Project-Based Learning for Developing English Narrative Writing Skills in an Indonesian EFL Classroom

Abstract

Project-Based Learning has been widely recognized as a student-centered instructional approach that supports active learning, collaboration, creativity, and meaningful language use in EFL classrooms. This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of Project-Based Learning in developing students’ English narrative writing skills. The study employed a pre-experimental quantitative design using a one-group pre-test and post-test model. The participants were 22 second-semester students of the English Education Study Program at Muhammadiyah University of Enrekang, Indonesia. The intervention was implemented over seven weeks through project-based narrative writing activities, supported by writing portfolios, lesson plans, and rubric-based assessment. The data were collected through pre-test and post-test writing tasks and analyzed using mean scores, standard deviation, and paired-sample t-test. The findings showed that students’ mean score increased from 12.68 in the pre-test to 19.68 in the post-test, indicating an improvement of 7.00 points. The paired-sample t-test result also showed a statistically significant difference between the pre-test and post-test scores, with a significance value of 0.0005. Further analysis revealed that students improved in all assessed writing aspects, including introduction, body, conclusion, grammar, and word choice. Grammar obtained the highest post-test mean score, followed by conclusion, word choice, introduction, and body. These findings suggest that Project-Based Learning can support students’ narrative writing development by providing structured, collaborative, and process-oriented writing experiences. The study implies that PBL can be integrated into EFL writing instruction to improve students’ content organization, language use, and engagement in the writing process.