1.

Cooperative learning
As I mentioned before, it is through interaction that learners can share ideas and
learn. Therefore, cooperative learning has become a popular teaching strategy lately.
Nevertheless, success in implementing cooperative learning in the foreign language
classrooms requires that teachers understand its real meaning, its benefits, and its
components. If the teacher is not really aware of these elements, he will hardly ever apply
this technique in his lessons !ereida"Arriaga and Campbell #$.
%ome teachers have many years of e&perience using a quite variety of techniques in
order to facilitate students' learning. (ther teachers have claimed to use the cooperative
learning strategy in their classrooms by claiming that they assign students in teams.
!owever, it is important to underline that cooperative learning involves more than )ust
assigning students in teams. The following section attempts to e&plain what cooperative
learning consists of !ereida"Arriaga and Campbell #$.
1.1. *hat is cooperative learning+
Cooperative learning is defined as a teaching strategy that involves students wor,ing
together in teams in order to reach a common goal. All the students in each team help
each other to learn and they also become responsible for their own learning. -Cooperative
learning occurs when each student strives for a learning outcome that will be beneficial to
all members of the group. %chmuc, and %chmuc, /0/$.
!owever, in cooperative learning, students not only acquire ,nowledge but also social
s,ills. Through conversations, students learn from each other and get to ,now and respect
the members of the team. In addition, in cooperative learning, students develop their
social, higher level thin,ing, and communication s,ills 1almer et al. /$.
Tal,ing about cooperative learning requires tal,ing about a group that learns.
%chmuc, and %chmuc, point out2 -A group may be defined as a collection of interacting
people with some reciprocal influence over one another. /3/$. %chmuc, and %chmuc,
4
also argue that physical pro&imity does not determine a group5 as a consequence, people
who travel in the same bus or people who attend the same concert are not necessarily a
group. A group involves students interacting among them and influencing on each other
/3/$.
As a matter of fact, some teachers do not distinguish between cooperative groups
and groups. That is, they claim that they are using cooperative learning strategies in their
classrooms because they believe that it only involves assigning students into teams.
!owever, how many times teachers assign students into teams and the latter do not seem
to wor, together but individually+ 67a8"9arriga 1:3$. (n the other hand, !ayashi and
*elcome compare cooperative learning to group learning 1$. In order to understand
better this difference, I will show a table of the characteristics of each learning.
;
Cooperative Learning
%tudents learn social s,ills in order to have a
successful interaction.
The teacher plans to assign students to teams
trying to have groups that have members of a
range of abilities.
Importance is given to both the process and the
completion of the tas,.
The teacher gives the responsibility for
learning to the students and he intervenes
very rarely.
In order to wor, successfully, the members of the
group depend on each other5 therefore, all the
members wor,.
Group Learning
%tudents do not develop their social s,ills and they
are as,ed to -wor, together. to complete a tas,.
%tudents are assigned at random to be in groups.
The focus is on the completion of the tas, not on the
process.
Teachers' interventions are very often.
<ach member of the group wor, separately and they
do not rely on each other in order to accomplish the
tas,.
Table 1.1. Characteristics of group and cooperative learning
In the traditional groups, the distribution of the roles of the members is not made
appropriately. That is, only some students wor, academically, as a result, they are the
ones that learn. =oreover, since in these ,inds of groups one or two members of the group
assume the role of leaders, a fight of power and conflicts are li,ely to occur. >inally, social
s,ills are ignored and the teacher is not aware of how well the group is wor,ing because
he or she does not monitor 67a8" 9arriga 11:$.
1./. ?earning structures
67a8"9arriga highlights that there are three types of learning structures2 individualist,
competitive, and cooperative structures 1:;$. @ohnson et al. hold that the educational
system fosters a competitive and individualist learning. There is some evidence that shows
that the A:B of classes are structured in a competitive or individualist learning whereas
the /:B involves a cooperative structure @ohnson et. al as cited in 6ia8"9arriga 1:;$.
In an individual learning structure, the goals of members of the group are independent
on one another. The learner is responsible for his own learning and not for the others'
learning and the achievement of his goals will depend on his own effort, ability, and on the
nature of the tas,. Thus, whether or not a classmate attains a goal has very little
importance or effect on him 67a8" 9arriga 1:;, 1:A$.
(n the other hand, in the competitive learning situation, the goals of the members of
the group are not independent on one another. According to 67a8"9arriga, the learner is
responsible for his own learning and not for the others' learning but the achievement of his
goals will depend on causing the other classmates to fail. That is, he will achieve his goal
only if the others with whom he is competing cannot obtain their goals. In short, in this type
of learning, students are viewed each other as rivals and competitors5 the rewards one
student receives will depend on the number of rewards distributed among the rest of his
classmates5 students are ordered and compared5 and the student will obtain high grades
when his classmates have low grades 1:;"1:A$.
3
According to 67a8"9arriga, these two types of learning do not foster an intrinsic
motivation because the goals of the students are based on e&ternal factors such as
rewards and social ac,nowledgement. >urthermore, students wor,ing with these
structures are more li,ely to disapprove other peoples' opinion or ideas5 they usually re)ect
or put in disadvantage people having different abilities or being handicapped, and they are
less li,ely to cooperate. =oreover, conflicts among the classmates are most li,ely to occur
because students are not used to solve group's problems 1:;$.
As a consequence, cooperative structures are more effective than the to other
structures for desirable academic outcomes. In my opinion, although all of the three
structures should be used, it is the cooperative structure that should stand out in the
classroom. It promotes higher achievement than the competitive and the individualist
67a8"9arriga 1:A$.
This structure also tends to develop the students' higher"order thin,ing s,ills, their
motivation, communication s,ills, etc. In order to understand that cooperative learning is
more effective than the other two structures, I will describe the benefits of the cooperative
learning structure as long as its shortcomings in the ne&t article.
