Enhancing Communicative Competence in English for Tourism Students through Project-based Learning Activities

Abstract

For students of Faculty of Tourism (FOT), Hanoi Open University, having good communicative competence is especially necessary. Related researches have mentioned a number of methods to develop learners’ communicative competence; among which project-based learning is considered one of the most effective methods because it brings learners equal chances with native speakers to interact in actual communicative situations (Miller, 2016). This study is conducted to achieve two objectives: discovering the current situation of FOT’s students' communicative competence and suggesting a solution to improve their communicative competence using project-based learning methods. A combination of data collection methods i.e., survey and in-depth interviews, was used to explore the current situation of FOT’s students' communicative competence while survey, in-depth interviews and focus group interviews were carried out to discover the problems with students’ communicative competence. Finally, based on the results, possible solutions were suggested to deal with such problems. The study revealed that most of the FOT’s students had an average communicative competence; the major problems that they encountered were in vocabulary control, vocabulary range, phonological control, sociolinguistic competence, spoken fluency and thematic development. To overcome the problems, most of the interviewees suggested giving students more opportunities to be involved in practical activities in which they can use English to deal with the problems, especially ones that often occur in real life situations. Therefore, project-based learning approach was considered an appropriate solution to improve students’ communicative competence.