APPLYING CULTURAL PROJECT-BASED LEARNING TO DEVELOP STUDENTS' MOTIVATION FOR WRITING SKILLS

English Language Teaching and Learning

It can be said that writing is the most demanding and difficult skill for university students who study English as a second language although several steps such as prewriting, drafting, editing, revising, and publishing have been applied. In addition, students find it boring to write topics that are artificial and academic such as environment, politics, or education. Topics like costume, lifestyle, and custom, therefore, are necessary to be offered in writing lessons because it is diverse and easy to find sources of information. However, it seems to be challenging for students, especially freshmen. Hence, this article aims to investigate the application of cultural project-based learning to develop students' motivation in writing. This descriptive qualitative research was conducted in an advanced class consisting of 29 first-year students. They were divided into six groups; each includes 4-5 people assigned to make a cultural project within 18 weeks, divided into 2 phases. The products are in the form of a brochure and a cultural festival performance. The study mostly focused on the first phase because it was the time students were required to conducts a brochure. Each member of the group had to create his/ her own essay and then compiled the essays to be a brochure consisting of 10-12 essays. To check the content of the brochure, the lecturer also asked the groups to present in front of the class and send the writings via email to get some suggestions, feedback, or comments.

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