The effectiveness of cooperative learning in report writing assignment for ESL students / Ezathul Zerafena Mohd Ris

How learners process new information and use appropriate strategies to understand, learn and remember such information has become the concern in second language learning. One of the strategies to enhance an active language learning process through learner-centered interaction is cooperative learning. Cooperative learning is a process where learners form a group of three to four people and they work together on assigned topics. This is one of the methods used in learning which produces active learning that generates a situation where learners interact with each other. The purpose of this study is to identify how cooperative learning can be used in helping students to write report and complete their report writing project on time. It is also to identify the problems faced by the students in completing their report writing project. The study would also be helpful in order to improve the implementation of cooperative learning in report writing by gaining insights on the effectiveness of cooperative learning from students and teachers suggestions. A survey was carried out using a self-designed questionnaire distributed to fifty Semester 2, Year 2 Business Administration students of Limkokwing University of Creative Technology, Cyberjaya, Selangor. Interviews were also conducted with four English teachers who have been teaching Business Communication Skills subject. The study found that majority of the students (82%) were concerned about giving adequate content of the report based on the facts and information gained which is one of the aspects of a well written report. They admitted that working in groups through cooperative learning did help them to fulfill these criteria besides following a proper format and using appropriate language for report writing. This is congruent with the English teachers' response when asked the same question. The findings also demonstrate that most of the students (78%) agreed that working in groups through cooperative learning helped them submit their report writing project on time. However, this in contrast with the teachers response where they found that most of the time students did not meet the deadline as some members of the groups failed to complete their part that was assigned to them. Consequently, some students (38%) admitted that although cooperative learning helped them produce a well written report and helped them submit on time, they did face some problems in the process of completing their report. The most significant problems were the difficulty to get the group together and the group members were not cooperative. The findings indicated that students perceived a number of benefits to working in group through cooperative learning especially in producing a well written report and submitting it on time. The study confirmed that as much as students perceived that cooperative learning did help them but the problems they faced in completing their report writing project could be the obstacles to the effectiveness of cooperative learning. In order to get a better perspective of the effectiveness of cooperative learning especially in ESL classroom, a bigger pool of respondents should be used in the future to ensure that the results are more valid, reliable and applicable to a larger population. In addition, it is recommended that the study be conducted for certain duration so that an observation on particular aspects of cooperative learning that affect or enhance the effectiveness of cooperative learning can be observed.