Cooperative learning and its benefits in efl social speaking classes from the perceptions and experiences of second year english majored students

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION GRADUATION PAPER COOPERATIVE LEARNING AND ITS BENEFITS IN EFL SOCIAL SPEAKING CLASSES FROM THE PERCEPTIONS AND EXPERIENCES OF SECOND-YEAR ENGLISH-MAJORED STUDENTS Supervisor : Nguyễn Thị Kim Phượng (M.Ed) Student : Nguyễn Thị Thúy Hạnh Course : QH2017.F1.E7 HÀ NỘI - 2021 ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ KHOA SƯ PHẠM TIẾNG ANH KHĨA LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP HÌNH THỨC HỌC TẬP HỢP TÁC VÀ NHỮNG LỢI ÍCH CỦA NĨ TRONG LỚP HỌC TIẾNG ANH GIAO TIẾP XÃ HỘI TỪ NHẬN THỨC VÀ TRẢI NGHIỆM CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM HAI CHUYÊN NGÀNH TIẾNG ANH Giáo viên hướng dẫn : Th.s Nguyễn Thị Kim Phượng Sinh viên : Nguyễn Thị Thúy Hạnh Khóa : QH2017.F1.E7 HÀ NỘI - 2021 Signature of Approval: NGUYỄN THỊ KIM PHƯỢNG Supervisor’s Comments and Suggestions: APPROVED I hereby state that I: Nguyen Thi Thuy Hanh, class QH2017.F1.E7, being a candidate for the degree of Bachelor of Arts (TEFL) accept the requirements of the College relating to the retention and use of Bachelor’s Graduation Paper deposited in the library In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan or reproduction of the paper Signature Nguyễn Thị Thúy Hạnh Date: June 8th, 2021 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT First of all, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my supervisor, Ms Nguyen Thi Kim Phuong, whose expertise was invaluable throughout the process of the thesis Had it not been for her whole-hearted support and infinite patience, this research would not have been completed I would also like to pay my special regards to Ms Pham Thi Thuy Linh, whose first lessons on doing research and assistance along my research journey were milestones in the completion of this paper I wish to extend my sincerest thanks and appreciation to all of the participants in the research It was their detailed responses that enriched the data and enabled this study to be possible Getting through my dissertation required more than academic support, and I had my greatest groupmates, Nguyen Quynh Nga and Pham Ha An, to thank for supporting me during the earliest and most difficult stage of the research project I would also like to thank my research mate, Mai Thu Phuong, for being such a wonderful companion along this challenging journey Most importantly, none of this could have happened without my family and my boyfriend To my parents, who always supported me emotionally and financially, and my sister, who always expressed her genuine sympathy for all of the difficulties that I encountered, had it not been for your unconditional love, understanding and even tolerance, I would have never had enough time and strength to complete the thesis And to my boyfriend, Trinh Dang Huy, every time I was ready to quit, it was your unwavering belief and encouragement that pushed me forwards so that I could make this dream come true iii ABSTRACT This study aims to determine university students’ perceptions of and experiences with Cooperative Learning’s elements and benefits in EFL social speaking classes The research utilizes an explanatory sequential mixed-methods research design to assist the achievement of goals The findings from the research indicate students’ incomplete awareness of Cooperative Learning’s characteristics and benefits despite their frequent and positive experiences with the learning process in their EFL social speaking classes Specifically, the majority of the students perceive individual accountability, promotive interaction, and appropriate use of social skills as key features of Cooperative Learning, and consider higher achievement, improved social skills, self-confidence, motivation to learn, and personal responsibility to be the benefits that Cooperative Learning can bring to EFL social speaking classes Meanwhile, this paper illustrates the students’ frequent participation in properly structured Cooperative Learning and positive experiences with its expected outcomes including personal responsibility to the group, peer group acceptance and friendships, and self-confidence in their EFL social speaking classes The results also indicate a mismatch between the perceptions and experiences of the participants, which is due to their scarce knowledge of the concept Important actions are advised to be taken into consideration to raise students’ awareness of Cooperative Learning to enhance the effectiveness of its application in EFL speaking classes in universities in Viet Nam Keywords: Cooperative Learning, EFL speaking classes, perceptions, experiences, key elements, benefits iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT iii ABSTRACT iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vii LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES vii CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationales for the study 1.2 Research aims and