(LUẬN văn THẠC sĩ) cooperative learning in EFL reading classes at lam dong minority boarding school

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING BARIA-VUNGTAU UNIVERSITY NGUYỄN THỊ HOÀI HƯƠNG COOPERATIVE LEARNING IN EFL READING CLASSES AT LAM DONG MINORITY BOARDING SCHOOL Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of TESOL Ba Ria - Vung Tau, March, 2021 download by : skknchat@gmail.com MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING BARIA-VUNGTAU UNIVERSITY NGUYỄN THỊ HOÀI HƯƠNG COOPERATIVE LEARNING IN EFL READING CLASSES AT LAM DONG MINORITY BOARDING SCHOOL Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of TESOL SUPERVISOR: Assoc.Prof NGUYỄN TẤT THẮNG Ba Ria - Vung Tau, March, 2021 download by : skknchat@gmail.com ABSTRACT Learning depends on teaching Therefore, a teacher must think of ways and means to stimulate and encourage learning In teaching reading, teachers might place emphasis on Cooperative Learning as an effective instructional method in which students of all levels might work together in small groups to achieve a common goal Hence, this study examines the effect of cooperative learning with respect to EFL learners in reading comprehension at Lam Dong Minority Boarding school, and it investigates students’ attitudes towards cooperative learning The total population of the study was 61 students in Grade 11 at Lam Dong Minority Boarding school To answer Research Question 1, a quasi-experiment was conducted over a period of weeks Firstly, a standardized pre-test was given to the participants in both the control and experimental groups, and the results were analyzed The experimental group adopted a cooperative strategy while the control group did not After analyzing, another standardized post-test was conducted Finally, an Independent sample t-test and paired sample t-test were conducted to examine whether there were significant inter- and intra-group differences in reading comprehension To answer Research Question 2, a questionnaire and semistructured interviews were carried out for 31 members in the experimental group Content analysis was utilized to analyze experimental group reflective reports regarding CL The results of the study revealed two things First of all, when preand post-tests were analyzed, cooperative learning helped students achieve significant progress; they easily outperformed students in the conventional learning group with respect to English reading performance Secondly, the findings also revealed that the students in the experimental group expressed highly positive attitudes towards the use of cooperative learning in EFL reading classes Key words: cooperative learning, reading comprehension, atitude download by : skknchat@gmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would like to take this opportunity to express my deepest gratitude to many outstanding people who advised, supported, and encouraged me in writing this thesis First of all, I would like to express my sincere thanks to my academic supervisor, Assoc Prof Nguyễn Tất Thắng, who spent a lot of time guiding and assisting me throughout my work I appreciate his patience as well as his broad knowledge regarding academic excellence and achievement I also admire his consistent kindness in encouraging and helping me to accomplish this work His useful comments and encouragement helped me overcome difficulties to get this thesis done I owe my deepest gratitude to Mrs Pham Thi Hong, the Principal of Lam Dong Minority Boarding school, who was kind enough to give me an opportunity to carry out my study with the students of the school Also, I will never forget each of the students who participated in this study Without their co-operation, I could never have formulated and completed this thesis Last but not least, I thank my family To my parents, I express deep admiration for their sacrifice in raising me and giving me a chance to pursue a career in academics I am also indebted to my husband, my son, and my daughter for their understanding and untiring love They have been my cheerleaders all throughout the long, and sometimes difficult, academic path I have chosen to follow Nguyen Thi Hoai Huong download by : skknchat@gmail.com STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP Except where reference is made in the text of the research paper, this thesis “Cooperative Learning in EFL Reading Classes at Lam Dong Minority Boarding School” contains no material published elsewhere or extracted in the whole, or in part, from the paper by which I have qualified for or been awarded another degree or diploma Moreover, no one’s work has been used without acknowledgment in the paper This paper has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any other territory institution Dalat, March 2021 Nguyen Thi Hoai Huong download by : skknchat@gmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the study 1.2 Statement of the problem 1.3 Aims and Objectives of the study 1.4 Research questions 1.5 Scope of the study 1.6 Significance of the study 1.7 Definitions of the study 1.8 Organization of the thesis CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Cooperative learning (CL) 2.1.1 Definition of cooperative learning 2.1.2 Five elements of cooperative learning 2.1.3 Models of cooperative learning 2.1.4 Advantages and disadvantages of using cooperative learning for students 11 2.1.5 Positive outcomes of cooperative learning 13 2.2 Cooperative learning and reading comprehension 16 2.3 Theories underlying cooperative learning 17 2.3.1 Vygotskian Perspective 17 2.3.2 Constructivism 18 2.4 Attitude 19 2.4.1 Definition of attitude 19 2.4.2 The role of attitude in language learning 20 2.5 Previous studies on cooperative learning 21 2.6 Summary 28 download by : skknchat@gmail.com CHAPTER METHODOLOGY 29 3.1 Research design 29 3.2 Research site 29 3.3 Sample and sampling procedures 30 3.4 Research instruments 31 3.4.1 The instrument to obtain data for the research question No 31 3.4.2 The instrument