The Impact of Cooperative Learning on Grammar Learning among Iranian Intermediate EFL Learners

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (7) ◽  
pp. 1429
Author(s):  
Abdolvahed Zarifi ◽  
Azimeh Taghavi

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of cooperative learning activities on Iranian intermediate EFL learners' grammatical competence. This research was a quasi-experimental study and its design was comparison group design. The study included one control and one experimental group. In total, 50 students participated in the study. They were male and female intermediate English language learners studying English in EFL department at Shokuh-e-Danesh Institute, Dehdasht, Iran. Following a workshop on the implementation of cooperative learning activities, the experimental group was exposed to cooperative learning activities. The control group was, on the other hand, provided with traditional grammar learning methods. 25-item grammar tests were given to both groups before and after the eight-week treatment. T-tests were employed to analyze the obtained data. The results of the tests revealed significant differences between the control group and the experimental group regarding their grammar learning through cooperative learning. The findings of the study suggested that cooperative learning had positive effects on Iranian intermediate EFL learners' grammatical competence.

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-18
Author(s):  
Behnaz Raji

This study examined the effect of Jigsaw technique as a part of cooperative learning on Iranian EFL learners’ reading comprehension. To this end, 40 intermediate participants were selected out of 73 EFL learners based on the results of Oxford Quick Placement Test (OQPT). The participants were divided into two groups; control and experimental. Then, the participants of both groups were pretested on reading comprehension. After pre-testing, the cooperative learning activities (Jigsaw technique) were practiced with the participants of the experimental group during 5 sessions. The experimental participants were assigned to five-member teams to work on reading texts. Each team member read an assigned section and then members from different teams who had studied the same sections met in ‘expert groups’ to discuss their sections. Then, students returned to their own teams and taught their team-mates about their section. On the other hand, the control group received traditional teacher-fronted instruction throughout the classroom time. After the treatment sessions, a teacher-made reading comprehension post-test was given to the participants of both groups to measure their reading comprehension ability after the treatment. The results of paired samples t-test and independent samples t-test revealed that the experimental group outperformed the control group on the post-test. The findings also showed that there was a significant difference between the post-tests of both groups in favor of the experimental group.


SAGE Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 215824402110071
Author(s):  
Saleh Alharthi

Writing is an intricate process that encompasses various factors and is a key skill for English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students. Thus, writing assignments are vital for any curriculum. One of the essential aspects of effective writing includes good grammar knowledge. Advocates of process writing argue that a free-writing journal is a practical approach to teaching EFL students writing. This study is intended to examine the impact of the free-writing journal on EFL learners. This study was conducted on 80 students from a writing course at the University. Thirty-five students were randomly selected to join the free-writing program—the experimental group—and 45 students were kept in their regular structured writing program—the control group. The experimental group selected topics of interest to them and was encouraged to write in English freely without concern for errors, whereas the control group followed a regular structured writing program where the topics were selected for them and they wrote following a clear guideline. Five major areas were investigated to evaluate students’ progress: the number of words written, spelling, capitalization, subject-verb agreement, and punctuation. The researcher conducted semi-structured interviews with 10 students of the experimental group to elicit their perception of the free-writing program. According to the analysis, students in the free-writing program acquired better grammar acquisition than the control group. The researcher also observed students’ perception of free-writing at the end of the study and found that free-writing improved their writing skills.


Author(s):  
Mojtaba Maghsoudi ◽  
Sahar Saeedi

This study presents the findings of an investigation of the impact of teacher error corrective feedback on 180 field-dependent/ field-independent (FD/FI) male and female pre-intermediate and advanced Iranian EFL learners writing skill. The participants were separated into two experimental groups and one control group and were asked to write three paragraphs of about 100-150 words around three different topics, each in odd days of a week; then they received direct (in experimental group 1), indirect (in experimental group 2) and no correction feedback (in control group). The results based on Mean Scores, Standard Deviation, Multivariate Analyses and 1-way ANOVA showed that there was not any significant difference between the FD/FI learners' writing skill scores who had received corrective feedback on their errors; however, as indicated by the second finding of the present study it would be better to feedback field-dependent/-independent EFL learners indirectly. It was also indicated that, learners' learning styles had made a significant change in their writing skill scores.


