Speaking Through Local Gastronomy: Project-Based Learning, Cultural Identity, and Oral Performance in Higher Education
speaking skills, Project-Based Learning, local gastronomy, cultural identity, academic communication
Abstract
Learning speaking skills in college still faces a number of challenges, especially related to students' low ability to build communication that is contextual, reflective, and rooted in local culture. Students tend to rely on written texts, use informal registers, and are not able to connect speaking practices with social meaning and cultural identity. This study aims to describe the implementation of Project-Based Learning (PjBL) based on local gastronomy in Surakarta in developing students' speaking performance, cultural awareness, and academic communication skills. The research uses a descriptive qualitative approach with the ADDIE development model combined with Research and Development (R&D). Participants consisted of ten students of the Indonesian Language Language Study Program in the Speaking Skills course. Data was obtained through observation, documentation, presentation transcripts, and speaking performance assessments. The analysis was carried out using the interactive models of Miles, Huberman, and Saldaña through the stages of open coding, axial coding, and selective coding. The results of the study show that local gastronomy projects encourage students to build more contextual and reflective communication. Students experienced an improvement in the aspects of mastery of the material and the structure of oral texts, but still faced obstacles in the aspects of rhetoric, expression, and cultural symbolic interpretation. Local gastronomy not only functions as a learning theme, but also as a medium for the formation of cultural identity and students' ideological awareness in academic communication. This research confirms that local culture-based PjBL can be an alternative approach that is more meaningful, authentic, and responsive to the cultural context in higher education.
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