MUHAMMAD FIKRI

21018084
K4-21

PROBLEM BASED LEARNING

Problem-Based Learning (PBL) is a teaching method in which complex real-world

problems are used as the vehicle to promote student learning of concepts and principles as
opposed to direct presentation of facts and concepts. In addition to course content, PBL can
promote the development of critical thinking skills, problem-solving abilities, and
communication skills. It can also provide opportunities for working in groups, finding and
evaluating research materials, and life-long learning (Duch et al, 2001).

Any subject area can be adapted to PBL with a little creativity. While the core problems
will vary among disciplines, there are some characteristics of good PBL problems that
transcend fields (Duch, Groh, and Allen, 2001):

• The problem must motivate students to seek out a deeper understanding of concepts.
• The problem should require students to make reasoned decisions and to defend them.
• The problem should incorporate the content objectives in such a way as to connect it
to previous courses/knowledge.
• If used for a group project, the problem needs a level of complexity to ensure that the
students must work together to solve it.
• If used for a multistage project, the initial steps of the problem should be open-ended
and engaging to draw students into the problem.

Benefits and Challenges of Problem-Based Learning in Second Language Acquisition

A. Benefits

- Second language acquisition research and practice have long recognized the value of
classroom interactions— among learners, between learners and teachers, and between
learners and texts—for promoting language acqui sition, particularly when these interactions
involve nego tiation of meaning.

- When there is a focus on real-world issues and problems, the interactions that take place
have been found to be more meaningful and authentic than interactions produced during
activities such as assigned role plays or repetition of dialogues, and the expectation is that
such interactions promote second language acquisition

- Problem-based learning shifts the emphasis on learning activity from teachers to students, it
can also help students become more autonomous learners who will trans fer the skills learned
in the classroom to their lives outside of the classroom.
Challenges

- Students who share a common first language may use that language rather than English
when working in groups on the assigned problem

- A second concern is that problem-based learning may not be appropriate for beginning- or
literacy-level students whose English oral and reading skills are minimal.

- Teachers must carefully consider the problems and activities that students are involved in to
ensure that the students with limited language and literacy understand and find solutions to
the problems.

- Students may stop negotiating, ask the teacher to solve their problem, or start interacting
with the teacher about unrelated topics.