The effect of cognitive coaching supported reflective teaching approach on students' academic achievement, retention, metacognitive and reflective thinking skills in english language teaching

This study aims at determining the effects of instruction based on cognitive coaching supported reflective teaching approach on students' academic achievements, retention, metacognitive and reflective thinking skills. In this study the mixed method which combined and used both the quantitative and qualitative methods together, was preferred. The embedded design consisting of adding a secondary research question to an experimantal study was formed the design of the study. The quantitative aspect of the study was conducted as pre-test post-test control group experimental design. The groups of the study were determined as one control and one experimental group. The researcher instructed the experimental group and one of the two classes comprising the control group. The other control group class was instructed by its own instructor determined voluntarily. As for the qualitative aspect of the study, action research design was preferred and in this respect interviews were made to identify students' views about the experimental process. For the interviews, nine students from the experimental group were selected voluntarily according to their levels in class. The study was conducted in the spring term of 2013-2014 Academic Year with the preparatory class students from Fırat University School of Foreign Languages. Both the experimental and the control groups comprised of 30 students. The groups were organized according to their pre test scores (to ensure the impartiality), first term grammar scores, first term total scores and the university entrance examination scores. While experimental group was instructed with cognitive coaching supported reflective teaching activities, traditional teaching method was used for the control group. The achievement test prepared by the researcher is composed of 50 questions. The mean difficulty of the test whose analysis were done using TAP: Test Analysis Program (version 2007a), was calculated to be .547 and the KR-20 reliability coefficient was found to be .882. The four-point Likert style metacognition in English language learning scale consisted of 38 items and developed by the researcher. The KMO value of the scale was measured at .882; the Bartlett test measure was found to be 8521.921 and the Cronbach Alpha reliability coefficient was calculated at.877. The other quantitative data collection instrument was the 'Reflective Thinking Scale' which was developed by Kember and the others (2000) and was adapted in Turkish by Başol and Engin (2013). The SPSS-17 statistical program was used to analyze quantitative data. The study results revealed that the achievement levels of the experimental groups which used cognitive coaching supported reflective teaching approach and those of the control group that used traditional methods increased. However, the experimental group was seen to be more successful than the control group. Significant differences were found between both groups in terms of achievement and retention. Moreover, it was recognized that there were statistically significant differences among the groups in terms of post-test and retention. Retention scores of the experimental groups was seen to be higher compared to the the retention test of the control group. As a matter of the students' scores of The Metacognition in Foreign Language Learning Scale, the experimental group are determined as significantly different in terms of their higher scores in all the subscales such as general, monitoring the process, the attitude towards the process, planning the process, awareness of the language learning aims and evaluating the process. Examining the Reflective Thinking Scale, the scores of experimental group's students are confirmed to be significantly different by comparison with the control group in all of the subscales such as, general, habitual action, understanding, reflection and critical reflection. The qualitative results of the research revealed that the cognitive coaching supported reflective teaching approach was evaluated positiveley by the students. They stated that they comprehended the subjects beter, had higher attainments about learning to learn and applied these skills in all the aspects of their lives.