Motivating The Libyan English As Foreign Language Speaker Students Through The Hybrid Problem Based Learning Approach

Abstract

In learning English as a foreign language (EFL), students face difficulties in acquiring the skills, hence they are reluctant to speak the English language in their classrooms (Savaşçı, 2014). Various factors have been identified as the contributing factors to the students’ difficulties in acquiring the English Language, which include over reliance on their mother tongue, inadequate time allocated for the lesson, negative attitudes of students’ toward speaking English, lack of motivation, and inadequate reading materials (Tokoz-Goktepe, 2014). Motivation is the most significant factor among the factors mentioned (Cook, 2000) and hence prompted the focus of this study. It is argued that Libyan EFL learners are less motivated to learn English (Mohammed, 2014; Alhmali, 2007; Abidin, Mohammadi and Alzwari, 2012; Al-Zahrani, 2008). Mohammed (2014) reported that one of the main reasons why Libyan EFL learners are not motivated toward learning English is due to the inappropriate teaching technique employed in Libyan EFL classroom due to the fact that the teaching techniques employed in Libyan EFL classroom may not be conducive for language acquisition. Against this back drop this study sets the objective of exploring how hybrid Problem-based learning can improve the motivation of Libyan EFL speaker students. A case study approach was employed to bring evidence from multiple data sources to fully address the subject. Using both quantitative and qualitative methods,  questionnaires were administered to 15 students and two lecturers and observations were conducted during the introduction of the Hybrid Problem-based English Lessons (HPBL).  Interviews were also conducted after the series of HPBL lessons.  The findings revealed that  familiarity with HPBL, peer collaboration, tutor support and group presentations motivate the students to learn and speak the English Language.  These factors were also found to have motivated the students to work independently to achieve high performance in speaking skills. The HPBL approach could be considered as an alternative to teaching English for the Libyan EFL speakers. 

Keywords: Classroom, English, hybrid-problem-based-learning, motivation, speaking.