EDU 105.11: LEARNING TO FUNCTION AS AN ENGLISH TEACHER

COLLABORATIVE LEARNING AND CO-OPERATIVE LEARNING

Collaborative learning and co-operative learning are constructivist methods of learning. The basic principle of constructivism is that learners construct knowledge for themselves while they learn.

Collaborative Learning

      According to Gerlach, Collaborative learning is based on the idea that learning is a naturally social act in which the participants talk among themselves. It is through the talk that learning occurs.

                  To collaborate means to work together. Collaborative Learning is an educational approach to teaching and learning that involves groups of learners working together to solve a problem, complete a task or create a product. Collaborative learning is a type of active learning that takes place in student teams. The students participating in collaborative learning are actively exchanging, debating and negotiating ideas within their groups, which increases their interest in learning. Collaborative learning requires working together toward a common goal. Importantly, by engaging in discussion and taking responsibility for their learning, students are encouraged to become critical thinkers.

Characteristics of Collaborative Learning

·        Collaborative learning incorporates group work.

·        It sets group goals and individual accountability.

·        Students work cooperatively rather than competitively.

·        Learning is active and purposeful.

·        Students have increased control over learning.

·        Responsibility for learning is more student-centered rather than teacher-centered.

·        Students are decision-makers and teachers are facilitators.

·        Teacher and students jointly construct knowledge.

Merits of Collaborative Learning

·        Collaborative learning builds self-esteem in students.

·        It enhances student satisfaction with the learning experience.

·        It promotes a positive attitude toward the subject matter.

·        Collaborative learning aids in student’s socialization.

·        It increases learner’s critical thinking skills, and increases his retention of information, and improves interest in the subject-matter.

·        It encourages problem solving skills, understanding complex relationships and decision making in an open ended situations.

Demerits of Collaborative Learning

·        Usually there is no sufficient time for true collaboration to occur.

·        In Collaborative learning, teacher may not be able to monitor groups effectively.

·        Teachers may have a difficult time going from instructor to facilitator.

·        Developing appropriate collaborative learning activities for meeting lesson objectives is often difficult.

·        It necessitates increased social skills and flexibility from the part of the teachers which are rarely go with higher cognitive abilities and advanced content knowledge.

·        Meeting individual differences are not easy in the collaborative classroom.

                               Cooperative Learning

       According to Johnson, Cooperative learning is the instructional use of small groups through which students work together to maximize their own and each other’s learning.

                 Cooperative language learning is a group learning activity in which each member is responsible not only for his own learning but also for helping his group mates to learn. An atmosphere of achievement is created. Each member is benefited.

Characteristics

·        Students work together on common academic tasks.

·        Students work together in groups of two to five members.

·        Students use cooperative, pro-social behaviour to accomplish their tasks.

·        Students are positively interdependent.

·        Students are individually responsible for their work.

 

Objectives

·        To provide opportunities for second language acquisition.

·        To develop communication competence.

·        To facilitate active interaction among learners.

·        To develop critical thinking skills.

·        To create a stress-free atmosphere in the class.

·        To motivate the learners.

·        To foster co-operation among learners.

Importance

·        It promotes student learning and academic achievement.

·        It increases student retention.

·        It enhances student satisfaction with their learning experience.

·        It helps students develop skills in oral communication.

·        It develops student’s social skills.

·        It promotes student self esteem.

·        It motivates students to learn the material.

·        It ensures that students construct their knowledge.

Components

     It is only under certain conditions that cooperative efforts may be expected to be more productive than competitive and individualistic efforts. Those conditions are:

1.     Positive Interdependence

·        Each group members efforts are required for group success.

·        Each group members has a unique contribution to the joint effort.

2.     Face to Face Interaction

·        Orally explaining how to solve problems.

·        Teaching each other one’s knowledge.

·        Checking for understanding.

·        Discussing concepts being learned.
Connecting present with past learning.

3.     Individuals and Group Accountability

·        Ensure the optimum size of the group.

·        Give an individual test to each students.

