Cooperative learning at long an teachers training college an investigation

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES NGUYỄN VĂN VÕ Class: TESOL 2003 COOPERATIVE LEARNING AT LONG AN TEACHER’S TRAINING COLLEGE: AN INVESTIGATION A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts (TESOL) Supervisor NGUYỄN HOÀNG TUẤN, Ph.D Ho Chi Minh City, November 2007 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES NGUYỄN VĂN VÕ Class: TESOL 2003 COOPERATIVE LEARNING AT LONG AN TEACHER’S TRAINING COLLEGE: AN INVESTIGATION A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of master of Arts (TESOL) Supervisor NGUYỄN HOÀNG TUAÁN, Ph.D Ho Chi Minh City, November 2007 CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I hereby certify my authorship of the thesis which is submitted today entitled: COOPERATIVE LEARNING AT LONG AN TEACHER’S TRAINING COLLEGE: AN INVESTIGATION in terms of the statement of Requirements for Theses in Master’s Programmes issued by the Higher Degree Committee Ho Chi Minh City, December 25, 2007 NGUYEÃN VĂN VÕ i RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS I hereby state that I, Nguyễn Văn Võ, being the candidate for the Degree of Master of TESOL, accept the requirements of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities relating to the retention and use of Master’s Thesis deposited in the Library In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original version of my thesis deposited in the Library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the Library for care, loan, or reproduction of theses Ho Chi Minh City, December 25, 2007 NGUYỄN VĂN VÕ ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First, I acknowledge the assistance of my thesis supervisor, Dr NGUYỄN HOÀNG TUAÁN, who has given me a great deal of valuable help I would like to say that without the enthusiasm of my supervisor, this research could not have been done Next, I would like to send my thanks to the Teachers of the English Department of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities for their teaching and helping me with good knowledge of English, the art of teaching and the methods of doing scientific research which will go with me all my life Finally, my special thanks are sent to the teachers who have taught me other subjects at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities for their patience and enthusiasm iii ABSTRACT This thesis is conducted in order to identify the teachers’ and the first year English non-majored students’ attitudes towards cooperative learning at the Teacher’s Training College of Long An Another purpose of this thesis is to measure the effectiveness of cooperative learning when the students learn English at the college Different instruments were applied in the school years 2005-2006 so as to gather adequate data for the research There was a questionnaire given to 10 teachers who are in charge of teaching English at the college The purposes of this questionnaire were to elicit the teachers’ attitudes toward cooperative learning and their opinions about pair work and group work Another questionnaire was given to 130 students who were the first year English non-majors This number accounted for approximately 30% of the students of the same kind This questionnaire was to identify the students’ attitudes toward cooperative learning and their opinions about pair work and group work when they learn English at the college Both questionnaires also invited the participants to make suggestions to improve the teaching and the learning situations at the college In addition to the two questionnaires mentioned above, a learning style checklist was given to the student participants This checklist was expected to measure the students’ favourite learning style Classroom observation was also conducted in weeks continuously in order to find out the differences between individualistic learning and cooperative learning The differences were considered in terms of participation and performance Finally, three tests were given to the students of the experimental class and the control class The results of these tests of the two groups were compared to see how much different they were The data analysis showed that the teachers in charge of English and the first year English non-majored students at the Teacher’s Training College of Long An had positive attitude toward cooperative learning That is to say the results revealed that iv both the teachers and the students agreed that pair work and group work were suitable to teaching and learning English at the local college The results collected from the learning style checklist also pointed out that the students in question preferred learning cooperatively because of its advantages In addition, the classroom observation sheets showed the differences in terms of students’ participation and performance between learning cooperatively and learning individually The students who worked cooperatively made more progress in their learning English