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Learning English Through Cooperation Among University First Year Students 257
conversation, such as “Do you come to class at nine o’clock?” questions to which there is
usually only one correct answer already known to both parties can be observed in lockstep
type of lessons. Only rarely does genuine communication take place. The quality of student
talk can be improved considerably through group work providing students opportunities to
have face-to-face communication in a natural setting, and to engage in cohesive and coherent
sequences of utterances, thereby developing discourse competence, not just a sentence
grammar. Many individual differences present in a group of students may be overlooked in
lockstep; however, group work is suitable for particular needs of students. For example,
small groups of students can work on different sets of materials suited to their needs. Group
work promotes a positive affective climate. Students who are shy and linguistically insecure
experience considerable stress when they are called in the public atmosphere of lockstep
instruction. Unlike the public atmosphere of lockstep instruction, a small group of peers
provide a relatively intimate setting and a supportive environment in which they can try out
second language skills. Group work motivates learners. Studies show that students feel less
inhibited and freer to speak, and make fewer mistakes in the small group than in the teacherled
class (LittleJohn, 1983: 595-608).
Research indicates that cooperative learning as opposed to individualistic and
competitive learning, not only contributes to students’ academic achievement (Crismore
and Salim, 1997: 18; Dörnyei, 1997: 482-483; Fall and Webb, 2000: 911-941; Johnson
and Johnson, 1999: 67-74; Kinsella, 1996: 24; McManus and Gettinger, 1996: 21-22),
but also furnishes them with skills such as self-recognition, self-esteem, interpersonal
relations, social skills, and peer acceptance (Putnam, 1998: 24-30).
Olsen and Kagan (1992: 5) report some research on cooperative learning with
respect to some of its benefits for language learning. In traditional classrooms, teachers
do most of the talking leaving students very little time to speak and to do language
production, and low-achieving students are given fewer opportunities to participate. In
contrast to traditional teaching, in cooperative classes, up to 80 percent of cooperative
class time may be devoted to activities. Half of the students may do language production
while the others are engaged in language comprehension. This results in increased active and
complex communication for students. In cooperative learning linguistic complexity
increases through various means such as increased stating of new information, giving
explanations, offering rationales, and showing integration of information which at the
same time ensure negotiation of meaning among students, and it is accompanied by
nonlinguistic and paralinguistic features such as facial expressions to convey emphasis.
In cooperative learning settings, each student wants to make his or her communication
understood by other students because the more that is learned by each, the greater the
rewards for all. This ensures increased comprehension. Social behaviors are considered
important in cooperative learning because they are required in students’ interaction with
each other to achieve activity or task objectives. These behaviors are similar to language
functions such as paraphrasing others’ ideas, asking for explanations, summarizing
group progress, clarifying, indicating agreement/ disagreement, and interrupting politely.
Some other potential benefits of cooperative learning for language learners include
opportunities for L2 interaction, improvement of L2 proficiency, development and
integration of L2 skills, and content learning (Klingner and Vaughn, 2000: 69-98;
McGroarty, 1989: 127-143; Porto, 2001: 38-46, Swain, 2001: 44-63).
March 2005 Vol:13 No:1 Kastamonu Education Journal