ABSTRACT
This chapter employs a social constructivist orientation, which posits that learning is a shared experience rather than an individual one, and hence knowledge is constructed through social interaction and mental models are shaped in collaboration with others. It describes an Action Research (AR) project that set out to explore how five specific obstacles with using constructivist pedagogy in the Korean EFL context could be mitigated through teacher preparation, course design, and a variety of teaching strategies. The constructivist pedagogical approach used in this chapter is known as Project-Based Learning (Project-BL). The original aim of the AR project was to 'find answers' to five specific problems that commonly arise when attempting to implement constructivist learning in the Korean context. Constructivist approaches like Project-BL, which emphasize the communicative and collaborative engagement, may not be the best way to prepare students for the high stakes English proficiency exams.
