The effectiveness of cooperative learning on EFL first-year high school students' writing skills

Jonathan Sebastian Pérez-Cañar
Unidad Educativa Lauro Damerval Ayora, Ecuador
Miriam Eucevia Troya-Sánchez
Universidad Nacional de Loja, Ecuador

This research sought to identify the effectiveness of cooperative learning on writing skills among 35 first-year students from a public high school in Loja, Ecuador. The mixed-method investigation employed the action research design throughout four phases: reconnaissance, planning, enacting, and reflection. A pre-test and post-test measured students' knowledge about writing skills before and after the action process, whilst a mixed-type questionnaire and field notes documented students' perceptions towards cooperative learning (CL). Quantitative data were analysed with descriptive and inferential statistics, and qualitative data were analysed through a thematic method. The main results revealed that students' writing skills improved after the implementation of cooperative learning. The vocabulary component obtained the highest score in the post-test while the organisation component was the lowest. Students' perceptions towards cooperative learning were mostly positive not only because it improved their writing skills, but also because it developed their social skills which simultaneously raised their confidence to give and receive immediate feedback from their peers while producing a written text.
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Authors: Jonathan Sebastian Pérez-Cañar holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Teaching English as a Foreign Language from Universidad Nacional de Loja. He currently works as an EFL teacher at Lauro Damerval Ayora High School. His research activity focuses on EFL teaching and learning strategies. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-4566-3836 Email: spsebastianpersonal@gmail.com Miriam Eucevia Troya-Sánchez holds a Masters degree in Teaching English as a Foreign Language from Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja. She currently works as an EFL professor at Universidad Nacional de Loja. Her present research centres on English teachers' professional development in the public sector of Ecuador. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7798-8684 Email: miriam.troya@unl.edu.ec Please cite as: Pérez-Cañar, J. S. & Troya-Sánchez, M. E. (2023). The effectiveness of cooperative learning on EFL first-year high school students' writing skills. Issues in Educational Research, 33(3), 1125-1147. http://www.iier.org.au/iier33/perez-canar.pdf