Confirmation of Candidature - Candidate: Faezah Al-Ali

Writing is considered an onerous skill for English as an Additional Language and Dialect students in primary school as developing writing skills entails many different areas, such as grammatical, mechanical, vocabulary and content aspects. As the National assessment results indicate, there is an apparent stagnation in literacy performance. Additionally, Covid-19 has impacted EAL/D students as there was a frequent disruption to their learning which caused regression in their English language skills. Thus, implementing an integration of skills approach like PBL can help EAL/D students to write better. This exploratory study aims to explore the impact of using a problem-based learning approach to improve English as an additional language or dialectic EAL/D students' writing in Year 3 in a primary school in Australia. The study also aims to explore the challenges students encounter through the implementation. The study proposes using mixed qualitative and quantitative methods through action research. Using two-cycle action research will help explore the impact of PBL on EAL/D students in Year 3 and understand their writing challenges by following the gradual process of PBL, which can reduce writing complexity and prepare and equip students to write confidently. Data will be collected through the teacher's reflexive journals, students' semi-structured interviews and writing samples during the intervention. Thematic analysis will be used to analyse the data collected to understand and answer the research questions: 

1.           How does problem-based learning improve writing skills for EAL/D students in a primary school in Australia? 

2.           What are the challenges encountered throughout the PBL intervention that supports the development of writing skills for EAL/D students?