1.#. 9enefits of cooperative learning
1almer et al. hold that cooperative learning has a range of effects on the students'
learning. %ome researches were carried out by @ohnson and @ohnson 1CAC5 1CC:$ in
order to find out the effects that cooperative learning has on students. The more than 1::
studies were carried out with students having a wide variety range of age, cognitive levels,
etc. According to such studies, cooperative learning has a variety of benefits that can be
summari8ed in three ma)or categories or areas2 psychological, social, and academic
achievement @ohnson and @ohnson as cited in 1almer et al. 1/$.
Cooperative learning has a psychological effect. (ne reason is because when
students wor, with classmates, they tend to be more motivated5 they feel important and
0
required to their group5 they praise the efforts of others, and they receive help from others.
In addition, they start to li,e school, the sub)ect, the teachers, etc. Cooperative learning
also develops students' social s,ills. *hen wor,ing with his classmates, students learn
about mutual respect5 they accept and cooperate with the peers that belong to different
social and ethnic groups, that have handicap ability and se& differences. They learn to
view the world from different perspectives. (ne issue that is outstanding, is that students
learn the s,ills needed to succeed in society and wor,place. In other words, they learn to
be leaders, to ma,e decisions, to have self"confidence, and to communicate and resolve
problems 1almer et al. 1/$.
Another benefit that cooperative learning has on students is the improvement of their
academic achievement. 1almer et al. claim that students' cognitive level is increased
because they ma,e use of reasoning strategies and they have to thin, and clarify their
ideas through the discussion or the debates with their classmates. >urthermore, when
students e&plain something to a classmate or even when they receive the e&planations,
they develop their elaborative thin,ing s,ill and as a consequence, the ,nowledge or the
new information is more easily retained in memory 1#$.
>inally, cooperative learning facilitates assessment. It provides the teacher with a lot
of opportunities to monitor the students' progress5 to verify whether students are
understanding the new information or not, and to correct students misconceptions. In
addition, teachers can give instant feedbac, without having to wait until the day of the
e&am. They have also a variety of ways to asses students' wor, such as observations,
writing reflections5 students' assessment, etc. 1almer et al. 1#$.
In spite of all the benefits already mentioned, some teachers who have never
implemented cooperative learning yet might not accept it at the beginning. These teachers
believe that this strategy has also some drawbac,s. %ome of these disadvantages are also
classified in three categories2 lose of control, group wor,, and time requirements. It is
A
worth noting that the teachers that refuse this strategy is because they are afraid of losing
control of the class and of giving the control or power to students. >urther, some teachers
have a complete mastery of their sub)ect and they want to -show off.5 as a consequence,
they do not allow students to be involved in the lesson. (n the other hand, due to their lac,
of sub)ect mastery, some teachers are afraid that students ma,e questions that might not
be answered 1almer et al. 1;$.
In relation to group wor,, some students, might not be used to wor, with others and
therefore, they may feel uncomfortable. Defusal to this strategy might depend also on the
students' age. =oreover, some students might be concerned about the fact that a member
of the group can decrease their grades. *hen wor,ing in groups, there is always a ris,
that only the advanced students do all the wor, and that the lower achievers may feel
unmotivated or frustrated. Another ris, is that some students might disrupt or be off tas,.
The level of the noise can increase as students attempt to solve problems which, in turn,
affects to some students' concentration. Teachers might have difficulties when trying to
monitor all the groups specially if there is not an appropriate seating arrangement 1almer
et al. 13$.
Another disadvantage of cooperative learning is the time requirement. >or some
teachers, creating e&tra material for not only being attached to the te&tboo, is time"
consuming. The pre"implementation of this strategy ta,es time because the teacher has to
decide on the activities as well as the way of assigning students in groups. *hen wor,ing
in groups, the students will also waste time in reaching an agreement5 as a consequence,
there might not be enough time to wor, on the curriculum 1almer et al. 10$.
*hat follows is a figure based on the descriptions made by 1almer et al. 1/"10$. It
summari8es both the benefits along with the drawbac,s of cooperative learning.

C
9enefits
It increases students' self"esteem
%tudents develop their social s,ills
It increases respect among the students
It fosters academic achievement
%tudents clarify ideas through discussion
6rawbac,s
*hen groups are mi&ed, the lower achievers
might feel unmotivated and frustrated to
wor, with advanced students
The level of the noise can increase
Conflict might arise along with disruptive
behavior
Teachers might not foster cognitive s,ills
with the purpose of not wasting time
Teachers are afraid of losing control of the
lesson
It should be noted that 1almer et. al hold that teachers might face problems when
assessing students. (ne reason is because the former will need to find different ways to
assess and the latter might not be used to these assessments. =oreover, it is said that
some teachers might use cooperative learning as a way of avoiding their responsibilities
and therefore, they rely on students' wor,. >inally, as it was mentioned before, researchers
claim that some teachers that implement this strategy in the classroom might not really
foster cognitive s,ills for not wasting time 13$.
1.4. Types of cooperative groups
According to @ohnson et. al 1CCC$ there are three types of cooperative learning
groups. The formal cooperative learning groups wor, together during a short period of
time5 that is, from one hour to several wee,s of lesson. The members of these types of
1:
Table 1.#. Cooperative learning
groups wor, together in order to achieve common goals about an assignment that has to
do with the curriculum. Enli,e the formal cooperative groups, informal cooperative learning
groups do not wor, more than a class about one to three hours$ and they focus on
discussions about a movie, demonstrations in order to learn and discover e&pectations.
The members of the base or long term cooperative learning groups wor, together for at
least a semester or a year. %ince these students wor, together for a long time, they
usually become more responsible, and they support and praise each other in order to
succeed @ohnson et al. as cited in 67a8"9arriga /:C$.
*elcome and !ayashi claim that some teachers decide to change the members of
the groups so that students -refresh. and have the opportunity to wor, with all the students
in the class. =oreover, they suggest that groups are not changed until they have wor,ed
successfully2 -9rea,ing up groups because members have not learned to wor, together
gives a negative message to students and is counter"productive to the goals of
cooperative learning. 3$. *hen groups have problems wor,ing together, they need help
from the teacher, and as a consequence, they should be together until all the problems are
resolved 3$.