·        Ask students at random to prevent his groups work to the entire class.

·        Observe each class and record the frequency with which each member contributes to the groups work.

·        Assign one student in each group as the role of checker. The checker asks the other group member to explain the reasoning and rational underlying group answers.

4.     Interpersonal and Small-Group skills.

·        Social skills must be taught .Some skills are the following Leadership, Decision making Trust building , Communication conflict management skills.

5.     Group Processing

·        Group members discuss how well they are achieving their goals.

·        Describe what member actions are helpful and not helpful.

·        Decide what behaviours to be continued or changed.

Limitations

·        Preparation of suitable learning materials is difficult.

·        Some students may waste time discussing irrelevant matters.

·        Some members dominate and others are ignored.

·        Low achievers may be ashamed of lowering the groups score.

·        It ignores the students need to learn competitive skills.

Think-Pair Share Strategy

  Think Pair Share strategy is a recent mode of cooperative learning developed by Andrini. In this model, students pair with a partner to share their responses to a question.

                                 Students are then invited to share their responses with the whole class. There are a variety of ways to share including stand-up and share everyone stands up and each students responds he/she sits down. Any one with a similar response also sits down. It will continue until everyone is seated or do a quick whip through the class in which students respond quickly one right after another.

                                          Language Games

  Researches on play with children and adults indicates that “Play is an important mediator for learning and socialization through out life” (Reiber).

                          Reiber argues play and imitation are natural learning strategies at which children are experts. Having children play games to learn is simply asking them to do what comes naturally.

                          One of the most important learning aspects in games in the language as “The meaning of language is always associated with actions, experience, images and dialogue”. Using language based game in ESL (English Second Language) and EFL (English Foreign Language) classroom is quickly becoming a popular practice.

                        Games are an integral part of growing up as much as they are a part of learning development. They are fun engaging activities that allow for better learning. Above all, they, like learning are something that comes naturally to every human being .Hence  teachers should try to incorporate games into their lessons. The concept of playway method for learning was first introduced in kindergarten and Montessori schools. Later in the 19^th century it was expounded and developed by Cald Wellcook. As the task involved in a game is executed without much conscious effort, the language used while playing is internalized naturally or spontaneously it nourishes the cognitive, affective and psychomotor domains of the child at the same time.

  Vocabulary Games

·        Memory Challenge

                    Put the students into pairs or small groups. Give them a time limit (e.g. 3 minutes) and ask them to write down as many words phrases and / or expressions as they can from the last lesson they studied.

·        Last one Standing

                        Give the class a topic (e.g. food, clothes, animals, things in a kitchen) and ask them to stand up in a circle. It possible clap out a beat and say one, two, three followed by a topic related word. After the next 3 beats, the next stands in the circle gives a word related to topic and so it continues.

                                      Any one who can’t think of a word or repeats a word already said has to sit down, and it’s next person’s turn. The winner is the last one standing.

Spelling Games 

Spelling games helps the students to:

·        Realize the irregular nature of English spelling.

·        Master spelling rules.

·        Use spelling correctly while writing.

Letter Arrangement Games

      Jumble is word game where a set of letters are given to the player. The letters are to be arranged to form a meaningful word.

            E.g. tenmnaitreten

            Ans. Entertainment

Word Search

      Word search is a game that consists of seemingly random letters arranged in a grid. The words may have been placed horizontally, vertically or diagonally. They may have been written back words or not. Teachers use them as educational tools for children, as young minds can learn new words and their spellings by intensively searching for them letter by letter in a puzzle.

d	b	n	b	o
o	s	a	l	g
a	p	p	l	e
n	n	o	x	l
t	x	s	t	g

        Learning is remembering. If we respect this axiom, the review and recycling of new language items will be critical if they stand a chance of becoming readily accessible in long-term memory.

Reference

·        Teaching of English by Dr. Saket Raman Tiwari.

·        Effective teaching of English by Jamaluddeen k.

·        Social studies in the class room trends and methods by P.K. Sudheesh Kumar and P.P Noushad.