Motivation in secondary English language classroom : effectiveness of cooperative learning on student / Aminath Maria

Abstract:

The purpose of this study was to enhance the teaching and learning of English language in Secondary classroom of Maldives by using a cooperative learning method. The study aims to find the effectiveness of cooperative learning methods when applied to the teaching and learning of English language. The study answered the following questions:

1. Is cooperative learning practiced in a secondary English classroom of Maldives?

2. Does cooperative learning motivate students to complete a task rather than individual and traditional methods?

3. What factors hinder in the use of cooperative learning in the secondary English classroom of Maldives?

The study is a qualitative research with a total of 30 students and 5 teachers from one secondary school of Male participated in the study. Some elements of both ethnographic and grounded theory methodologies were employed and specific data collection methods included training of a teacher, classroom observations. interviews of teachers and students.

The overall findings showed a considerable change in teachers' and students' attitudes and perceptions about traditional teacher-centred methods towards more student-centred methods of cooperative learning.

It was evident that both teachers and students were positive towards the effectiveness of cooperative learning.

However, there was a mismatch between the teachers' attitude towards the population of the classroom and previous research findings. Research shows that the group size in the Maldives classroom is appropriate for cooperative learning in contrast to the teachers who felt that the group size is too large to handle.

This study suggests that training teachers and students for cooperative learning is significant for effective implementation of cooperative learning for a positive influence on students' learning and teachers'. However, further research should be conducted to examine other aspects of teaching and learning which may also enhance this finding.