The effects of cooperative learning method on students' attitudes towards English classes and their achievements (Nevşehir University sample)

The purpose of this study is to determine the effects of Student Teams-Achievement Divisions, which is a Cooperative Learning technique, on the attitudes of university students towards English classes and their academic achievements. It was also aimed to investigate the students' opinions concerning cooperative learning. The research was carried out with 50 students attending Pre-Intermediate level English classes at the second grade at Nevşehir University Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Department of Tourism Business and Hotel Management during 2012-2013 Academic Year- Spring Semester. A pre-test post-test experimental design with control group was used in this research. The experimental design of the study consisted of an experimental and a control group. The topics covered by the study were taught by using Student Teams-Achievement Divisions (STAD) method in the experimental group while they were taught by using the traditional method (straight lecture, question-answer) in the control group. The study lasted 8 weeks including 5 teaching hours per week. Both quantitative and qualitative data collection tools were used in order to obtain the data regarding the identified sub-problems. Researcher-developed "Achievement Test" and "Foreign Language Attitude Scale" were applied as pre-test and post-test in both control an experimental groups. An "Open-Ended Written Questionnaire" that was also developed by the researcher was used in order to gather the views of the students in the experimental group related to Cooperative Learning Method. SPSS 15.0 software was used to conduct the analyses of the quantitative data obtained in this study and the significance level was assumed to be p<0.05. Frequencies and percentages were utilized to report the personal information about the students. TAP 6 was used to conduct the analyses after the trial application of the Achievement Test and item difficulty and discrimination indices, variance, standard deviation, mean and KR-20 calculations were carried out. In addition, students' opinions about cooperative learning practices were presented under certain headings in accordance with their frequencies. According to the results of the study, it was found out that attitudes of the students in the experimental group towards English classes increased positively, they felt less anxious, they liked the class more, their interest increased and they felt less bored after the application of STAD. However, it was determined that there wasn't a significant difference in the attitudes of the students in the control group towards English classes, they didn't feel less anxious, their liking and their interest towards the class didn't increase but they felt less bored during the class. When the average of difference scores between pre-test and post-test compared, it was seen that the students in the experimental group had more positive attitudes towards English classes than the students in the control group. Whilst there was a significant difference between the experimental and the control group in favour of the experimental group when the average of difference scores between pre-test and post-test were compared regarding "Liking" and "Interest" sub-dimensions of Attitude Scale, no significant difference was found in terms of "Anxiety" and "Getting bored in the class" sub-dimensions. The results of the analyses of Achievement Test showed that the achievements of the students in both groups increased significantly, but there wasn't a significant difference between the average of difference scores between pre-test and post-test of the two groups. All of the 25 students in the experimental group were administered an Open-Ended Written Questionnaire in order to get their opinions about English classes that STAD, a cooperative learning technique, had been used. It was understood from the responses of the students that they generally had positive attitudes towards learning English and cooperative group work activities had positive effects on the students' attitudes towards the class, their achievements and their interpersonal relationships. Besides, it was also determined that, when compared with the previous English classes, using Cooperative Learning Method in English classes caused positive differences on the students' attitudes towards the class, academic achievements and interpersonal relationships. The students stated that they generally had positive feelings before each class and their participation increased while they were studying in cooperative learning groups. The students also expressed that the things they liked more about cooperative group work are the contributions of their friends to their learning, the activities, greater enjoyment of the lesson, memorability of the lesson, formative tests, the increase in self-confidence, everyone's attending to the class with preparation and everyone's participation in the class when compared to individual study. Additionally, the students stated that they generally felt more comfortable when speaking in English thanks to cooperative group work, that it was easier to remember the subjects by the help of this technique and that they wanted to continue learning English with this technique. Keywords: English Language Teaching, Cooperative Learning Method, Student Teams-Achievement Divisions Technique, Traditional Method