The effect of self regulated Jigsaw IV technique on the achievements and attitudes of university students in foreign language teaching

The aim of this research is to put forward the effect of both "Self Regulated Learning" method and one of the cooperative learning techniques, "Jigsaw IV" technique, upon students' learning a new grammar structure and their attitudes towards the English Course. For this purpose, the research was carried out with 40 students studying in two different prep classes at Bülent Ecevit University Foreign Languages College in the spring term of 2011-2012 academic year. In the research, two different groups were assigned as the experimental group and the control group. During the courses, while a "Self Regulated Jigsaw IV" technique was used for the students studying in the experimental group, a traditional method was performed for the students in the control group. In the research, "non-equivalent control groups pretest-posttest model" was used. An achievement test, an attitude scale towards the English Course and an interview form were used as data collection tools. The achievement test and attitude scale were applied as pre-test at the beginning of the study and post-test at the end of the study. At the end of the study, it has been found out that "Self Regulated Jigsaw IV" technique is significantly and positively more effective on students' achievements than traditional method; however, it is not significantly effective on their attitudes. It has been found out that the students use self regulation skills in their autonomous studies, too. Keywords: Self Regulated Learning, Cooperative Learning, Jigsaw IV, Academic Achievement, Attitude.