EXPLORING EFL TEACHERS' PERCEPTIONS AND CHALLENGES IN IMPLEMENTING PROJECT-BASED LEARNING FOR NEWS ITEM SPEAKING

Abstract

Speaking is a crucial component of English language learning in vocational high schools because it prepares students to communicate effectively in academic and workplace contexts. Although Project-Based Learning (PjBL) has been widely recognized for promoting active and meaningful speaking instruction, previous studies have primarily focused on its effects on students' learning outcomes, while teachers' perspectives on implementing PjBL-based News Item speaking remain underexplored. This study aims to explore teachers' perceptions of PjBL and the challenges they encounter when implementing News Item speaking activities in a vocational high school context. A qualitative case study was employed involving three English teachers from a vocational high school in Cimahi who had experience implementing PjBL in News Item speaking instruction. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and analyzed using Braun and Clarke's thematic analysis. The findings reveal that the teachers perceived PjBL as a valuable instructional approach because it fostered student engagement, collaboration, authentic communication, and meaningful speaking practice through project-based activities. At the same time, they reported several implementation challenges, including limited instructional time, students' diverse English proficiency, technological constraints, classroom management, assessment complexity, and environmental factors affecting speaking activities. These findings indicate that teachers recognize the pedagogical value of PjBL for News Item speaking despite encountering contextual and instructional challenges. The study contributes to the literature by providing insight into teachers' perspectives on implementing PjBL-based News Item speaking in the vocational high school context.