Collaborative and cooperative

COLLABORATIVE & COOPERATIVE LEARNING FOR BETTER MOTIVATION AND RETENTION Kari Miller, MALS Universidad San Francisco de Quito Primer Congreso sobre Biling端ismo y Multiling端ismo September 2009

MOTIVATION

What has been said about motivation in the ESL/EFL classroom?

• “Motivation provides the primary impetus to initiate second or foreign language (L2) learning and later the driving force to sustain the long and often tedious learning process” (Guilloteaux and Dörnyei, 2008).

• “Motivation is essential to success: …we have to want to do something to succeed at it” (Harmer, 2001).

What motivates students?

Factors that influence motivation in the ESL/EFL classroom • T-Ss rapport • Pleasant classroom atmosphere • Learner confidence • Learner autonomy • Feeling of satisfaction and sense of accomplishment

• T’s own enthusiasm • Learner’s “goalorientedness” • Realistic learner beliefs • Relevant curriculum • Self-evaluation

Collaborative vs.

Cooperative Learning Collaborative Learning Cooperative Learning Definition: "Collaborative learning is based on the idea that learning is a naturally social act in which the participants talk among themselves (Gerlach, 1994). It is through the talk that learning occurs."

Definition: Cooperative learning is a successful teaching strategy in which small teams, each with students of different levels of ability, use a variety of learning activities to improve their understanding of a subject. Each member of a team is responsible not only for learning what is taught but also for helping teammates learn, thus creating an atmosphere of achievement. (U.S. Dept. of Ed. Office of Research, 1992)

Participants work together to solve a problem

Each person is responsible for a portion of the work

Many times teacher does not have a pre-set notion of the problem or solution that students will be researching

Many times the teacher already knows the problem and solution students will be working towards

http://www.tammypayton.net/courses/collab/what.shtml

What is a jigsaw activity?

A jigsaw activity is a collaborative learning technique in which each student holds a “piece of the puzzle” (a part of the task). Students must work together to put their “pieces” together in order to complete the task. As each student only has one part of the task, students must work together to see “the whole picture”.

Jigsaw activity 1: The Parts of the House 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

How many rooms are in the house? ________ How many bathrooms are there? ________ How many bedrooms are there? ________ How many of the following did you see? beds ________ pictures ________ tables ________ sinks ________ clocks ________ doors ________ chairs ________ toys ________ dressers ________ pillows ________ lamps ________ bookshelves_______ rugs ________ waste baskets______ windows ________ How many children might live in this house? ________ Do you think the children are older or younger? Why? ________ Adapted from Shrum and Glisan, 2000

Jigsaw activity 2: Interior Decorating Context In this activity you will work with another student to describe the location of furniture in a room. You will carry out a telephone conversation between an interior decorator and a client. One of you will work with a completed floor plan and the other will work with the blank plan. Both of you may consult the List of Furniture.

First Student You are the interior designer. You must call your client and indicate what furniture you have chosen and where it should be placed. Since this is a phone conversation, you must give instructions with words alone. Do not look at or point to your partner’s diagram.

Second Student You are the client. You call your decorator for instructions on completing the floor plan for your living room. Using only the List of Furniture and verbal cues from the decorator, fill in the blank floor plan. You can ask for clarifications or repetitions as often as you like, but you cannot see the designer’s floor plan. When you have finished, compare your diagrams to see if they are the same.

Adapted from Shrum and Glisan, 2000

Benefits of Cooperative Learning Activities Help students learn • Responsibility • To work together • To respect their classmates and others • To process skills needed for working in a group Promote • Higher self esteem • Acceptance of differences Encourage • Creativity and problem solving

Produce • Higher achievement Increase • retention Help students develop • Interpersonal skills • Their own identities • Their own abilities Help students experience • Success • Motivation

Bibliography •

• •

• • •

•

Gerlach, J.M. (1994). “Is this collaboration?” In Bosworth, K. and Hamilton, S.J. (Eds), Collaborative Learning: Underlying Processes and Effective Techniques, New Directions for Teaching and Learning No. 59 Golub, J (Ed.). Focus on Collaborative Learning. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English, 1988.

Guilloteaux, M. and Dörnyei, Z. “Motivating Language Learners: A Classroom-Oriented Investigation of the Effects of Motivational Strategies on Student Motivation.” TESOL Quarterly, Vol. 42, No. 1, March 2008.

Harmer, Jeremy. The Practice of English Language Teaching. Malaysia: Longman, 2001.

Richard-Amato, P. and Snow, M. The Multicultural Classroom: Readings for ContentArea Teachers. Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley, 1992.

Shrum, J. and Glisan, E. Teacher’s Handbook: Contextualized Language Instruction, 2nd Edition. Massachusetts: Thomson, 2000.

http://www.tammypayton.net/courses/collab/what.shtml, downloaded 09/02/2009