to obtain data for the research question No 34 3.5 Data collection procedures 36 3.5.1 Steps to answer research question No 36 3.5.2 Steps to answer research question No 39 3.6 Data analysis procedures 40 CHAPTER RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 41 4.1 The effects of cooperative learning on students' reading comprehension performance 41 4.2 Students' attitude towards cooperative learning in reading classes 45 4.2.1 Desire to work in a group 45 4.2.2 Awareness of the benefits of working in a group 46 4.2.3 Behaviour when working in a group 48 4.3 Discussion 50 4.4 Summary 53 CHAPTER CONCLUSION 55 5.1 Recapitulation 55 5.2 Pedagogical implications 56 5.3 Limitations and further study 57 REFERENCES 58 APPENDICES 65 download by : skknchat@gmail.com LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1 Johnson, Johnson, and Smith's Elements of cooperative learning (Neo et al., 2012) Figure 2.2 Outcomes of cooperative learning (Johnson and Johnson, 1999) 13 Figure 2.3 Three components of an attitude (Hilgard, 1980) 20 Figure 4.1 Mean differences between Control and Experimental group's Pre-test and Posttest 43 download by : skknchat@gmail.com LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1 Modern models of cooperative learning (Zuo, 2011) Table 3.1 Sample in Reasearch question and research question 31 Table 3.2 Control and Experimental group under treatments 32 Table 3.3 Format of PET reading test (Cambridge, 2010) 33 Table 3.4 Control group and Experimental group under observations 34 Table 3.5 Conversion tables of Improvement points 38 Table 4.1 Descriptive statistics for a pre-test of control and experimental group 41 Table 4.2 Descriptive statistics for pre-test and post-test scores of the control group 42 Table 4.3 Descriptive statistics for pre-test and post-test scores of the experimental group 42 Table 4.4 Descriptive statistics for post-test of control and experimental group 43 Table 4.5 The involvement of control and experimental group during weeks of EFL reading classes 44 Table 4.6 Descriptive statistics for the desire to work in a group 45 Table 4.7 Descriptive statistics for advantages of learning English in group work mode 46 Table 4.8 Descriptive statistics for behavior when working in a group 48 download by : skknchat@gmail.com CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the study Nowadays, learning English has become a global phenomenon, which has been occurring in many countries Vietnam is not an exception Since the economic reform of Doi Moi in 1986, a lot has changed in Vietnam in every aspect of life As the country developed, an open-door policy created a need for foreign languages, especially English People of all ages now learn English for a variety of reasons and attempt to use it to bring themselves much further in their careers English plays a significant role in Vietnamese educational programs English is taught not only as a major in many universities but also as a compulsory subject in all schools nationwide However, Ellis (1994) examines and indicates that English teachers in Vietnam are far too dependent on traditional teaching methods In traditional teaching, teachers merely lecture, and students are not given a chance to use the target language Additionally, students are not exposed to the English language outside the classroom setting, and English teaching gets faltered and failed Since the end of 1970, in line with economic and political development, the demand for competence in communication with people from different countries all over the world has been increasing Linguists and educators have realized that the goal of teaching and learning a language is the ability to use the target language to interact or communicate in real-life basis Therefore, the focus has now been shifted to a communicative approach that places a strong emphasis on communicative competency, which should be the primary goal in learning a language Accordingly, it is assumed that communicative language teaching (CLT) is not only trendy, but it is the only way to learn a language properly In line with this new teaching trend throughout the world, CLT is highly encouraged to replace the old Grammar-Translation approach in the teaching of English in Vietnam This new approach excels by employing various innovative and effective techniques in language teaching One of the techniques to make the EFL download by : skknchat@gmail.com 76 OBSERVATION SHEET Week – Observer: Mrs Loan Experimental group N0 Name 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Ánh Anh Chi Chu Cường Duyền Guang Hảo Hưng Li Lu Luyệt Na Nàng Nga Nhuyết Phương Quang Ra Rốt Sinvia Thảo Thiều Thuế Thùy Trích Trinh Vân Vinh Vũ Uân Students’ activities Ask/ answer Raise hand from teacher x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x download by : skknchat@gmail.com x x x 77 APPENDIX download by : skknchat@gmail.com 78 download by : skknchat@gmail.com 79 download by : skknchat@gmail.com 80 download by : skknchat@gmail.com 81 download by : skknchat@gmail.com 82 download by : skknchat@gmail.com 83 download by : skknchat@gmail.com 84 APPENDIX download by : skknchat@gmail.com 85 download by : skknchat@gmail.com 86 download by : skknchat@gmail.com 87 download by : skknchat@gmail.com 88 download by : skknchat@gmail.com 89 download by : skknchat@gmail.com 90 download by : skknchat@gmail.com ... effect of cooperative learning with respect to EFL learners in reading comprehension at Lam Dong Minority Boarding school, and it investigates students’ attitudes towards cooperative learning The...MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING BARIA-VUNGTAU UNIVERSITY NGUYỄN THỊ HOÀI HƯƠNG COOPERATIVE LEARNING IN EFL READING CLASSES AT LAM DONG MINORITY BOARDING SCHOOL Submitted in fulfilment... This study aims at examining the effectiveness of CL in EFL reading classes and exploring attitudes toward using CL in the context of Lam Dong Minority Boarding school, Lam Dong province The specific