The Effectiveness of Various Ability Groupings in an EFL Cooperative Learning Classroom

Abstract

本研究的研究目的是提供英文老師如何在課堂上有效運用合作教\r\n學，並提供老師在處理合作學習分組上一些適當、 有用的建議。本研究以一班台北市高職二年級學生為對象，以四種合作教學法應用在他們英文課上，並將實驗劃分為兩階段—同質學習能力小組及異質學習能力小組。藉此探討不同學習能力的學生對不同能力分組方式，有何感受及差異。此外，本論文亦深入探討合作學習在學生情意領域上的影響， 比照他們在不同分組階段後的感受及成效。\r\n資料蒐集方式包括兩份主要問卷調查，分別於不同分組階段後實施，及學生週誌、課堂觀察、及訪談。資料分析方式為量化的描述性統計及質化內容分析法。研究結果摘要如下：\r\n一. 高成就學生偏好同質學習能力分組，並在社會技巧及英語學習上，顯著優於其他同學。\r\n二. 低成就學生偏好異質學習能力分組，實施合作教學後，對於學習意願、上課態度上，有明顯進步。\r\n三. 實施合作教學後，大部分學生在英語學習、學習興趣、態度、及社會技巧、人際關係上，皆有提升。

The purpose of the study is to examine the effect of different groupings of Cooperative Learning on an English class of vocational high school students in Taiwan. Cooperative Learning is one of the teaching techniques applied in EFL classrooms, proved to be effective in promoting students’ academic achievement, affective domain as well as improving students’ interpersonal relationship. Although many EFL teachers in Taiwan have adopted cooperative learning to their teaching, not all of them paid attention to the grouping criteria. This study aims to investigate which ability grouping, heterogeneous or homogeneous, can bring most benefits to the students in their English learning and affective domain. In other words, this study tries to probe in the effectiveness of cooperative learning, by students’ perception, whether their learning attitude, achievement and social skills are enhanced through cooperative learning. And the relationship between different ability levels of the students and their preference for different groupings is also investigated.\r\nThe grouping criteria, based on the participants’ academic achievement, divide the experiment into two stages—heterogeneous grouping and homogeneous grouping. Four cooperative learning methods are applied in the class—Students Team Achievement Division (STAD), Teams-Games-Tournaments (TGT), Learning Together (LT) and Jigsaw.\r\nForty-two students, taught by the researcher, from the 2nd year class at a vocational high school in Taipei, have participated in this study. By conducting questionnaires after the two stages of different groupings and oral interviews at the end of the experiment, the researcher collected and analyzed the data.\r\nThe findings of the study indicate that high-ability students prefer to work with the similar-ability peers, while low-ability ones prefer to work in heterogeneous groups. The participants are positive toward the effectiveness of cooperative learning in promoting their English learning, learning attitude and social skills. By running SPSS, the statistical results also show significant difference that high-achieving students are satisfied with the improvement of their social skills and English learning more than the students of other levels when they are placed in homogeneous groups.\r\n The study not only provides EFL teachers with an effective framework of applying cooperative learning in English class, but also offers teachers appropriate and useful suggestion in adopting different groupings. Based on the above results, some pedagogical implications for English teachers and suggestions for learning strategy instructions are provided at the end of the study.