Adopting a student-centered approach through cooperative learning to enhance students’ writing skill

Abstract

The study’s focal point is to check whether cooperative learning is a step forward to create a well-managed classroom that allows effective learners’ cooperation, performance and involvement. The study also sets out to investigate the way teachers of writing make students work jointly and whether teachers use cooperative learning appropriately at the Department of Letters and the English Language, University of Constantine. To see clearly into the efficacy of cooperative learning, the researcher advanced the hypothesis that if learners are taught writing from a student-centeredness perspective via cooperative learning, their writing is likely to improve. Two questionnaires, one for teachers of writing and another for a sample of second years, and a post-test were used to collect data about the various and pertinent issues on cooperative learning. The teachers questionnaire results showed that although teachers lack effective implementation of cooperative learning, they think it is efficacious in boosting learners’ writing. The data of the students questionnaire, showed positive attitudes toward writing in small group contexts. To further evaluate the effectiveness of using cooperative learning in teaching writing, we conducted an experiment in which the Experimental Group received the experiment treatment, i.e. the adapted Student Team-achievement Divisions method (S.T.A.D). The students of this group were asked to accomplish five cooperative writing tasks and five individual writing ones whereas the students of the Control Group were asked to complete the same ten tasks individually. The analysis of the data of the experiment, after comparing the two groups’ individual written works and after conducting the post-test, showed a significant achievement among the subjects of the Experimental Group in comparison to that of the Control Group. Such results bear out the research hypothesis (H1).