What Do Major Stakeholders Really Think? Business English Students’ Perceptions About Problem-Based Learning

Andreea Rosca

doi:10.18485/esptoday.2019.7.1.4

Abstract

What Do Major Stakeholders Really Think? Business English Students’ Perceptions About Problem-Based Learning

Highlights

The new millennium is characterized by a growing accessibility to knowledge, an information explosion brought about by unprecedented discoveries in science and technology, new industrial and business challenges, as well as changing political and social landscapes
Since “students’ [...] voices are largely missing from the literature on problem-based learning” (SavinBaden, 2000: 9), the present study aims to give voice to students, who may be regarded as the major stakeholders in a PBL project
Our study contributes to the field of English for Specific Purposes, more precisely Business English, by casting some light on business students’ perceptions and attitudes towards the implementation of a PBL project and by showing that a PBL experiment can have a beneficial effect on students’ English level

Summary

Introduction

The new millennium is characterized by a growing accessibility to knowledge, an information explosion brought about by unprecedented discoveries in science and technology, new industrial and business challenges, as well as changing political and social landscapes. The twenty-first century society is set against the backdrop of the knowledge-based economy in which the use of ideas and the application of technology have gained ground over physical abilities and the transformation of raw materials respectively. The knowledge-based economy is rapidly altering the demands of the labor market all over the world. Preparing competent workers in the knowledge economy implies implementing a new model of education and training which should aim at developing learners’ decision-making, problem-solving skills, the ability to learn on their own (selflearning) and with others (peer learning), the ability to upgrade their skills on a continuing basis (lifelong learning), as well as the ability to transfer learning across contexts and disciplines (lifewide learning) (cf Tan, 2003)

Objectives

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Results

Conclusion