Using Cooperative Learning to Boost Creativity and Motivation in Language Learning
Subject Areas : All areas of language and translation
Hamid Marashi
1
,
Homayra Khatami
2
1 - Department of English Language Teaching, Islamic Azad University; Central Tehran Branch, Tehran, Iran
2 - Department of English Language Teaching, Islamic Azad University; Central Tehran Branch, Tehran, Iran
Keywords: motivation, Creativity, Cooperative learning, English Language Teaching (ELT),
Abstract :
This study sought to investigate the effect of cooperative learning on EFL learners’ creativity and motiva- tion. Accordingly, 66 pre-intermediate female learners were selected among 90 through their performance on a piloted sample Preliminary English Test. Learners were assigned into two control and experimental group. The Abedi-Schumaker Creativity Test (ACT) and the Attitude/Motivation Test Battery (AMTB) were given to both groups as pretest. Both groups underwent the same amount of teaching time and same material with the same teacher during 18 sessions taking 90 minutes each. In the experimental group, the students experienced the cooperative learning strategies of think-pair-share, roundtable, three-step- interview, and three-stay one-stray. The learners in the control group, however, received the instruction based on the syllabus of the language school, which had no cooperative learning component. The same ACT and AMTB questionnaires were administered again as the posttest at the end of the treatment to both groups and their mean scores on the tests were compared through an analysis of covariance. The results in relation to cooperative learning proved to have a significantly positive effect on EFL learners’ creativity and motiva- tion. This study provided yet further evidence in favor of applying cooperative learning in the ELT envi- ronment.
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