Problem-Based Learning Activities and Their Effects on Speaking Competence and Higher-Order Thinking Skills among Ethiopian Secondary Students

Problem-Based Learning Activities and Their Effects on Speaking Competence and Higher-Order Thinking Skills among Ethiopian Secondary Students | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Problem-Based Learning Activities and Their Effects on Speaking Competence and Higher-Order Thinking Skills among Ethiopian Secondary Students 1. Solomon Tamene, 2. Seid Mohammad, Dawit Amonge This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8602001/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract This mixed-methods quasi-experimental study investigated problem-based learning activities (PBLA) effects on Grade 11 students' speaking competence and thinking skills at Sena Gimbi Secondary School, Ethiopia (n = 24 students; 12 experimental, 12 control). Over 12 weeks, experimental group engaged in PBLA aligned with Bloom's Taxonomy. Pre/post-tests (IELTS-style speaking rubric, α = 0.87; thinking skills test, KR-20 = 0.82), questionnaires, and interviews revealed significant gains: speaking (64.75→84.65, p < 0.001), thinking skills (31.97→67.55, p < 0.001), correlation r = 0.85. Teachers/students perceived PBLA positively for motivation/confidence but noted time/resource constraints. Findings support PBLA integration in EFL curricula to foster higher-order thinking and communicative competence. Linguistics Problem-Based Learning Speaking Competence Thinking Skills EFL Bloom's Taxonomy Secondary Education Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare potential competing interests as follows: Declaration Statements: Conflict of interest: The authors of this study do not have any competing interest Funding: The researchers didn’t receive any fund for publication. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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