The Effect of Technology-aided Project-based Learning on EFL Learners' Language Proficiency and Self-Regulation

To help students progress in today’s technology-aided competing universe, along with fostering knowledge acquisition in any particular field, educational systems are supposed to incorporate 21st century skills into teaching to fill the gap between students' knowledge of the field and the competencies required to use the acquired knowledge. This study sought to explore whether the incorporation of technology and project-based learning into the mainstream English teaching classrooms contributes to the development of linguistic competence as well as self-regulation, as one of the indices of 21st century learning. To accomplish such an objective, a quasi-experimental design was employed and two intact classes, including 68 Iranian leaners of English, were assigned to an experimental and a control group. Along with benefiting from a multi-skill textbook-oriented language instruction, the participants in the experimental group dealt with a variety of small- and large-scale technology-aided projects. The control group’s participants, on the other hand, received a multi-skill textbook-oriented language instruction in the absence of any technology-aided projects. All the participants were gauged in terms of English proficiency and self-regulation, before and after receiving the instruction. Based on the comparative results drawn from an analysis of covariance (ANCOVA), the technology-aided project-based instruction of the study improved the participants’ level of self-regulation and language proficiency.