LEARNING ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE IN A COOPERATIVE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT: DOES PERSONALITY TYPE MATTER?

Abstract

To examine the effects of cooperative learning and the personality trait of extraversion on ESOL students studying English at an urban, Mid-Western, secondary school, a mixed methods study was designed. The quantitative section of the study used a 5-week quasi-experimental pretest-posttest comparison group research design. Seventy-five students studying in three sections of high-intermediate and two sections of advanced level students participated in the study. Three class sections received instruction through cooperative learning and the other two class sections received whole-class instruction on seven English parts-speech. Students in sections that received instruction through cooperative learning also were surveyed about their levels of extraversion. Results from the pretest and posttest comparisons were then matched with the students’ levels of extraversion to investigate if they were correlated. For the qualitative section of the study, prior to the treatment, eight students were selected based on their levels of extraversion. The participants were interviewed one week prior to the treatment and again one week after the treatment had concluded to gain their insights into the effects of learning English in cooperative groups and whole-class grouping. Three specific research questions guided the study. The first looked at difference in students’ grammar proficiency development in classes employing cooperative learning activities versus whole-class instructional activities, the second compared student achievement between the cooperative learning groups and whole-class instruction groups in relation to levels of extraversion, and the third focused on a selected sample of students learning experiences in cooperative learning instruction and in whole-class instruction. Data were collected via learners’ pretest and posttest scores on the dependent variables. Descriptive statistics were calculated for all variables, comprising means, standard deviations, medians, minimum and maximum values for continuous variables, and frequencies and percentages were calculated for categorical demographic variables. No significant differences were found between the treatment and control groups pretest and posttest scores. Likewise, a correlation between levels of extraversion and achievement scores was not found. Overall, the findings of the quantitative section of the study did not find a consistent pattern in favor of cooperative learning over whole-class learning, nor a pattern in favor of extraversion over introversion while working in cooperative groups. The main concept that emerged from the qualitative section of the study was that the more introverted participants preferred whole-class instruction, while the more extraverted participants preferred cooperative learning. The study gives practical recommendations for the use of cooperative learning in high school ESOL classes.