merely for the sake of completing the course or gaining the mark from their lecturer, but it is also good for themselves.
The findings of this study help the research participants have a habit in doing reflection of what they have done in relation with their learning process. This
reflective awareness is also expected to help them become more self-aware of what they do and intend to do in order to improve their learning. By having self-
awareness of their learning process, they would become more self-actualizing in their learning. Additionally, the findings of this study help the audience gain more
useful information about learning through project-based approach. By reading the stories, they would gain better empathic understanding in the implementation of
project-based learning approach in English language learning.
B. Implications
Based on the ELS students’ lived experience of project based learning, learning through projects has provided some significant implications for English
language teaching and learning. It is expected that the audience will have better empathic understanding of what it is like to other students in ELS to learn by using
projects. By gaining better empathic understanding, they will gain equity in life. The second implication applies for ELS lecturers who are about to
implement project-based learning in the following academic years. By applying or implementing the project-based learning in the classroom setting, the lecturers are
expected to give more attention more on the tasks which have to be more real-world, the setting of the classroom which have to concentrate more on the learner-centered
setting, the cooperative learning which not only require the students to work with
101 their friends, but also their lecturers as facilitators, and the selection of tasks or
projects which can promote students interests as well as skills. The last implication applies for English teachers or lecturers who consider
implementing project-based learning in their learning setting. They could make use the participants’ shared experiences in this study to encounter the potential
challenges in learning through projects. Therefore, lessons learned from this study is expected to be beneficial to not only the ELS students and the ELS lecturers, but
also for lecturers and student coming from other study programs.
C. Recommendations
The findings of this study benefitted the research participants, as the ELS students, in forming a habit in doing reflection which would enable them to self-
actualize themselves both in their learning strategies as well as in their life. By having a reflective habit formation, they would have sharper goals in their life and
be able to self-actualize themselves. On the other hand, the audience might use the description and interpretation of the lived experience in this study to gain more
information and to understand how the project-based learning in the classroom is carried out.
Furthermore, the findings of this study might help the lecturers in the graduate program in ELS improve their teaching strategies when using projects to
their students by giving feedbacks or inputs to the students so that the students can improve their learning process and the implementation of this learning approach
can be better improved in the future. In addition, the use of project-based learning approach can be a means to provide better learning opportunities which extend
beyond the classroom and accommodate learners’ various learning styles.
