Implementing Project-Based Learning in a Hybrid Setting: The Effectuality of the EFL Students’ Reading Comprehension

Abstract

Moving face-to-face reading class to a hybrid learning during the COVID-19 pandemic constructs challenges for EFL teachers. The EFL teachers must apply appropriate learning models in a hybrid setting. This current study aimed to examine the effectuality of project-based learning in a hybrid setting on the EFL teacher candidates’ reading comprehension. A quasi-experimental study was conducted for seven weeks to deal with the purpose. The participants were 50 students selected from an English Language Education Study Program at a public university in eastern Indonesia where the researchers had been working as a lecturer. Twenty-five participants joined the experimental class, and the rest entered the control class. The students in the experimental group were taught reading comprehension using project-based learning in the form of hybrid learning. In contrast, the conventional method in a hybrid setting was applied to teach the students reading comprehension in the control group. The reading comprehension test was distributed to both groups as pre-test and post-test. Based on the result of inferential analysis through SPSS, it was found that the implementation of project-based learning in a hybrid setting benefited the EFL teacher candidates in terms of improving their achievement in reading comprehension