Abstract： Abstract: Combining quantitative and qualitative methods, this study investigates the learning effort of 25 English major participants and the factors that influenced their effort during their 10-week group project learning in a project-based English course. The following results were obtained: (1) The participants invested a great amount of time into their project-based learning, and the time expenditure varied among different project stages and different project activities; (2) The participants’ effort investment was maintained at a high level throughout, and increased with the progression of the projects; (3) The factors that influenced the learner effort mainly included the difficulty of activities, goals and affective experiences. The study points out that teachers should control the difficulty of activities, encourage students to set higher goals within their capabilities, and stimulate their positive affective experiences.
Key words: project-based language learning model; learner effort; English majors
