II-The Algerian Educational System and approaches to
English Teaching
5-The Cooperative Learning
5-1-Definition
Cooperative Learning may be broadly defined as any group
learning situation in which students of all levels of performance work together
in structured groups toward a shared or common goal. Brody and Albany (1998,
p.8) defined it as «students work in groups toward a common goal or
outcome, or share a common problem or task in such a way that they can only
succeed in completing the work through behavior that demonstrate
interdependence while holding individual contributions and efforts
accountable».(Wang,2010).
Jack C. Richards (2000, p. 108) listed four reasons to support
such an approach to learning which is said to increase students learning:
(1) It is less threatening for many students;
(2) It increases the amount of student participation in the
classroom;
(3) It reduces the need for competitiveness;
(4) It reduces the teacher's dominance in the classroom.
While the Cooperative Learning in this thesis refers those
learners learn in groups, working together towards a common goal, being
individually accountable for the group success. (Wang,2010).
5-2-Characteristics of CL
Cooperative Learning requires social interaction and
negotiation of meaning among heterogeneous group members engaged in tasks in
which all group members have both something to contribute to and learn from the
other members. CL shares the following essential characteristics (Crandall,
1999, p. 227):
(1) positive interdependence;
(2) face-to-face, group interaction;
(3) individual (and group) accountability;
(4) development of small group social skills;
(5) group processing. (Wang,2010).
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II-The Algerian Educational System and approaches to
English Teaching
Breen and Mann (1997, p. 134) combine eight qualities that
characterize autonomous learners:
(1) the person's stance towards the world;
(2) their desire for what it is they are learning;
(3) their robust sense of self;
(4) metacognitive capacity;
(5) management of change;
(6) their independence from educational process;
(7) their strategic engagement with learning;
(8) their capacity to negotiate. (Wang,2010).
According to Breen and Mann, and Crandall, not only
metacognitive strategies are essential for autonomy, but also learners'
attitudes towards the world, the educational environment, and themselves as
language learners play a critical part. CL has been shown to encourage and
support most of the affective factors with correlate positively with language
learning (Crandall, 1999, p. 227), i.e., reducing (negative or debilitating)
anxiety, increasing motivation, facilitating the development of positive
attitudes toward learning and language learning, promoting self-esteem, as well
as supporting different learning styles and encouraging perseverance in the
difficult and confusing process of learning another language. All of these are
important factors to be more autonomous. (Wang,2010).
7-The use of ICT in EFL
During the last two decades, the integration of ICT in
language education has become a major interest of topic in language educational
realm. Research findings over the past two decades provide some evidence as to
the positive effects of the use of information and communications technology
(ICT) on students. EFL teachers are expected to adopt a new view of their roles
and professional development in the rapidly changing modern society. It is
needed to explore particular skills required for ICT to enhance language
learning. The use of ICT as a teaching tool emphasizes obtaining, analyzing and
organizing information, by this way giving chance students to get in touch with
different kinds of media. Integration of ICT necessitates deciding on the use
of different ICTs in each skill, the types of ICT applications to be used,
planning the favorite activities, managing problems arising from the activities
planned, and so on. Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) can be
regarded as a new model of teaching and learning.(Çakici,2016)
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