A Perspective Evaluation of Problem-based Learning in Esl Classroom in the Malaysian Higher School Certificate Program

This study was initiated to explore how pre-university students who enrolled in the Malaysian Higher School Certificate program perceived their experiences in learning ESL through Problem-Based Learning (PBL). This small scale study involved 35 pre-university students in an upper sixth form in a secondary school in Kelantan, Malaysia. Participants were given three sets of self-administered questionnaire with a 5 point Likert scale adapted from Fauziah et al. (2004). The questionnaires were aimed to explore the students' perspectives regarding the use of PBL in ESL, student-peer collaboration and student-facilitator collaboration involved in the learning process after they have gone through two PBL learning sessions. Descriptive statistic which involved frequency counts was used to analyze the data. The findings revealed that majority of the students had positive views regarding the use of PBL, student-peer collaboration and student-facilitator collaboration in promoting language learning and enhancing their thinking skills. However, in comparison, student-peer collaboration is perceived as less positive than student-facilitator collaboration. This implies that problem-based learning, if carefully guided by the facilitator, could be an effective approach in developing critical thinking skills and fostering language learning among pre-university students.