than those who learned individually The superiority of cooperative learning to individual learning was confirmed by the results of the three tests, namely the pre-test, the mid-term test and the final test All of these tests were done in the classrooms in 90 minutes and then were graded by four teachers in two different rounds The findings from the research made way for the following suggestions First, application of pair work and group work to teaching English in first year English nonmajored classes at The Teacher’s Training College of Long An should be promoted because it enables the students to practise English more in various situations and to learn from one another In order to this successfully, the teachers in charge of teaching English at the local college need to make detailed preparations for each class The monitoring of the teachers in charge plays the most important role when pairwork or group work takes place in the class If the learning environment is pleasant and enjoyable, the students will be more likely to have better participation and performance in the class activities Therefore, the teachers need to raise their awareness of the potential problems which may make cooperative learning fail In addition, the exams on English which are given to the students in question should be improved in order to motivate the students to learn the four language skills equally The students’ results in their learning will be improved when the cooperation between the teachers and the students is increased v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Certificate of originality i Retention of use of the thesis ii Acknowledgement iii Abstract iv Table of content vi List of tables xi List of figures xiii INTRODUCTION 0.1 PROBLEMS 0.2 PURPOSES OF THE RESEARCH 0.3 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE RESEARCH 0.4 OVERVIEW OF THE RESEARCH 0.5 DEFINITIONS OF TERMS Chapter 1: BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY 1.1 THE LEARNING SITUATION 1.2 THE TEACHING SITUATION 1.3 THE AIMS OF THE COURSE 1.4 THE COURSE BOOKS 1.5 SUMMARY Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 10 2.1 TYPES OF LEARNING 10 2.1.1 Individualistic Learning 10 vi 2.1.2 Competitive Learning 11 2.1.3 Cooperative Learning 11 2.1.3.1 Definitions 12 2.1.3.2 Types of cooperative learning 12 2.1.3.3 Types of group work 14 2.1.3.4 Factors shaping group work effectiveness 15 2.1.3.5 Group development 16 2.1.3.6 Advantages of pair work and group work 18 2.1.3.7 Group work organization 22 2.1.3.8 Membership and leadership roles 25 2.1.3.9 Group work procedures 26 2.1.3.10 Potential problems with group work and solutions 28 2.2 ADVANTAGES OF COOPERATIVE LEARNING 33 2.2.1 Cooperative Learning and the students’ academic achievement 33 2.2.2 Cooperative Learning and the students’ interaction 34 2.2.3 Cooperative Learning and the students’ retention 35 2.2.4 Cooperative Learning and the students’ responsibility and motivation 36 2.2.5 Cooperative Learning and the students’ psychological health 36 2.2.6 Cooperative Learning and the students’ exchange of ideas 37 2.3 CRITERIA OF COOPERATIVE LEARNING 38 2.3.1 Positive Interdependence 38 2.3.2 Face-to-Face Interaction 38 2.3.3 Individual and Group Accountability 39 2.3.4 Development of Small Group Interpersonal Skills 39 2.3.5 Group Processing 40 vii Chapter 3: METHODOLOGY 41 3.1 METHODOLOGY 41 3.2 RESEARCH DESIGN 42 3.2.1 Participants 42 3.2.1.1 The students 42 3.2.1.2 The teachers 43 3.2.2 The instruments 44 3.2.2.1 Questionnaires 44 3.2.2.2 Classroom Observation 48 3.2.2.3 Learning style checklist 49 3.2.2.4 The practice-based experiment 50 Chapter 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS 52 A DATA ANALYSIS 52 4.1 THE RESULTS OF THE QUESTIONNAIRES 52 4.1.1 The results of the teachers’ questionnaire 52 4.1.1.1 The teachers’ background information 52 4.1.1.2 The teachers’ attitudes towards teaching General English 53 4.1.1.3 The teachers’ opinions about teaching General English 53 4.1.1.4 The teachers’ opinions about pair work and group work 56 4.1.2 The results of the students’ questionnaire 4.1.2.1 The students’ learning background 67 67 4.1.2.2 The students’ attitudes towards learning and teaching General English at the college 71 4.1.2.3 The students’ opinions about pair work and group work 84 4.2 THE RESULTS OF THE LEARNING STYLE CHECKLIST 104 4.3 THE RESULTS OF THE CLASSROOM OBSERVATION 106 viii ... interaction 34 2.2.3 Cooperative Learning and the students’ retention 35 2.2.4 Cooperative Learning and the students’ responsibility and motivation 36 2.2.5 Cooperative Learning and the students’... The data analysis showed that the teachers in charge of English and the first year English non-majored students at the Teacher’s Training College of Long An had positive attitude toward cooperative. .. problems with group work and solutions 28 2.2 ADVANTAGES OF COOPERATIVE LEARNING 33 2.2.1 Cooperative Learning and the students’ academic achievement 33 2.2.2 Cooperative Learning and the students’