%uccess in implementing cooperative learning will not only depend in selecting the
appropriate types of groups but also on developing students' social s,ills. =any teachers
believe that only because they assign students in teams, they are really wor,ing
cooperatively. Consequently, it is useful that the teacher has a full understanding of what
this learning is about. In the ne&t section, five basic elements of cooperative learning will
be described !eredia"Arriaga and Campbell #"4$.
/. <ssential elements of cooperative learning
67a8" 9arriga claims that teachers who want to implement cooperative learning in
their classrooms have to be aware of and understand that it is characteri8ed of five
essential elements2 positive interdependence, face"to"face promotive interaction, individual
11
accountability, interpersonal and small group s,ills and group processing. In the positive
interdependence element, there is a specific and common goal for the group and each
member of the groups is supposed to contribute in order to achieve this goal. In other
words, each students' contribution is necessary in order to have success and they have
specific roles for finishing the assignment. <&amples of specific goals include a grade, a
pro)ect, a presentation, etc. 67a8"9arriga points out that it is through interaction that a
positive interdependence among the members of the group is achieved 11/$.
In contrast, the face"to"face promotive interaction -promotes., as its names says, the
collaboration and learning among students through interaction. 67a8"9arriga states that
this learning ta,es place, 67a8"9arriga states, when students e&change information,
e&plain to each other how to solve problems and teach each other what they ,now. In
addition, students in the group help, encourage, and receive feedbac, from each other.
There is a high degree of motivation that the group fosters among the members that the
low motivated students become more motivated to wor, 11/$.
%ince cooperative learning groups require that all their members achieve academic
success, it is necessary to assess each student individually. The individual accountability
element consists of assessing each students' performance in such a way that whole group
is aware of who needs help in finishing a tas,. As a matter of fact, identifying the members
of the group that need improvement will avoid that such students do not rely on his
classmates' wor, anymore. It is important to highlight that each student will have a grade
based on his or her performance and that this performance will also influence on the
groups grade. The evaluation might include a written or oral e&am for each student,
selecting at random one member of the group to give the answer, etc. 67a8" 9arriga 11#$.
67a8"9arriga suggests that teachers should teach students not only the academic
s,ills but also the social s,ills needed for having a more effective interaction. The
interpersonal and small group s,ills element considers that students need to be aware of
1/
how to communicate, to ma,e decisions, to trust themselves and the others, to be leaders,
and to resolve conflicts. (nly if students develop and use these social s,ills, cooperative
learning will ta,e place5 otherwise conflicts might arise among the members of the group
11#$.
At a specific period of time, students need to discuss and reflect about how well their
performance in the group is. >or this reason, the group processing requires the members
of the group to thin, about what they have accomplished so far and about alternatives or
ideas to wor, better in the future. The discussion also allows the students to decide on
which behaviors should be changed, increased or maintained in order to wor, successfully.
>urther, this element allows students to give feedbac, to each other and reminds them that
it is crucial to continue on wor,ing cooperatively 67a8"9arriga 114$.
1almer et al. claim that effective cooperative learning involves not only understanding
its five basic elements and ac,nowledging its benefits but implementing it in the
classroom. *hen attempting to implement this type of learning, teachers have to ta,e into
consideration the following three phases2 pre"implementation, implementation, and post"
implementation 3$.
#. 1re"implementation of cooperative techniques
<ffective cooperative learning requires planning and preparation. It is important to
underline that this type of learning ta,es time to implement since students are not used to
wor, with others as a team and the teachers have to teach students how to interact and
wor, together. 1re"implementation requires the teacher to give attention to the following
elements2 the seating arrangement, the goals of the lessons, the group assignment, the
students' roles, and the evaluation criteria 1almer et al. 3$.
It is in the classroom where students participate in a variety of activities5 where
learning can ta,e place, and where students can develop their social s,ills. As a result,
before implementing cooperative techniques, it is useful that the teacher arranges the
1#
seating. According to !eredia"Arriaga and Campbell, there is no -right way. to arrange a
classroom for cooperative learning. !owever, whatever the type of arrangement chosen by
the teacher, it must allow the members of the groups to loo, at each other and it must
allow the teacher to monitor the group and easily move close to students. In the
arrangement suggested by !eredia"Arriaga and Campbell, students have the opportunity
to seat in groups of four and pairs can share with another pair. >urthermore, teachers that
have room between the groups and the blac,board can be clearly seen /3"/A$.
(ne ,ey for effective cooperative learning is identifying and specifying the goals.
67a8"9arriga states that these goals can be classified as academic goals and social s,ills
goals. The former refer to what the teacher e&pects the students to ,now or be able to
accomplish about the contents of the program at the end of the lesson. In the latter, the
teacher should identify those social s,ills that the class lac,s of in order to be improved or
developed 110$.
(nce the teacher has specified his goals, it is helpful to thin, of grouping students but
before doing so, he should decide on the si8e of the group. 67a8"9arriga recommends
groups of si& students ma&imum but the ideal number would be of four. In the same way, it
is more useful that the groups are heterogeneous, that is, that the students with different
level of ability and achievement, gender, personality, social class or ethnicity are grouped
together. 67a8"9arriga lists the benefits of having heterogeneous groups in cooperative
learning. To illustrate, students give and receive more help and e&planations5 they improve
their elaborative thin,ing s,ill5 they become more tolerant of their classmates' points of
views5 they develop mutual respect and they become more democratic 110"1A$.