2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 172
Author(s):  
Waqar Ahmad ◽  
Zuraina Ali ◽  
Muhammad Aslam Sipra ◽  
Imtiaz Hassan Taj

Smartboards, which are now widely used in the teaching and learning process in Saudi Arabia, have turned the traditional environments of the classrooms, especially the EFL classrooms to be more interesting and encouraging. Literature reviews suggest that Saudi students usually lack motivation for studying English as a foreign language. This study tends to investigate the impact of Smartboards on preparatory year EFL learners motivation at a Saudi university. Two intact groups were selected, in which one was termed as experimental and the second as control group. The experimental group was taught using the Smartboard while the control group was taught with the traditional whiteboard, pen and book method. The treatment was given for seven weeks. A questionnaire was administered to both the groups at the beginning and the end of the study. The data was analysed using the SPSS and the results showed that there was significant difference between the experimental and control groups in terms of motivation.  


2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saeedeh Rajayi ◽  
Mahpareh Poorahmadi ◽  
Mahpare Poorahmadi

A considerable body of research has been conducted on effective vocabulary instruction to improve vocabularylearning. However, no research has been done to empirically document the link between teaching vocabulary through“Kik’ application and vocabulary learning. Thus, this study was conducted to fill this gap in research related to thisphenomenon. To this effect, 61 intermediate EFL learners from Joyandegan language institute were selected throughconvenience sampling and randomly assigned to two groups; experimental and control group. In this pretest, posttestexperimental study, only the experimental group received training through “Kik” application. The comparison of thescores of Teacher Made Vocabulary Test showed that the scores of experimental group were higher than those of thecontrol group. The comparison of the scores of Teacher Made Vocabulary Test showed that the scores ofexperimental group were higher than those of the control group. This provided a statistically significant relationshipbetween the independent variable, teaching vocabulary through “Kik” application, and vocabulary learning which isthe dependent variable. The results of this study point to a probability that on using of “Kik” for teaching vocabularyand the results of this study showed that using “Kik” for teaching can have a significant impact on EFL learners’vocabulary learning.


2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (6) ◽  
pp. 1191
Author(s):  
Sahar Ghaffari ◽  
Mohammad Ali Fatemi

This study was conducted with the aim of investigating the impact of instructional conversations on oral autonomy of Iranian English as Foreign Language (EFL) learners. Forty-nine Iranian intermediate EFL learners from three language institutes in Sarakhs were selected as the participants of the study based on their scores in Nelson Proficiency Test. Administering Nelson General Proficiency Test, participants were measured to make sure they are homogeneous. These participants were randomly assigned into to control and experimental groups.  Participants in both groups sat for Learner Oral Autonomy Questionnaire with some modifications from Kashefian's learner autonomy questionnaire (2002). Results of independent samples t-test lack of any significant difference between the two groups in oral autonomy at the outset of the study. Throughout the study which lasted for 12 sessions participants in experimental group received the treatment, instructional conversations, as a tool for teaching speaking materials. Participants in the control group were taught the same materials as those practiced in the former group through such techniques as role playing, peer dialogues, and oral presentations. Finally, the posttest being the same as the pretest was administered. Results of independent samples t-test showed that the experimental group significantly outperformed the control one in Oral Autonomy Questionnaire. The present findings provide pedagogical implications for employing instructional conversation in EFL speaking classrooms.


2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (34) ◽  
pp. 102-115
Author(s):  
Lamis Abdulkarim Al-Shuga’a ◽  
Kamariah Yunus ◽  
Mohammed Abdulgalil Abugohar

The cooperative learning method is one of the most effective student-centered learning methods used in teaching English language classes. It is an updated and effective pedagogic method that should be integrated into classrooms. The previously reviewed studies showed that the use of cooperative learning method may improve students’ knowledge of the language. This paper aims at investigating the impact of cooperative learning methods on Yemeni adult students’ knowledge of global issues vocabulary. The study employed an experimental method research design where the quantitative data collection method was conducted. A pretest and posttest (of the same test) were administered to the 25 respondents in the experimental group and the other 25 respondents in the control group. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25.0 was used to analyse the difference between the two groups’ performance using the t-test. Results showed that the students in the experimental group performed significantly better than the students in the comparison group in the required tasks relating to global issues vocabulary knowledge. Findings also indicated that the cooperative learning method had positive effects on students’ vocabulary knowledge in classrooms. The participants gained confidence and their language skills were improved. Social skills like leadership, decision-making, trust-building, communication, and conflict-management skills were also developed. The study concludes that cooperative learning contributes to cognitive growth, increased autonomy and productivity of adult learners. The cooperative learning method should be integrated into English language classrooms to improve the growth and productive knowledge of students at the tertiary level.


