Speakers
Description
In the context of educational reform and global integration, English teaching in Vietnamese high schools needs to move beyond exam-oriented instruction toward the development of communicative competence and real-life language use. Although English has traditionally been taught mainly as a school subject, the 2018 General Education Curriculum emphasizes competency-based education, learner autonomy, integrated skills, and practical application. Therefore, renovating teaching pedagogy and curriculum implementation is essential to help students use English more confidently in authentic contexts. This paper examines the integration of project-based learning into high school English classrooms as a pedagogical approach to reposition English from a test-driven subject to a meaningful tool for communication. The study aims to explore how project-based activities improve students’ English proficiency, collaboration, creativity, critical thinking, and confidence in using English for real-life purposes. The study was conducted with approximately 90 eleventh-grade students at a public high school. Data were collected through classroom observations, student surveys, interviews, and analysis of students’ project products. Students participated in communicative projects such as group presentations, video-making tasks, interviews and posters. The findings show that project-based learning increased students’ engagement, motivation, and active participation. Students became more willing to apply vocabulary, grammar, and language functions in meaningful contexts. The approach also supported 21st-century skills, especially teamwork, problem-solving, creativity, and digital literacy. It is recommended that project-based learning be flexibly integrated into the high school English curriculum to support communicative competence, learner-centered pedagogy, lifelong learning, and global integration.
Biography
My name is Nguyen Thi Anh Nguyet, and I am an English teacher at a Vietnamese public high school. I have experience teaching English to high school students within the national curriculum, where learners are often strongly influenced by exam-oriented learning. In my teaching practice, I am interested in helping students move beyond memorizing vocabulary and grammar for tests toward using English more confidently and meaningfully in real communication.
My professional interests include communicative language teaching, project-based learning, learner motivation, classroom interaction, and the development of students’ communicative competence. I am particularly concerned with the challenges faced by Vietnamese high school students, such as limited opportunities to speak English, lack of confidence, fear of making mistakes, and the pressure of examinations. Therefore, I try to create a more student-centered learning environment in which students can collaborate, express ideas, solve problems, and connect English learning with real-life contexts.
My presentation, “From Exam-Oriented Learning to Communicative Competence: Integrating Project-Based Learning into Vietnamese High School English Classrooms,” reflects my interest in exploring practical ways to balance exam preparation with communicative development. By participating in VIC 2026, I hope to share my classroom-based experiences and exchange ideas with other educators and researchers.
| Affiliate type | Vietnamese public school |
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