(ne way to prevent that some students wor, more than others is that the teacher
assigns each member a role so that each one has a responsibility. ?i,ewise, it is helpful
that in each lesson, students assume different roles. Among the roles that 67a8"9arriga
proposes are2 the chec,er, the researcher"runner, the recorder, the encourager, the
14
observer, etc. The chec,er ma,es sure that everyone understands how the assignment
should be accomplished5 the researcher Frunner collects and distributes the materials that
the group needs5 the recorder writes or records the decisions of the group5 the encourager
praises his classmates' performances and the observer focuses on the completion of the
assignment 11C$. !ereida"Arriaga and Campbell include one more role2 the time,eeper,
which ma,es sure that the tas, is finished on time //$. Teachers can provide students
with cards that tells them their roles. %ee Appendi& 1$
<ssential to successful cooperative learning is the teacher's role. !e must carefully
select the cooperative activities according to the students' needs. If necessary, he must
create new material since most of the times cooperative learning techniques do not require
the use of the te&tboo,. In li,e manner, the teacher is e&pected to provide students with
clear instructions and to decide on the time for each activity. *hen students are interacting
in groups, he is supposed to intervene if a conflict arises among the classmates and praise
their contributions. After the implementation of cooperative learning, it is also useful that he
observes and provides groups with feedbac, 1almer et al. A$.
Another but not less important responsibility of the teacher is evaluating the groups'
performances. Therefore, he should establish in advance the criteria for the evaluation.
67a8"9arriga holds that the teacher can use as sources of evaluation2 e&ams, group
reports, lists of questions answered by the group, etc. In relation to grades, the teacher
can have an average ta,en from the grades of each member of the group5 he might select
at random the paper or written report of one of the students and then score it or he could
obtain the median of the individual scores of the members of the group, etc. 1/:"/A$.
In summary, selecting and planning the activities, the material, the groups si8e, the
evaluation criteria, and the time for each activity are essential factors to successful
cooperative learning. !owever, these factors do not really guarantee effective outcomes
because they will also depend on the other two phases of cooperative learning2
1;
implementation and post"implementation. In the following two sections of the current
article, I will implement some cooperative learning techniques in order to show their effects
on my >>? >rench as a >oreign ?anguage$ students which is called in >rench2 >?<
>rancais comme ?angue GtrangHre$
4. Implementation of cooperative techniques
I teach >rench as a >oreign ?anguage in the -?anguage Center. school. I have four
groups and I teach >rench for one hour and thirty minutes in each group from =onday to
>riday. I have taught all levels from 1
st
to ;
th
but this semester I had the opportunity to
implement cooperative learning strategies in one group of nineteen students of the 4
th
level upper intermediate level$. They ta,e >rench as an e&tra curriculum class and their
ages varies from eighteen to twenty"three years old. Nonetheless, I have two adults, one
of forty years old and another of thirty years old. Another important thing to underline is
that most of my students are female and only four of them are male.
The idea of implementing cooperative learning techniques in my classroom seemed
outstanding to me. (ne reason is because I believe that interactions involving the use of
the foreign language are important to facilitate students' learning. >urthermore, I wanted to
motivate all the students because every time I attempted at class discussions only few
students tended to participate. =oreover, I reali8ed that I had both low achiever students
and higher achiever students. >or this reason, I thought that when wor,ing cooperatively in
groups, the latter would help the former. In addition, the high achiever students will also
receive benefits because when teaching others, they verbali8e their ideas and that also
leads to learning.
In the current paper, I will briefly describe the activities I implemented in my classroom
with these nineteen students during four wee,s. These activities were based on the ones
that 67a8"9arriga proposes but some of they were changed 1/#"/0$. It is important to
highlight that I carefully selected and planned the activities which ta,ing into consideration
13
the time, the classroom seating arrangement, and the group assignment. In relation to the
types of assignments, they were of short"term because they only required the groups to
wor, for about one class or perhaps a wee, but no more. As a matter of fact, the groups,
which most of the times were made up of four students, were not fi&ed for all the tas,s5
that is, the students did not always wor, with the same group.
In the first couple of techniques that I implemented, I assigned students at random by
using clips, cards, li,es and disli,es, etc. !owever, in the ma)ority of the techniques, I
assigned students to heterogeneous groups based on the grades they had so that each
group had members with different achievement level. %ince I wanted all the members of
the group to wor,, I assigned them a different role and I also provided them with clear
instructions and brief e&planations of what I e&pected them to accomplish.
The materials that I used for implementing the techniques were2 the te&tboo,, a
mas,ing tape, mar,ers, crayons, slides, sheets of papers, drawings, flashcards, etc. %ome
of the materials created by students such as drawings, writing reports, and instruments are
included in the Appendi&es. It should be noted, however, that some of these materials are
in >rench since it is the target language in my cooperative learning strategies.
Nevertheless, I describe them in the following section.
9efore implementing cooperative techniques in my classroom I discussed some
e&pectations with my students. In fact, we tal,ed about the importance of wor,ing in teams
and we established some norms. >or instance, listening carefully to members, ta,ing turns
for spea,ing, participating as much as possible, sharing ideas, wor,ing quietly and on tas,,
and encouraging the members of their team. (nce these norms were established,
students were ready to wor, with cooperative learning techniques.
I will briefly e&plain now how these techniques were implemented each wee, and how
the groups wor,ed.
10
4.1. *ee, I1
6uring the first wee, I implemented cooperative learning, I decided to encourage the
students to feel part of the whole group. As a result, I used three activities2 remembering
you, tell me a story, and riddles. >or each lesson I had a watch to ,eep trac, of time.
Demembering you
In this technique, I assigned students at random in groups of four members using
some fruit cards, animal cards, vegetables cards, etc. %ee Appendi& /$ The activity lasted
about /: minutes and I assigned roles at the beginning of the lesson by numbers2 I1 the
recorder, I/ the time,eeper, I# the teller, and I4 the summari8er. This activity did not
required the use of any boo,. =y goal was that the group remembered something about
every member and that those students who did not ,now each other started to ma,e
friends. Thus my goal was to develop my students' social s,ills. This activity was about
students sharing one"by"one something about themselves. The second person in the
group shared the first person's idea and their own, the third person shared the first two and
their own, etc. At the end of the activity, I as,ed one member at random to tell me
something about each member of the group.
*hile students were wor,ing I monitored them but I did not intervene e&cept when
they had some questions of vocabulary. I noticed that my students were very highly
motivated. Actually, they were really interested in each other because during normal
classes they do not have the time to tal, about themselves2 their routines, li,es and
disli,es, families, etc.