Author(s):  
Mahtab Zadkhast ◽  
Majid Farahian

The present study investigated the impact of immediate and delayed corrective feedback on Iranian EFL learners’ willingness to communicate. To attain the purpose of the study, 45 females intermediate students that were roughly selected according to their previous grades and their assigned  level in language school were chosen to participate in this study. Then they were divided to three equal groups: Experimental group 1(immediate feedback), Experimental group 2 (delayed feedback) and control group. In the first session, WTC questionnaire (MacIntyre ,2001 modified by Pourya Baghaei and Ali Dourakhshan) was administered to all groups as pretests. In group 1 the students’ errors were corrected by the teacher immediately after committing but in the second group, the students’ errors were written by the teacher and her comments were given to them when they finished their tasks. For the control group, the routine procedure of New Headway intermediate was followed. After about 12 sessions WTC was repeated as posttests. The findings revealed that immediate and delayed corrective feedback have a significant effect on EFL students’ level of WTC. The results, also demonstrated that experimental group 1 (immediate feedback) outweighed the other two groups in relation to their WTC. The findings have implication for pedagogy as well as further research.


2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 151 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohamed Ali Mohamed Kassem

The present study aimed at investigating the effect of using wikis on developing business writing skills and reducing writing anxiety of Business Administration students at Prince Sattam bin Abdul Aziz University, KSA. Sixty students, who were randomly chosen and divided into two equivalent groups: control and experimental, participated in the study. Two main tools were devised to collect data: Test of Business Writing Skills (TBWS) and Writing Anxiety Inventory (WAI). The experiment was conducted during the second semester of the academic year 2015-2016. A t-test was utilized to calculate the differences between the mean scores of the two groups in pre- and post-intervention. The findings of the study showed statistically significant differences between the mean scores of the experimental group and the control group on the post-TBWS in favor of the experimental group. In addition, the writing anxiety level of the experimental group, after the intervention, was significantly less than the control group. These findings revealed the positive effects of wikis on developing business writing skills and reducing writing anxiety of EFL learners. It is recommended that sufficient training should be provided to instructors on how to integrate wikis in business writing instruction. Pedagogical implications and suggestions for further research are presented.


2019 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 18-30
Author(s):  
Mohammad Naghavi ◽  
Mahboubeh Nakhleh

The present study essayed to investigate the impact of collaborative pre-writing discussions on three aspects of writing skill namely, complexity, accuracy and fluency (CAF). To reach this goal, 60 intermediate male EFL learners ranging from 22 to 28 years at Shahid Beheshti Language Center in Tehran, Iran participated in the study. For the purpose of homogeneity, the standardized English Proficiency Test (Preliminary English Test) was administered to 88 students and they were divided into two intact experimental and control groups. The experimental group, which was divided into six groups of five was exposed to and performed on a-40- minute essay writing tasks held two sessions per week lasting ninety-minutes for ten weeks with collaborative pre-writing discussions. Moreover, the students in experimental group were required to complete a questionnaire at the end of the study to find out about their feelings regarding prewriting discussions prior to writing in L2. The control group received the same materials and teacher as experimental group, except for, there was no collaborative pre-writing discussions to write the essays. After the raters were trained and familiarized with the rating process, the essays by both groups were collected and scored holistically based on the assessment measure provided to the two raters. In order to provide plausible answers to the research questions posed above, a series of one way ANOVA was employed to evaluate the participants' overall performance in the two conditions. The results indicated that collaborative pre-writing discussions were superior to mainstream methods. Thus, the findings can have an immediate implication for EFL teachers and practitioners who are searching for cutting edge ways of developing EFL learners' writing performance.


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