Sharpening Students’ 21st Century Skills through Project-Based Learning in an EFL Context at Abdelhamid Ibn Badis University, Algeria

Abstract

In a fast-changing and dynamic world, students are bound to acquire core competencies to be able to function effectively in the 21st century. This research targets the implementation of Project based learning that aligns with the demands of the new technological-oriented era. The study's foremost objective is an attempt to gauge the impact of such innovative model on students in tertiary level along with the articulation on motivation and autonomy's development. To this end, a mixed method was used to conduct the research by using a self-assessment grid for the 46 participants and interviews for teachers who took part in the experiment. The findings show that the autonomy was at the heart of the project in terms of several aspects such as peer-coaching, peer-correction and self-teaching. It also gives insights on the wide spectrum of the skills developed along the application of the PBL project. Students were, therefore, able to function independently in a real-world context all the while nurturing and honing, to varying degrees, high order academic and professional skills ranging from leadership, collaboration, designing, to problem- solving and solution-suggesting. The unexpected element that emerged in the findings showcase the fact that the PBL project brought students together i.e. it humanized the environment.