Tell me a story
>or this activity, I used the same number of members in a group and I assigned them
at random with numbers. %ince describing causes and consequences was one of the
contents of the current unit, I decided to implement this activity. =y academic goal was that
students were able to establish a relationship between the cause and the consequence
1A
and that they use some words such as -therefore., -as a consequence., -because of., etc.
(n the other hand, I also attempted that students developed their social s,ills when
paraphrasing, summari8ing and achieving consensus for the end of the story.
A set of pictures of problems and their consequences were used as instructional
materials and distributed to each group. %ee Appendi& #$ The students were as,ed to
ma,e up a story based on the pictures in twenty minutes. They were supposed to ta,e
turns telling a story with each member stopping at a time and allowing the ne&t person to
add a piece of information. <ach student had a role2 the recorder, the time ,eeper, the
encourager, and the tas, monitor. At the end of the activity, each group members told the
whole class their stories.
*hen ma,ing up the story, all the students were wiling to participate. I was very
surprised because some students who did not usually spea, during class greatly
contributed and used a lot their imagination. As a matter of fact, they created ama8ing
stories with funny characters, happy or sad endings, and most importantly, they made
relationships of causes and consequences. !owever, I noticed that one of my students did
not participate as much as his classmates because she was only watching the others
wor,. I thin, that perhaps she was afraid to tal, and that his classmates corrected her.
Diddles
9ased on the students' grades, I decided to ma,e heterogeneous groups of four
students for this activity. Thus I assigned in a group high, intermediate, and low achiever
students. <ach of them had a different role2 the reader, the chec,er, the time,eeper, and
the accuracy coach. =y academic goal was to develop the students' cognitive s,ills
through the formulation of hypotheses whereas my social goal was to develop students
communication s,ills such as listen carefully to members, ta,e turns, and sharing ideas.
I distributed a riddle for each team and they had /: minutes to solve it. Then they had
to e&plain the whole group how they got that answer or solution. >or motivating them even
1C
more I told them that the team that got the solution would have a reward. !owever, I did
not tell them what the reward was about until the end of the activity.
>our teams of five got the answer to the riddle and they were able to e&plain us the
procedure they used. The team that could not solve the riddle argued that they did a big
effort but that the riddle they had was very difficult. In fact, this was true but I told them that
the most important thing to me was not the answer or the result but the process of solving
the riddle. I also told them that they had to learn from e&periences and that they could
wor, better ne&t time. >or those teams that had the riddle solved the reward was that they
were e&cused from the ne&t homewor, assignment.
%ince I do not usually provide students with riddles to solve, they li,ed the activity. I
reali8ed that they developed their higher order thin,ing s,ills because they made use of
reasoning strategies to thin, and clarify their ideas through the discussion with their
classmates. =oreover, they developed their elaborative thin,ing s,ills when they received
and gave e&planations. They learned to ma,e decisions, to be democratic, to be leaders
and resolve conflicts.
4./. *ee, I/
1air"team
>or this activity, I used the same groups and students' roles of the activity about the
-riddles.. This activity lasted around forty minutes and my goal was to ma,e students able
to ma,e regrets in the past using the second conditional -If I had . . ., I would have . . ... I
also e&pected them to increase their communicative s,ills when clarifying ideas,
,nowledge and listening to others, etc. I gave each group a picture about people
regretting. %ee Appendi& 4$ !owever, in the same group, students wor,ed in pairs without
letting others see the picture. The other pair went out of the classroom and in the
meantime, the pair who was inside the classroom created a story based on the picture in
which some people regretted something. Ne&t, when the other pair returned to their team,
/:
they told the others about their picture. After that, the pair drew the picture based on their
classmates' descriptions. >inally, pairs compared the original pictures with attempts. If the
attempt was quite ali,e the original, the team had a reward which consisted of leaving the
classroom earlier.
I reali8ed that not everyone wor,ed in the teams because some students did not ,now
hot to draw. Therefore, they only helped the others with the description. Nevertheless, the
ma)ority of my students wor,ed because they helped each other5 they edited the drawing,
and they made e&cellent descriptions because when the original pictures were compared
with the attempts were very ali,e. =y students were very motivated and I learned from
them because I did not ,now some of my students' abilities and I could see that some of
them are very good at drawing. Another important thing to mention is that they did not
finish the activity on the time I e&pected5 consequently, I provided them with five more
minutes.
%olo"1air"Team 6raw what we'll be doing$
This activity is a variation of the previous one. !owever, in this activity the students
were supposed to imagine and draw themselves in five more years. The difficulty of the
tas, was that students had to picture themselves first individually, then in pairs and finally,
in teams. In addition, the goal was different because I e&pected my students to tal, about
future accomplishments by using the future perfect. =oreover, I attempted to ma,e them
increase their level of confidence and view themselves as a cohesive group. This activity
lasted about thirty minutes and there was no material used e&cept some sheets of paper
and pencils.
I am sure that my students en)oyed this activity because even though they laughed a
lot, there was no conflict at all and no high noise level. >or them, it was very attractive the
idea to view themselves in the future. %ee Appendi& ;$ I thin, that the activity was
important for them because it tal,ed about their lives.
/1
1roblem solving
In order to develop my students' social and thin,ing s,ills, I e&pected them to solve
problems. As a consequence, I decided to implement an activity where they had to thin,
about a very important problem of =e&ico. >urther, I e&pected them to give me the causes
the consequences, and the solutions of such a problem. 9efore beginning the activity, I
told my students that each member of the group should be able to e&plain how to solve the
problem because I was going to choose a participant at random to give the e&planation.
>irst, I assigned them in heterogeneous teams where each of the members were had
to thin, of and write about the three most important problems in =e&ico2 pollution,
unemployment, overpopulation, public transportation, corruption, drugs, etc. There was a
recorder, a time,eeper, a teller, and a tas, monitor in each team. After each of the
members of the group wrote down three problems, they had to choose one from the twelve
problems5 that is, the most important one. (nce the problem was selected, each of them
were e&pected to give, at least, one cause, one consequence, and one solution for that
problem. >inally, they had to select the three most important causes, solutions, and
consequences of the problem and write them down. %ee Appendi& 3$ They had thirty
minutes for finishing up this activity.
This activity allowed the students to give and receive opinions, to communicate and
solve problems, and to achieve a consensus. I observed that the students had no
problems when giving their opinions but they did have problems for reaching an
agreement about the best solutions for that problem. =oreover, there were some members
from two teams that were so motivated and they spent a lot of time on giving their opinions
that they did not give the others enough time to tal,. Therefore, I had to intervene in
reminding those students that all the members of the group had to participate and that they
also had the right to be listened.
//
After finishing the discussion, I as,ed at random one member of each team to tell me
about the problems and how they came up with that solution. (besity, hot weather,
overpopulation, and housing were the problems chosen by each team. I was ama8ed
because I reali8ed that they had good solutions for each problem. As a matter of fact, they
created funny solutions5 for instance, for the obesity, a team said2 -The best solution is
A.=.C.C. ArrJter de =anger Comme un Cochon$. which means -%top <ating ?i,e a 1ig..
*hat was surprising to me is that %andra I use fictitious names$, who used to remain
silent in all the classes, started to tal, and to give her opinion. !owever, as soon as she
started tal,ing, two members of other teams2 Alberto and =agda laughed at %andra's
utterances5 as a consequence, she could not continue with her participation and started to
cry. I could not leave this situation behind and pretend that nothing happened5 therefore, I
as,ed her to calm down and I told all my students that everyone had the right to be
listened and respected.
As soon as the class finished, I tal,ed to %andra and encouraged her to continue
participating in class. Then I tal,ed to Alberto and =agda and as,ed them to tell me what
happened but they denied that they were laughing at %andra. I did not scold them or
screamed at them but I told them what they had to do2 -Deflect on what happened and
write about how you felt.. Ne&t days, I noticed that neither =agda nor Alberto laughed
when %andra tal,ed. Nowadays, they actually get along.
4.#. *ee, I#
@igsaw
I based on my students' abilities in order to assign them in heterogeneous groups and
I planned forty minutes for this technique. There were four members in each base group
who had different roles such as2 the recorder, the teller, the reader and the chec,er. >irst, I
provided each team with a drawing and I as,ed them to see and study it very carefully
without showing it to the other groups. %ee Appendi& 0$ >ive minutes later, they gave me
/#
the drawings bac, and I as,ed the tellers of each group to tell the other groups what they
saw in the drawing. The recorder, the reader, and the chec,er were supposed to ta,e
notes about the tellers' descriptions. *hen they finished, I as,ed the tellers to return to
their base group.
%ince one of the contents of the current unit was to identify and use the words for
opposition such as -however., -in spite of., -even though., etc. I as,ed each base group to
create an interesting story based on all the tellers' descriptions. In addition, they had to
include in the story the words used for the opposition. *hen they finished creating the
story, the readers read the whole class their stories.
I reali8ed that all the members of the group cooperated and shared meaning. They
also sought for clarification in the descriptions, they paraphrased the tellers' speech, they
wrote the story, and chec,ed and edited the writing. I reali8ed that all of them cooperated
at the same level because I was very clear and reminded each student his or her role. In
fact, I did not intervene much, not even when they had questions because they loo,ed by
themselves the new words in the dictionary.
>ocus Trios The T.K.")ob$
This was a short activity of /: minutes. The students were supposed to read an article
about -le tLlL"travail., which means -T.K.")ob.. 9efore doing the reading, I assigned them in
trios of heterogeneous members and as,ed them to write about what they already ,new
about the sub)ect and to come up with questions they had. After that, one member of the
trio read the article -le tLlL"travail. and then they answered the questions they had at the
beginning of the reading. In addition, they discussed the new information, and formulated
new questions. (nce the trios finished the discussions, the teacher as,ed at random one
member to tell the class their definitions of -tLlL"travail. and to formulate to other trios the
new questions about the reading.
/4
This activity seemed a little difficult for the trios. (ne reason was because they did not
,now the word -T.K.")ob.5 nevertheless, they attempted to find out the definitions using their
imaginations. After the reading, everything was easier for them. %ome trios did not ,now
the meanings of some words in the reading5 however, this was no a barrier for
understanding the article and for carrying out the activity.
Three"step interview
This activity involved three steps for the interviews. >irst, I assigned them in teams of
four members each one. Ne&t, students formed two pairs within their teams and conducted
an interview in pairs. This interview was about important people2 a writer, a president, an
actor, a )ournalist, etc. %tudents chose who they wanted to be in the role"play. After that,
they reversed roles2 the interviewers became the interviewees. >inally, each student too, a
turn sharing information learned in the interview. They did not write down anything
because it was an oral activity.
In spite of all the time that this activity too,, I thin, that it was very valuable because
students had the opportunity to become their favorite actors and actresses and imagine
their lives. >urthermore, students learned about and got to ,now each other. They told me
that they were so involved in the activity that they were not aware of time. It was this
situation that leads me to the idea that they were motivated.
4.4. *ee, I4
Numbered !eads
In order to find out if the students grasped all the contents of the unit, I decided to
assign them in teams of four for reviewing it. I assigned students in groups of four where
each member had a number. Then I as,ed the whole class a question5 for instance, what
is the past participle of the verb -cut. or tell me a sentence using the word -even though..
The group discussed as one, and then, I called a number. The person with that number in
/;
each team answered for the group. As a reward, the group that scored more points, had
two e&tra points over the e&am.
They li,ed this activity because they could review the most important contents of the
unit. =oreover, they were very alert and they helped each other in order to find the answer
for each topic. I reali8ed that they li,e to compete with other groups. As a matter of fact,
they were screaming a lot. *hat I could do better is to as, them not to scream for giving
the answers. !owever, ne&t time I apply this technique, I will do so.