research questions 1.3 Scope of the study 1.4 Expected contributions of the research CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Cooperative Learning 2.1.1 Definition of CL 2.1.2 Underlying theory of CL: Social interdependence theory 2.1.3 Essential elements of CL 2.2 Cooperative Learning in EFL classes 2.3 Related studies about CL and its benefits in EFL speaking classes from students’ perceptions and experiences 11 2.4 Summary 13 CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY 15 3.1 Research context 15 3.2 Research design 15 3.3 Research samplings 16 3.4 Data collection 16 3.4.1 Data collection instruments 16 3.4.2 Data collection procedure 18 3.5 Data analysis 19 3.5.1 Data analysis instruments 19 3.5.2 Data analysis procedure 20 CHAPTER FOUR: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 22 4.1 Findings 22 4.1.1 Personal information 22 v 4.1.2 Research question 1: Students’ perceptions of CL and its benefits in EFL social speaking classes 22 4.1.3 Research question 2: Students’ experiences with CL and its benefits in EFL social speaking classes 27 4.2 Discussion 38 4.2.1 Research question 1: Students’ perceptions of CL and its benefits in EFL social speaking classes 38 4.2.2 Research question 2: Students’ experiences with CL and its benefits in EFL social speaking classes 40 4.2.3 Summary 41 CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSIONS 42 5.1 Major findings of the research 42 5.2 Implications 43 5.3 Limitations and suggestions for further research 44 REFERENCES 45 APPENDICES 49 APPENDIX 1: QUESTIONNAIRE 49 APPENDIX 2: INTERVIEW PROTOCOL 55 vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CL: Cooperative Learning EFL: English as a Foreign Language LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Table 1: Benefits of Cooperative Learning in EFL classes 11 Table 2: A summary of the questionnaire 18 Table 3: Students’ overall experiences with CL’s characteristics 28 Table 4: Students’ experiences with “Positive interdependence” 28 Table 5: Students’ experiences with “Individual accountability” 30 Table 6: Students’ experiences with “Promotive interaction” 31 Table 7: Students’ experiences with “Appropriate use of social skills” 32 Table 8: Students’ experiences with “Group processing” 32 Table 9: Students’ overall experiences with CL’s benefits 34 Table 10: Students’ experiences with CL’s benefits “Efforts to achieve” 35 Table 11: Students’ experiences with CL’s benefits “Quality of relationships” 36 Table 12: Students’ experiences with CL’s benefits “Psychological health” 37 Figure 1: Data collection procedure 18 Figure 2: Students' awareness of CL 22 Figure 3: Students’ perceptions of CL’s characteristics 23 Figure 4: Students’ perceptions of CL’s benefits 24 Figure 5: Students’ awareness of the application of CL in class 26 vii CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION This chapter presents the rationales behind the researcher’s decisions of conducting the study Besides, the research aims, the research questions, the scope, as well as expected contributions of the study are also stated in detail 1.1 Rationales for the study The first two decades of the 21st century have witnessed a growing need for students to be equipped with a set of skills for success called “The 21st -century skills” such as critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity To help students develop those skills, educational institutions are required to foster innovation in teaching methods, so that students are provided with opportunities for more active knowledge acquisition (Loh & Ang, 2020) With that increasing demand, there is a fundamental shift from teacher-centered teaching approaches to learnercentered approaches Among several learner-centered approaches, recent preference is given to Cooperative Learning which is currently being applied “in every part of the world, in every subject area, and with every age student” (Johnson & Johnson, 2008, p.9) Cooperative Learning is a type of learning process in which students work in groups for the accomplishment of common goals and the maximization of each member’s learning Since Cooperative Learning is a learner-centered teaching approach, learners are the subjects of communication, interaction, and cooperation who decide the effectiveness of applied teaching strategies Therefore, although Cooperative Learning is believed to provide a more enjoyable and meaningful environment for learning (Bronet & Eng, 2008), the success of its application in classrooms still largely depends on the way class participants perceive it If it is viewed as “ineffective, wasteful, or inefficient” (Bronet & Eng, 2008, p.19) by some students, these opinions may destroy the classroom atmosphere and affect its implementation Thus, there is an imperative need for teachers to get well informed of how their students perceive Cooperative Learning applied in their classrooms In addition, according to Palupi (2018), a person’s perception about CL by the largest number of the students An explanation was provided by S5 who said that