Lara Martha

Resumen: THIS STUDY IS BASED ON A RESEARCH PROJECT DESIGNED TO PROMOTE MEANINGFUL LEARNING IN CLASSES WHERE ENGLISH IS TAUGHT AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE (EFL) THROUGH THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PROJECT-BASED LEARNING (PBL) APPROACH, INTEGRATING URBAN AGRICULTURE CONTENT. THE PROJECT INVOLVED THIRTY-FIVE (35) ENGLISH TEACHERS FROM FOUR ECUADORIAN CITIES: AZOGUES, CUENCA, IBARRA, AND RIOBAMBA. THE THREE-PHASED PROJECT INCLUDED TEACHER TRAINING, PBL IMPLEMENTATION, AND PROJECT COMPLETION BY STUDENTS. DATA ON TEACHERS' EXPERIENCES WERE COLLECTED FOLLOWING THE ACTION RESEARCH DESIGN. THE MAJOR FINDINGS OF THE STUDY REVEAL THAT THERE IS A MARKED IMPROVEMENT IN STUDENTS' VOCABULARY DEVELOPMENT AND UNDERSTANDING OF BASIC SENTENCE STRUCTURES. MOREOVER, TEACHERS HIGHLIGHTED INCREASED STUDENT ENGAGEMENT AND INTEREST, PARTICULARLY THROUGH THE INTEGRATION OF TIMELY AND RELEVANT TOPICS THAT REFLECT REAL USE OF THE LANGUAGE. THE STUDY CONCLUDES THAT INCORPORATING REAL-WORLD CONTENT LIKE URBAN AGRICULTURE ENHANCES THE RELEVANCE OF EFL INSTRUCTION, WHILE ALSO RAISING STUDENT AWARENESS OF GLOBAL ISSUES SUCH AS ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY.