Effectiveness of cooperative learning in teaching English in ESP classrooms

1. “Effectiveness of cooperative learning in teaching English in ESP classrooms”

Presentation of the master’s dissertation on the theme
Erkinova Soloxidinova Ra’noxon Anvarjon qizi
Namangan davlat universiteti
Magistratura mutaxassisligi:
5A-120102 -Linguistics (The English Language)

2. Foundation and actuality of the master’s thesis

The teaching of modern foreign languages ​is a
worldwide phenomenon. As we approach the
millennium, the study of modern foreign
languages ​plays a central role in enabling
practical communication and understanding of
other cultures and allows people to gain insight
into their own culture and language through
contrast.
Uzbekistan has a fairly long tradition of teaching and
learning foreign languages. Taking into account that today
English is the most widely studied foreign language in
Uzbekistan, the President of the Republic, in turn, also draws
attention to the further development and improvement in
teaching a foreign language. For this reason, this study, to a
certain extent, serves to fulfill the tasks set in his decrees at
the moment.

3. Content

INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................
CHAPTER I. Theoretical base of cooperative learning in teaching English ……………………………
§1.1.
Cooperative learning – a new tendency in teaching English …….
§1.2.
Modern researches on the problem of cooperative learning ……..
§1.3.
Benefits of cooperative learning ………………………………….
Conclusion of the first chapter…………………………………………….
CHAPTER II. Cooperative learning and language acquisition ……….
§2.1.
Theories underlying cooperative learning ……………………….
§2.2.
Description of the cooperative learning methods and techniques..
§2.3.
Teaching new generations through cooperative learning techniques……………………………...
Conclusion of the second chapter…………………………………………
CHAPTER III. Pedagogical experiment ………………………………
§3.1.
Theoretical background of the pedagogical experiment …………
§3.2.
Methods of pedagogical experiment …………………………….
§3.3.
Description of the pedagogical experiment ………………………
Conclusion of the third chapter …………………………………………….
General conclusion and suggestions ….……………………………………
Bibliography………………………………………………………………
Appendix…..……………………………………………………………......

4. The subject and object of the work:

Subject:
The subject and object of
the work:
Process of learning and teaching English in ESP (English for
Specific Purposes) classrooms. More specifically, the
subjects of the study, two groups of the first year students
(25), from Namangan institute of Civil Engineering,
Republic of Uzbekistan, were designated as experimental
group (54-IQT-21) and control group (55-IQT-21). The
experimental groups’ students were taught English reading
using cooperative learning while the control group
students were taught English reading using the traditional
methods.
Object:
Means of teaching English for ESP learners

5. The aim of the work:

To clarify the effectiveness of cooperative learning in
teaching English in ESP classrooms and to improve its
methodology for making it applicable for educational
context in Uzbekistan.

6.

The tasks of the work
To determine whether
cooperative learning is
more effective than
traditional methods of
teaching with respect
to academic
achievement of
students in English
To examine the
effects of cooperative
learning on the
academic
achievement of lowachievers
To check the
possibility of teaching
English reading
through cooperative
learning activities

7. The scientific novelty of the research:

The approach known as cooperative learning has long
been a point of interest to practitioners of
communicative language teaching since it offers a
body of widely tested classroom procedures for
implementing group-based activities in the language
classroom.

8.

Although there is a considerable and
growing literature on cooperative
learning in mainstream education,
there have been few recent accounts
of its application to the foreign
language in Uzbekistan context, in
special on teaching English reading
through cooperative learning
activities. The present work is
therefore a welcome account for the
foreign language teachers, especially
for those who teach English to social
and science faculty students.

9.

The main issues and representations of the
research:
Different researchers might define cooperative learning in different ways.
The working definition of cooperative
learning in this study entailed the following
features: cooperative learning was a system of
teaching and learning techniques in which
students were active agents in the process of
learning instead of passive receivers of the
product of any given knowledge.

10.

This system could increase students’ academic learning
as well as personal growth because
it reduced learning anxiety,
it increased the amount of student participation
and student talk in the target language,
it built supportive and less threatening learning
environment,
it helped the rate of learning retention.

11. Literature review

Various definitions and research have been done on cooperative
learning. According to Felder and Brent (2012), cooperative learning
is a process that increases the learning and satisfaction rate which is
a result of working on high performance team. Cooperative learning
environments encourage students help each other, lead
collaborations in groups, and awaken common goals by working on
the task that they have been given (Huang, Hsiao, Chang and Hu,
2012).
Riley and Anderson (2006) define cooperative learning as
pedagogical method that learners learn on their own through
explaining the subject matter to others and learning from others.
According to Yi and LuXi (2012) cooperative learning is students’
working and studying together in a group to carry out tasks and
accomplish expected goals. They added that it is not just working
together so it needs accurate preparation, planning and guidance
by the teacher.

12. Methods of the research

In order to accomplish the proposed aim, objectives and tasks of this theoretical and
practical work the following research methods were used:
data analysis
and
processing
observation
method
description
method
questionnaire

13. The theoretical and practical value of the research

This research includes a rich glossary of
commonly used cooperative learning
techniques and provides a useful
introduction to the field of cooperative
learning for the teachers wishing to
better understand how group-based
learning principles can be successfully
used in foreign language teaching in
Uzbekistan context.

14. The structure of the research

The thesis consists of:
introduction,
three chapters (two
theoretical and a
practical one),
conclusion, selective
bibliography
appendixes.

15.

• Contains the topicality, aims and main objectives, scientific novelty of the research work, its
theoretical significance and practical significance, the object and subject, sources of material are
pointed out.
Introduction
The first
chapter
• Presents theoretical base of cooperative learning in teaching English,
• modern researches on the problem of cooperative learning and
• benefits of cooperative learning
• Discusses theories underlying cooperative learning
The second • cooperative learning methods and techniques of teaching new generation
chapter
The third
chapter
• Investigates the possibility of teaching reading in English using cooperative learning approach,
• to measure students' achievement in English pronunciation and
• to investigate the students’ attitude towards cooperative learning.

16. Experiment

This pedagogical experiment involved some steps.
On the first phase, the diagnostic one, the problem of
the research was identified, pupils’ low reading
achievement, and justification of its relevance was
found, the pupils’ reading skill improvement.
The second phase, the prognostic one, consisted of the
development of the experiment program: the models of
the new technologies, methodologies, structures,
systems and measures were designed; the working
hypothesis was formulated; the expected results and
the possible negative consequences were
predicted.

17.

On the third step, the organizational stage, the
material base of the experiment was prepared, work
sheets for the pupils’ observations (appendix 2), a data
register for the teacher’s notes and a questionnaire for
the experimental group (appendix 3).
The most important and complex stage of our
pedagogical experiment, the practical phase, had the
following tasks: the implementation of new
technologies, studying of current results, the tested
technologies adjustment and monitoring of
the process. The first step of this stage was reading
evaluation. All the students from the both groups had
the task to read a simple text of 500 words.

18.

Students with cooperative experiences are more able to
take the perspective of others, are more positive about
taking part in controversy, have better developed
interaction and communicative skills and have a more
positive expectation about working with others than
students from competitive or individualistic settings.
Having analyzed obtained data about students’
reading results of the both experimental and
control group, we come to the conclusion that
there is a statistically significant difference
between the students who were taught by using
cooperative learning and the students who were
taught by using the tradition way.

19. Conclusion

Educators from elementary school
through college depend on cooperative
learning to enhance their lessons and
improve student education. Also known
as “collaborative learning,” the concept
involves having the students work
together in small groups on activities or
projects. The goal of this type of
collaboration is to teach kids the
material, as well as to impart a number
of life skills.

20.

Working together allows
students who struggle
academically to learn
from those who
understand the material
and exposes learners to
diverse populations of
students they might not
interact with under other
circumstances.

21.

Cooperative learning encourages
a number of social benefits. By
working together, students learn
more effective communication
and interpersonal skills. They
learn to listen to each other and
to resolve conflicts. Collaborating
in this way brings them together
as a class, leading to overall
better social relations and
acceptance among the group.

22.

All of these benefits are
characteristics that employers
look for in workers and ones
which will help students in
various aspects of daily living.
thus, cooperative learning is an
educational component that
should be in every classroom in
order to promote these
benefits and lead to student
comfort in continuing to
pursue these skills.