although she acknowledged the positive effect of CL on learners’ academic results, up to the research time, she had scarcely had a graded group activity; therefore, she had not seen any changes in her scores for speaking skills Secondly, although Personal responsibility to the group and Peer group acceptance and friendships stood as the two most experienced benefits in speaking classes 4A/4A*, a small number of the students believed that CL could bring the same benefits to EFL social speaking classes The underlying justification lied in the fact that students lacked knowledge of what CL was and what benefits it could bring to their EFL classrooms Besides stated disagreement between the two variables, results signified a correspondence between students’ perception of and experience with the impact of CL on students’ class attendance Particularly, the smallest number of the students considered Increased attendance as a benefit of CL in EFL social speaking classes Similarly, results showed the students’ low level of agreement with the effect of CL on the improvement of their class attendance It could be concluded that the students did not perceive the benefit due to the fact that the application of CL in their speaking classes 4A/4A* did not result in their more regular class attendance This finding was in supportive of the statement that a person’s perception of something was laid foundation from their experience with it (Palupi, 2018) 4.2.3 Summary In conclusion, although the majority of the students had frequent and positive experiences with CL, not many of them were aware and had knowledge of its features and benefits This result corresponded to the findings of Nguyen (2019) who concluded that although students had experienced CL and its benefits in their EFL classes, they did not have a full and thorough understanding of CL 41 CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSIONS This final chapter will summarize the major findings of the study in response to the research questions and present the implications identified from previously analyzed results Furthermore, the researcher acknowledges the limitations of the study so that suggestions for further research can be drawn 5.1 Major findings of the research Given that there exists a huge gap in the literature of the field related to CL and its benefits in EFL classes from students’ perspectives, this research aimed to identify second-year English-majored students’ understanding of and experiences with CL and its benefits in their EFL social speaking classes For the achievement of stated goals, the researcher seeks to answer the following questions: - What are students’ perceptions of Cooperative Learning and its benefits in EFL social speaking classes? - How students experience Cooperative Learning and its benefits in EFL social speaking classes? In response to the first question, by analyzing students’ knowledge of concepts related to CL, this paper has evidently shown the students’ incomplete understanding of CL The results indicate that the majority of the students assume the importance of individual responsibility in group work and believe that CL has the most positive impacts on learners’ academic achievement This research clearly illustrates the students’ perceptions of CL and its benefits, but it also raises concern about their lack of knowledge of the type of learning in which they are participating The second research question received generally positive results from the respondents’ experiences It can be concluded from the collected and analyzed data that individual accountability stands as the most frequently experienced element of CL by the students, which is in good agreement with results for the most perceived feature of CL In addition, CL is believed to have the greatest contribution to the improvement of students’ quality of relationships Besides, the study identifies a contradiction between students’ perceptions of and experiences with some expected 42 outcomes of CL including higher achievement, responsibility to the group, group acceptance, and friendship with other group members In light of the aforementioned outcomes, it can be generalized that students’ perceptions are laid foundation from the experiences they have had with the learning process However, they lack knowledge of and guidance on the type of learning in which they are involved, therefore, the majority of them not have full awareness of the concept despite their quite frequent and positive experiences with CL and its benefits in their EFL social speaking classes 5.2 Implications The evidence from this study suggests theoretical and practical implications for potential positive changes Theoretically, this paper has filled in the current gap of research on the application of CL in EFL classes in Viet Nam By giving the voice to the students who are the subjects of the learning process, the results build on existing evidence of university students’ lack of knowledge of CL and its benefits in EFL classes Moreover, the data contributes to a clearer understanding of which elements and benefits of CL are the most perceived and experienced by the students Significantly, this study provides new insight into students’ experiences with its characteristics in EFL classrooms, which is not available in the literature of the field Practically, this research implies several suggestions for teachers and administrators of the program to improve their students’ perceptions and experiences Firstly, students should be provided workshops in which they are introduced to concepts related to CL such as features, benefits, and types of activities in order to foster students’ awareness of the term and arouse their interest in the learning process Secondly, it is suggested that teachers provide the students with guidance on and share their experiences with working in cooperative groups to bolster students’ confidence when participating in the activities and maximize the effectiveness of CL’s implementation in classes 43 5.3 Limitations and suggestions for further research Firstly, results from the data may be impacted by the subjectivity involved in students’ reports on their experiences with CL’s features and benefits Both teachers’ and students’ responses should be taken into account to have further confirmation of CL’s application in their classes Secondly, the discussions of results are limited by the lack of prior research on students’ awareness of CL’s elements and expected outcomes, as well as their experiences with characteristics of CL Therefore, it is difficult to make a comparison between the results of this study with those of others This limitation suggests the need for further research on concepts of CL from students’ perspectives Last but not least, it is beyond the scope of this research to study students’ experiences in a longer period of time and a wider range of subjects This research is only limited to students’ experiences in speaking classes 4A/4A* in the program after approximately two months of learning Therefore, the results may not be generalized for other educational contexts Further research is needed to establish students’ experiences with concepts of CL in different learning backgrounds 44 REFERENCES Alghamdy, R Z (2019) EFL Learners’ Reflections on Cooperative Learning: Issues of Implementation Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 9(3), 271 https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.0903.03 Almulla, M (2016) Students’ Perceptions of the Academic and Social Benefits of Working with Cooperative Learning 13 Bronet, M S., & Eng, B (2008) Student Attitudes Towards Cooperative Learning in Education Chan, S H (2004) A Theory of Cooperative Learning as Incentive-Values–Exchange: Studies of the Effects of Task-Structures, Rewards and Ability on Academic and Social-Emotional Measures of Mathematics Learning 394 Creswell, J W (2012) Educational research: Planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research (4th ed) Pearson Creswell, J W (2014) Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (4th edition, international student edition) SAGE Dalziel, J., & Peat, M (n.d.) Fostering collaborative learning during student transition to tertiary education: An evaluation of academic and social benefits 12 Farzaneh, N., & Nejadansari, D (2014) Students’ Attitude towards Using Cooperative Learning for Teaching Reading Comprehension Theory and Practice in Language Studies, Fincham, J E (2008) Response Rates and Responsiveness for Surveys, Standards, and the Journal American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, 72(2) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2384218/ Giedrė, K., & Svetlana, S (2006) Using Cooperative Learning to Develop Language Competence and Social Skills 45 Hilk, C L (2013) Effects of Cooperative, Competitive, and Individualistic Learning Structures on College Student Achievement and Peer Relationships: A Series of Meta-Analyses 150 Johnson, D W (Ed.) (1984) Circles of learning: Cooperation in the classroom Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development Johnson, D W., & Johnson, R T (1999) Making cooperative learning work Theory Into Practice, 38(2), 67–73 https://doi.org/10.1080/00405849909543834 Johnson, D W., & Johnson, R T (2008) Social Interdependence Theory and Cooperative Learning: The Teacher’s Role In R M Gillies, A F Ashman, & J Terwel (Eds.), The Teacher’s Role in Implementing Cooperative Learning in the Classroom (pp 9–37) Springer US https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-70892-8_1 Johnson, D W., & Johnson, R T (2018) Cooperative Learning: The Foundation for Active Learning Johnson, D W., Johnson, R T., & Smith, K A (2014) Cooperative Learning: Improving University Instruction by Basing Practice on Validated Theory 34 Johnson, R T., & Johnson, D W (2008) Active Learning: Cooperation in the Classroom The Annual Report of Educational Psychology in Japan, 47(0), 29–30 https://doi.org/10.5926/arepj1962.47.0_29 Laal, M., & Ghodsi, S M (2012) Benefits of collaborative learning https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2011.12.091 Laal, M., & Laal, M (2012) Collaborative learning: What is it? Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 31, 491–495 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2011.12.092 Ling, X (2015) Application of Cooperative Learning approach: Teachers’ and students’ perceptions towards Cooperative Learning 86 Loh, R C.-Y., & Ang, C.-S (2020) Unravelling Cooperative Learning in Higher Education Research in Social Sciences and Technology, 5(2), 22–39 https://doi.org/10.46303/ressat.05.02.2 46 Luu, T T (2010) Infusing Cooperative Learning into An EFL Classroom English Language Teaching, 3(2), p64 https://doi.org/10.5539/elt.v3n2p64 M Al-Tamimi, N O., & Attamimi, R A (2014) Effectiveness of Cooperative Learning in Enhancing Speaking Skills and Attitudes towards Learning English International Journal of Linguistics, 6(4), 27 https://doi.org/10.5296/ijl.v6i4.6114 McLeish, K (2009) Attitude of Students Towards Cooperative Learning Methods at Knox Community College: A Descriptive Study 95 Modaber, H., & Far, F B (2017) The effects of Cooperative Learning on students’ selfesteem https://zenodo.org/record/582335 Namaziandost, E., Homayouni, M., & Rahmani, P (2020) The impact of cooperative learning approach on the development of EFL learners’ speaking fluency Cogent Arts & Humanities, 7(1), 1780811 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311983.2020.1780811 Nguyen, T B T (2019) EFL Collaborative Learning in a Vietnamese university: Perceptions and experiences of students and teachers 377 Nguyen, T T., & Nguyen, T M L (2020) Impact of Cooperative Learning on speaking competence of 10th grade students in Pho Yen High school 225(12), 107–114 https://doi.org/10.34238/tnu-jst.3644 Orey, M (2010) Emerging Perspectives on Learning, Teaching, and Technology 349 Oxford, R L (1997) Cooperative Learning, Collaborative Learning, and Interaction: Three Communicative Strands in the Language Classroom https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.1997.tb05510.x Palupi, T S (2018) Students’ perception on Cooperative Learning approach to enhance speaking skill in Play Performance class 79 Pedersen, J E., & Digby, A D (2014) Secondary Schools and Cooperative Learning: Theories, Models, and Strategies Routledge 47 Prince, M (2004) Does Active Learning Work? A Review of the Research Journal of Engineering Education, 93(3), 223–231 https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2168- 9830.2004.tb00809.x Railsback, J (2004) Increasing student attendance: Strategies from research and practice 43 Slavin, R E (1980) Cooperative Learning https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543050002315 Slavin, R E (1995) Cooperative learning (2nd Ed.) USA: Allyn and Bacon Suwantarathip, O., & Wichadee, S (2010) The Impacts Of Cooperative Learning On Anxiety And Proficiency In An EFL Class 7(11), Thompson, C (n.d.) The Case for the Six-Point Likert Scale Retrieved January 5, 2021, from https://www.quantumworkplace.com/future-of-work/the-case-for-the-six- point-likert-scale 48 APPENDICES APPENDIX 1: QUESTIONNAIRE COOPERATIVE LEARNING AND ITS BENEFITS IN EFL SOCIAL SPEAKING CLASSES FROM THE PERCEPTIONS AND EXPERIENCES OF SECOND-YEAR ENGLISH-MAJORED STUDENTS I am Nguyen Thi Thuy Hanh from class 17E7 I am researching Cooperative Learning for my Bachelor Thesis This research aims at determining students’ perceptions of and experiences with Cooperative Learning in their EFL social speaking classes I would love to hear your opinion about Cooperative Learning and your experience in speaking sessions during English for social purposes 4A/4A* in which you are currently taking part This will help build up data for the research so that I can have an in-depth understanding of students’ opinions about and experiences with Cooperative Learning The survey should only take minutes, and your responses are completely anonymous Should you have any questions about the survey, please email me: hanhnguyenthuyy@gmail.com I really appreciate your input! 49 PART 1: Background information What is your name? _ Your email: _ How old are you? □ Under 20 □ 20 – 25 □ Over 25 Your gender: □ Male □ Female Your class (e.g: 19E1): _ Have you ever taken part in group work in speaking classes during the course of English for social purposes 4A/4A*? □ Yes □ No PART 2: Perceptions of Cooperative Learning in EFL social speaking classes Choose the option that indicates your understanding of Cooperative Learning in EFL social speaking classes Do you know the term “Cooperative Learning”? A Yes, I know exactly what it is B Yes, I know it but not very clearly C I have heard about it but not know what it is D I have never heard about it but I can guess what it is E I have never heard about it In your opinion, what are some characteristics of Cooperative Learning? Tick all responses that apply: □ Group members depend on each other to succeed □ Each person is responsible both for his/her part of the group work and for helping the others to complete their parts □ Group members communicate face-to-face to discuss problems and to encourage each other to learn better □ Group members make use of several social skills such as leadership, decision-making, trust-building and conflict-management skills 50 □ The group usually reflects on its working process in order to improve its efficiency □ I have no idea about this In your opinion, what are some benefits of Cooperative Learning to learners in EFL social speaking classes? Tick all responses that apply: □ Higher achievement □ Longer retention (better memory) □ On-task communication □ Motivation to learn English □ Increased class attendance □ Feeling of personal responsibility to the group □ Peer group acceptance and friendships □ Willingness to undertake group difficult tasks □ Willingness to protect the group against outside attack or criticism □ Increased self-confidence □ Increased self-esteem □ Reduced anxiety □ Improved social skills (leadership, decision-making, trust-building, conflictmanagement) □ I have no idea about this 10 Do you think that the group work you have in speaking classes during the course of English for social purposes 4A/4A* is a form of Cooperative Learning? A Yes, it is Cooperative Learning C No, it isn’t B It is Cooperative Learning to D I have no idea about this some extent 51 PART 3: Experiences with Cooperative Learning (or group work) in speaking classes during the course of English for social purposes 4A/4A* Choose the option that indicates your experiences with Cooperative Learning (or group work in general if you think that it is not Cooperative Learning) in speaking classes during the course of English for social purposes 4A/4A* 11 In speaking classes during the course of English for social purposes 4A/4A*, how often you: Never Rarely Sometimes Often Usually Always a share the same learning goals with others in group? b share the same rewards for the accomplishment of the group work? c share the same learning resources with others in group? d take responsibility for one part of the group work? e help others in groups to complete their parts? f communicate face-to-face with others in group? g discuss problems 52 with the group? h encourage and be encouraged by others to the group work? i be taught social skills needed for group work? (by teacher) j together with others, reflect on how effective the group work is going? 12 To which degree you agree with the following statements about the effectiveness of Cooperative Learning (or group work) in your speaking classes during the course of English for social purposes 4A/4A*? Strongly Disagree Slightly Slightly Agree Strongly Disagree Disagree Agree a I get a higher score in speaking skills b I remember the knowledge in the lessons longer c I focus on the task when communicating in groups d I am motivated to speak English 53 Agree e I fully attend speaking classes f I feel responsible for the group work g We accept different opinions within the group and maintain good friendships with each other h I am willing to undertake difficult group tasks i I am willing to protect my groups against outside criticism or attack j I feel self-confident when sharing opinions in my groups k I feel my important role in my groups l I not feel anxious when working in groups m I am better at social skills 54 APPENDIX 2: INTERVIEW PROTOCOL PART 1: Background information Can you introduce yourself (your name, your age, and your classes)? PART 2: Perceptions of Cooperative Learning in EFL social speaking classes Have you ever heard of the term “Cooperative Learning”? a If yes, how you know this term and what is it? b If no, what you guess it is? What are the features of Cooperative Learning? How you know that? What benefits you think Cooperative Learning can bring to EFL social speaking classes? How you know that? Why you think that the group work you have in your speaking classes 4A/4A* is/is not a type of Cooperative Learning? PART 3: Experiences with Cooperative Learning (or group work) in speaking classes during the course of English for social purposes 4A/4A* How often you have Cooperative Learning (or group work) in your speaking classes 4A/4A*? In what activities you usually have Cooperative Learning (or group work)? Can you briefly describe a typical activity of Cooperative Learning (or group work) that you have experienced in speaking classes 4A/4A*? What benefits does the use of Cooperative Learning (or group work) in speaking classes 4A/4A* bring to you? 55 ... Cooperative Learning and its benefits in EFL social speaking classes? - How students experience Cooperative Learning and its benefits in EFL social speaking classes? 1.3 Scope of the study Due to the limitation... 1: Students? ?? perceptions of CL and its benefits in EFL social speaking classes 38 4.2.2 Research question 2: Students? ?? experiences with CL and its benefits in EFL social speaking classes. .. Explore second- year English- majored students? ?? perceptions of Cooperative Learning? ??s characteristics and benefits in EFL social speaking classes - Explore second- year English- majored students? ?? experiences