Online cooperative learning strategies and oral production

Abstract

This research aimed to investigate if online cooperative learning strategies improve students’ oral production. In accomplishing this goal, the target population was formed by 30 students from tenth year of basic education who attended Unidad Educativa Cotaló. It was quasi-experimental research whose data collection instrument was a pretest and post-test. The target population was divided into the control group with 15 students and the experimental group with the same number of individuals. A previous research review and a theoretical analysis were done to identify online cooperative learning strategies like dialogue reenactment, communication games, discussion, interview, buzz groups, instant comment, format debates, presentations, simulation role-play, think-pair-share, peer tutoring, and numbered heads. Then, the pre-test, the A2 Key English test, speaking part, was taken by the whole population. To obtain numerical data, a rubric was employed. It had three assessment criteria such as interactive communication, pronunciation, and grammar and vocabulary which let to recognize the students’ low level of oral production performance. The students’ main struggles focused on grammar and vocabulary management, phonological uttering, and interactive communication. Afterwards, a set of class plans was designed to be used during the intervention phase, for students’ oral production improvement, that was centered in cooperative learning strategies for online teaching and learning contextand the use of the language for real-life communication in a student-centered environment. The intervention lasted three weeks, two online classes per week with the experimental group while the control group attended to face-to-face classes with traditional methodology based on the textbook for tenth year of basic education. Finally, the posttest resultsrevealed that there was a significant improvement of the experimental group in relation to those of the control group. It was concluded that online cooperative learning strategies improve students’ oral production. In this context, it is recommended to use this material for further research.