1resentation
<ven though this was a short"term activity, it was longer than the other cooperative
activities because it lasted four days. %ince this unit is about giving opinions and arguing, I
thought this technique would be effective. >irst, I assigned students in heterogeneous
groups based on their level of achievement. The first day, each member of the group was
as,ed to thin, about a polemic and interesting topic in the >rench culture5 for instance, the
stereotypes of >rench and American people, free union, capital punishment, the influence
of the T.K., etc. (nce each member thought about a topic, they had to share it with the
group and choose the more interesting one. The assignment for the ne&t day was to
research about their topics.
The second day, they had to share the sources where they researched and write an
outline about the presentation. <ach person was responsible for seeing that hisMher
information was included. This day, members too, turns to tal, about what they found out.
Ne&t, together they wrote an outline about the presentation. The third day, they decided
what part of the topic e&plain to the other teams the day of the presentation. =oreover,
each member of the team wrote down their own words, their speech, and they too, turns
for chec,ing and correcting each others' drafts. The fourth day, they were supposed to
rehearse and correct their speeches, if necessary. >inally, the presentations too, place.
/3
In my opinion, the topics of the presentations were very interesting. 9ut differently
from the other activities that lasted no more than forty minutes, not all the students in the
team contributed as I e&pected. >or e&ample, in one team the participants did not have the
time for rehearsing their presentations one day before. In other team, I reali8ed that some
members did not even research about the topic. That is, they relied on other members. As
a matter of fact, I noticed that only two teams wor,ed cooperatively by chec,ing each
others' drafts, correcting their speeches, giving and receiving ideas and opinion, preparing
the material, etc.
It was also evident to me that two teams did not wor, cooperatively because I noticed
it in their presentations. =oreover, these teams did not organi8e the information neither did
they rehearse. They did not ma,e questions for the whole class to give their opinions
about their topic. The topics of the five groups were the following2 the euthanasia, the
stereotypes, the homophobia, the AI6%, and the media. (nly the teams that tal,ed about
the stereotypes and the euthanasia encouraged the whole class to discuss.
Nevertheless, I should ac,nowledge the participation of some students who before
the implementation of this cooperative technique did not dear to give their opinions in
public. They li,ed the topics because they learned about each others' researchers and
they also learned about the >rench culture.
;. 1ost"implementation of cooperative techniques
(nce the cooperative learning techniques are implemented in the classroom, it is
necessary to describe the results. In so doing, I evaluated the students' performances
before and after the implementation of these techniques. I used several sources of
evaluation such as 2 e&ams, group reports, lists of questions answered by the group,
presentations, etc. In several activities, I too, an average from the grades of each member
of the group. (n the other hand, for other activities I obtained the median of the individual
/0
scores of the members of the group, and in other activities, I selected at random the paper
or written report of one of the students and then I scored it.
As I mentioned before, I have a group of nineteen students, which were evaluated
before and after the implementation of cooperative techniques. In the current paper, my
students' names will remain anonymous5 as a consequence, I will show a list of fictitious
names.
N%O %tudent
Almost all of the students improved their academic level through cooperative learning.
>or e&ample, %C, %andra, had an average grade of 01 in the first term, but after wor,ing in
teams, her grade increased to A:. This student was the one that, in the problem solving
activity started to cry when Alberto and =agda laughed at her. *hat helped her was to
wor, with higher achiever students such as Ale)andra, 1atricia, and Carlos in some of the
activities. =oreover, she was never a leader but after the cooperative learning, she started
to lead. In fact, she led in the riddle activity because she li,es =athematics and 1hysics.
It should be noted that %ara7, %10, also increased her academic s,ills. !owever, I
noticed that she increased even more her social s,ills because she used to be very
serious and she did not use to get along with all her peers, only with students that were in
her level. After the cooperative learning, I have observed that she gives her opinions more
/A
N%1O %arah
%/O Claudia
%#O =iroslava
%4O %of7a
%;O >ania
%3O @uanita
%0O Carlos
%AO 6aniela
%CO %andra
%1:O 1edro
%11O Alberto
%1/O =agda
%1#O Perardo
%14O 1atricia
%1;O <ugenia
%13O Isabel
%10O %ara7
%1AO ?aura
%1CO Ale)andra
often, she communicates better with peers, and she is not so afraid of spea,ing in public.
Nevertheless, I have to admit that %ara7 needs to improve her pronunciation5 therefore, I
will continue assigning them in heterogeneous groups so that she learns from others.
(n the other hand, 6aniela, ,ept almost the same grades before and after the
cooperative techniques. 9efore, she had an average grade of C: and after wor,ing in
teams, her grade slightly increased to C/. 1erhaps it was because in the middle of her
presentation she stopped arguing that she felt di88y5 as a consequence, she could not
finish her presentation. 1ersonally, I believe that she felt very nervous when tal,ing in
public. !owever, I noticed that she did not receive any help from her team partners who
should encourage her to continue the presentation.
I tal,ed to the members of the team where 6aniela wor,ed and e&plained them that
they should have helped 6aniela in her presentation by tal,ing to her, telling her that she
could do it, that if she wanted, she could have had a brea,, etc. These members told me
that they did not e&pect this situation and that they would be more careful and cooperative
ne&t time.
Two students who also increased their grades were %3, @uanita, and %0, Carlos, who
wor,ed together. @uanita is a very serious girl whereas Carlos is tal,ative, outgoing, and
he usually leads the teams. <ven though @uanita was never a low achiever student, she
used to refuse to spea, in public at the beginning of the course. !owever, when wor,ing
with Carlos, @uanita improved her social and academic s,ills because I noticed that she
was more rela&ed, her motivation was increased, and she cooperated more with her
partners.
*hat follows is a figure that displays ten of nineteen students' grades after and before
implementing the cooperative techniques in my classroom. Actually, this figure is divided
in two2 the first one depicts the results of only ten students whereas the other figure
depicts the results of the other nine students.
/C

=iroslava, %#, is a good student who has always been able to wor, in groups. %he
did not show many changes in their performances because she always helps the others.
