Individual Accountability in Cooperative Learning: More Opportunities to Produce Spoken English

Abstract

The contribution of cooperative learning (CL) in promoting second and foreign language learning has been widely acknowledged. Little scholarly attention, however, has been given to revealing how this teaching method works and promotes learners' improved communicative competence. This qualitative case study explores the important role that individual accountability in CL plays in giving English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners in Indonesia the opportunity to use the target language of English. While individual accountability is a principle of and one of the activities in CL, it is currently under studied, thus little is known about how it enhances EFL learning. This study aims to address this gap by conducting a constructivist grounded theory analysis on participant observation, in-depth interview, and document analysis data drawn from two secondary school EFL teachers, 77 students in the observed classrooms, and four focal students. The analysis shows that through individual accountability in CL, the EFL learners had opportunities to use the target language, which may have contributed to the attainment of communicative competence-the goal of the EFL instruction. More specifically, compared to the use of conventional group work in the observed classrooms, through the activities of individual accountability in CL, i.e., performances and peer interaction, the EFL learners had more opportunities to use spoken English. The present study recommends that teachers, especially those new to CL, follow the preset procedure of selected CL instructional strategies or structures in order to recognize the activities within individual accountability in CL and understand how these activities benefit students.

Contextual Teaching Learning (Ctl) Approach in Speaking Materials for Students’ 21st Century Skill: Does It Have Any Effect?

“…Besides, in CTL the students are trained to work in a group for sharing their ideas with their friends without feeling afraid and worried. Johnson and Johnson and Olsen and Kagan in Astuti and Lammers (2017) state Cooperative learning as a group learning activity in which individual students' contribution to the learning is realized through their performance or presentation, which is beneficial not only for their own learning but also for their peers' learning and the group's goals. Johnson et al as cited in Muliani, et al (2016) also added that in cooperative groups, students can engage in discussions in which they construct and extend conceptual understanding of what is being learned.…”

An Indonesian EFL Learner’s Use of Evaluative Language and Gestures in a Spoken Persuasive Presentation : A Case Study

“…Our research findings support the study conducted by Ngo, Unsworth, and Feez (2012), which found that EFL students tended to have limited Attitudinal and Graduation resources. This might be caused by the lack of exposure given by English lecturers as well as the limited opportunities of the students to use their English in the classrooms (Astuti & Barratt, 2018;Astuti & Lammers, 2017a, 2017b. In order to overcome this, students need to be involved in the acts of creating texts through text familiarization on evaluative language used to create a powerful persuasive text.…”

Engagement Resources Used by Novice and Professional Marketers in Persuasive Presentations

“…Accordingly, the novice marketer seemed to produce a loose structure of persuasive text than the professional marketer. This condition might be caused by the little opportunity given to them to use English in their classroom [9,10,11], particularly practicing how to use engagement resources appropriately and effectively to create a good structure of text. Our research findings then confirm the study conducted by [6] and [12] that more proficient speakers tended to exploit more evaluative resources to build a well-argued text and to show a stronger sense of position.…”