the effect of problem-based learning on the improvement of Iranian female high school students English writing ability

Problem-based learning (PBL) is perhaps the most innovative instructional methodconceived in the history of education. PBL was originally designed to respond to thecriticism that traditional teaching and learning methods fail to prepare students for solvingproblems in educational settings. The present study was an attempt to find out if PBL couldlead to Iranian female students’ writing improvement. In order to examine theeffectiveness of PBL in writing domain, specifically in paragraph writing, an experimentalstudy was done at Farboud Ghalati High School in Shiraz. 60 female students were selectedbased on non-random convenience sampling and were divided into control andexperimental groups. After comparing these two groups in pretest and posttest of paragraphwriting with implementing PBL process on the experimental group, the results showed thatPBL experimental group had improvement in their paragraph writing, but theimprovements in the control group were not remarkable in writing. The results of this studycan help teachers think of PBL as a useful technique to use in their language classes.

Keywords:

Foreign language learning , Problem-based learning , Writing skill