Therefore, wor,ing with others was very pleasant for her. In the first term, her grade was of
C# and she only scored one more point. Nonetheless, since she wor,ed with %1#,
Perardo, the latter learned from her. Perardo used to have a grade of A/ but he increased
#:
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
%1 %/ %# %4 %; %3 %0 %A %C %1:
>igure ;.1 %tudents' grades before and after the implementation of cooperative learning
%tudentsQ grades before the implementation
of cooperative learning
%tudentsQ grades after the implementation of
cooperative learning
it to C: because he did an e&cellent presentation of the -euthanasia.. The ne&t figure,
shows Perardo's progress as well as the other eight students' grades before and after
cooperative learning.
In this figure, it turns out to be evident that two students' grades remained the same
before and after cooperative learning. Their names are =agda, %1/, and Isabel, %13. I
thin, that their grades did not increase because they showed the same attitude and the
same academic and social s,ills before and after the techniques. That is, they were aware
#1
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
%11 %1/ %1# %14 %1; %13 %10 %1A %1C
>igure ;.1.1 %tudents' grades before and after the implementation of cooperative learning
%tudentsQ grades before the implementation
of cooperative learning
%tudentsQ grades after the implementation of
cooperative learning
of how to wor, in teams, they communicate effectively, they help other, and they are good
organi8ers.
It should be noted that only two students decreased their grades after cooperative
learning2 %14, 1atricia, and %1A, ?aura. I thin, that their grades were not the result of
wor,ing in teams. (ne reason is because there are many factors that affect the learning of
a language such as personality, age, learning styles, an&iety, etc.
In general, cooperative learning was effective in my classes because as the results
display, in most of the students, their achievement level was increased. =oreover, they
became more responsible of their own as well as their partners' learning5 they were more
motivated when interacting than )ust doing individual or competitive activities5 they learned
about mutual respect because5 for e&ample, %andra is respected now by =agda and
Alberto5 they learned to communicate better, to resolve problems, etc.
(n the other hand, as one of the essential elements of cooperative learning is group
processing, I thought that it would be very useful that they made an evaluation of their
teams' performances. As a consequence, I provided them with the instrument ;.1 where
they could tell me the three most important things they li,ed about wor,ing in cooperative
groups. %ee Appendi& A$ The following figure displays the most important benefits they
found out through the instrument about this technique.
#/
3:B Piving and accepting
opinions
#:B 6eveloping thin,ing
s,ills
1:B Deducing tension
>igure ;./. *hat they li,ed about wor,ing in groups
The 3:B of the students li,ed wor,ing in groups because it allowed them to give and
accept opinions. (ther students, the #:B agreed on the fact that they li,ed cooperative
learning because it made them thin, deeply. >inally, the 1:B of the students stated that
wor,ing in teams helped them to reduce the tension of spea,ing in public and being
corrected by the teacher.
Proup processing also involves students discussing about the possible changes they
would ma,e ne&t time they wor, in teams. As a result, I provided my students with the
instrument ;. / where they chose and ran,ed the three most important changes. %ee
Appendi& C$ The following figure depicts the outcomes of this instrument.
This figure shows that almost the half of the students, the ;3B believed that they had
to wor, more on achieving consensus in the groups. They also claimed that this aspect of
cooperative learning was difficult to achieve since everyone in the group has a different
opinion. >urther, few students, the /3B thought that they should cooperate more with
##
:
1:
/:
#:
4:
;:
3:
To achieve consensus To cooperate more with
peers
To communicate better
with peers
;. # *hat students want to do differently ne&t time in groups
peers. >inally, the 1AB of students believed that in order to wor, effectively in groups, they
might have a better communication.
Conclusion
I decided to implement cooperative learning in my >rench course. As I mentioned
before, I had low achiever students who refuse to spea, or participate in public at the
beginning of the course. Enli,e the low achiever students, the high achiever students
always were willing to participate. !owever, I always felt secure of the effectiveness of
cooperative learning. As a matter of fact, I attempted to follow as best as possible the
recommendations provided in this paper for the pre"implementation.
<ven tough at the beginning of the implementation, I noticed that some students were
not willing to wor, in teams and even now they still can have little problems when
achieving a goal I am satisfied because they learned the process of wor,ing together, of
helping each other, and of learning from each other. Nevertheless, not only cooperative
learning was useful to students but to me because now I am more able to observe my
students, to implement effective strategies, and to evaluate cooperative learning.
>urthermore, I was able to encourage students to develop their communication s,ills
and I was ama8ed with the results. In fact, my students increased their self"esteem
because now they ,now that they are able to help their peers, they feel more valued,
confident and they accept and respect the other groups' opinions. 9ut most importantly,
their academic level increased.
I am also aware that during the practice, some students had problems for achieving
consensus but this e&periences lead and encourage them to wor, better ne&t time. To sum
up, cooperative learning provided my students with the opportunity to be able to wor, with
others5 to increase their achievement level, their communication s,ills and to evaluate their
wor,5 that is, to thin, of more alternatives to wor, better in their ne&t. >or all these reasons,
#4
I decided to continue wor,ing with these techniques so that students can improve their
social and academic s,ills with their classmates.
*or,s Cited
67a8"9arriga Arceo, >rida y Perardo !ernRnde8 Do)as. <strategias docentes para
un aprendi8a)e significativo. =L&ico2 =c Praw"!ill, /::/.
!ayashi, Saren and *elcome, @udy. -!ow to implement cooperative learning2 1ractical
strategies for the elementary classroom teacher.. %uperior ?earning 1rograms
/; 1CC0$ 2 1"#/.
!ereida"Arriaga, %ue and Campbell, 6uane. -!ow to Integrate Cooperative ?earning2 >or
the elementary classroom teacher.. %uperior ?earning 1rograms /; 1CC3$ 2 1"
#/.
1almer, Puinevere, Dachel 1eters, and Debecca %treetman. Cooperative ?earning <d.
(rey. @uly /::#. 1: April /::4 Thttp2MMit#.coe.uga.eduMeboo,Mcol.htmU.
%chmuc,, Dichard A., 1atricia A. %chmuc,. Proup 1rocesses in the Classroom.
9oston2 =cPraw !ill, /::1.
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