Enhancing EFL Undergraduates’ Academic Writing through Project-Based Learning: A Systematic Review (2019–2025) within an Outcome-Based Education Framework
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.59175/pijed.v4i2.862Keywords:
EFL Undergraduate Academic Writing, Outcome-Based Education, PRISMA Systematic Review, Project-Based Learning, Writing Assessment Rubrics and Feedback CyclesAbstract
This systematic review, adhering to the PRISMA framework, examined the use of Project-Based Learning (PjBL) to improve English as a Foreign Language (EFL) undergraduates’ academic writing in higher-education contexts. Based on 15 peer-reviewed journal articles published between 2019 and 2025, the review synthesizes evidence on PjBL’s effects, highlighting strengths, challenges, and practice-oriented recommendations within an Outcome-Based Education (OBE) lens. Overall, the included studies indicate that PjBL can support instructors through outcome- and milestone-aligned course design, transparent rubric-based assessment, and structured feedback cycles, while enhancing student learning via authentic projects that foster engagement, macro-organization, multi-source integration, iterative revision, and accurate citation practices. However, several barriers constrain the consistency and comparability of outcomes, including uneven digital literacy, variable implementation fidelity, teamwork equity issues, instructor workload, and short intervention windows. The evidence base is also geographically concentrated, with many studies conducted in Indonesia and a smaller number from other contexts, which limits generalizability across regions and institutional conditions. Practical implications include co-designed milestone sequences, rubric-referenced peer review, explicit feedback-literacy routines, lightweight digital tool support, and workload pacing to sustain implementation. Taken together, these findings suggest that PjBL operationalizes core OBE principles by strengthening constructive alignment between learning outcomes, authentic assessment evidence, and iterative feedback processes, while future research should priorities more rigorous and longitudinal designs, standardized measures, delayed post-tests, and cross-institutional replication to clarify effectiveness across disciplines and settings.
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