Effectiveness of Using Cooperative Learning Method in Arabic Reading for Primary Students in Saudi Arabia - Research Proposal Example

Effectiveness of using Cooperative Learning Method in Arabic Reading for Primary Students in Saudi Arabia Name Institution Research Area Cooperative learning refers to the process involving the restructuring of classes within small groups so that students can work together to improve their own and each other’s learning (Balal, 2013). The entails having students working together to help each other get answers to questions rather than relying on the teachers. Students are actively involved in problem-solving which promotes a better understanding of the subjects being taught. One of the advantages of this method is the fact that it enables the students to identify their areas of strength. As a result, weak students learn to approach those better at certain subjects when they have difficulties (Alshammari, 2015). Cooperative learning is considered the best option for learning because it emphasizes active interaction between students who have different abilities and leads to more positive outcomes in academic achievement (Balal, 2013). Cooperative learning has begun to gain acceptance in Saudi Arabia. Although most schools still embrace the traditional learning strategies, the increase in studies on the benefits of cooperative learning has led to the gradual acceptance of the method (Gubbad, 2010). There is a rising debate in Saudi Arabia to ensure the implementation of the method in the education system to ensure that the academic performance of students improves. Further, the need to have students take on a more active role in the learning process has also contributed to the push to have cooperative learning introduced in schools. Benefits such as improvement in academic achievement and class participation and the increase in students’ understanding of content have led to the debate on the implementation of the method in Saudi Arabian education system (Gubbad, 2010). Research Problem The new trends in the society, economy, and education requires a change in policies and teaching methods in the education system. Globalization in the twenty-first century has increased the level of diversity in the societies and intensified the need for development. In Saudi Arabia, there have been radical shifts in the economy that require a radical shift in the education system to ensure that students are adequately prepared to take part in development (Gillies & Alghamdi, 2013). Public education in Saudi Arabia has three stages namely primary stage which has six levels, intermediate stage with three levels and high school with three levels. Arabic is the official language in Arabic and, as a result, the Ministry of Education has adopted policies that ensure that the Arabic language becomes the first language of education in all stages. The ministry has also laid down clear objectives for teaching Arabic at all stages of learning that have to be met (Alghamdi, 2012). Although Arabic is the first language that is taught to students from the primary school stage, research has shown that learning outcomes, with respect to linguistics, are not satisfactory (Alghamdi 2012, 661). In the areas of reading and writing, students at the primary stage exhibit weakness in Arabic language skills. Alnassar (2010) has indicated that 88% of Arabic language teachers have stated that their students have difficulties in learning Arabic. This means that the teaching of Arabic to students at the primary stage has not been as effective as required. One of the reasons that have been pointed out as the major cause of the poor learning outcomes for students at the primary stage is the continuous use of the traditional classroom instruction which is based on lecturing and memorization. Most teachers adopted this teaching method where they lecture, and students listen. Students are not involved or do not participate in exploring information but rather get information in a passive way. The teachers have limited the level of participation of the students making the learning method more teacher-centred (Alghamdi, 2012). The poor learning outcomes in Arabic reading for students at the primary level occur despite the number of classes that are allocated for students to learn Arabic. For students at the primary stage, nine out of thirty sessions in a week are allocated for learning of the Arabic language (Alamer, 2014). Despite the high number of lessons, there is no time allocated for students to learn in groups or to explore the information taught to them among themselves. The instructions during class time are based on teacher presentation where the teacher starts by presenting information while the students listen. The teacher may also answer a few questions to clarify unclear points and then independent work is allocated. The work given is done individually and competitively as each student works hard to get the teacher’s rewards. Despite the reliance on the teacher, the time allocated for each class is not enough to attend to each student. Further, teachers rarely revisit students who do not understand the course materials (Alamer, 2014). Teachers believe that they are the only source of information and teaching is their responsibility hence they discourage students working in groups to assist each other. Due to the heavy reliance on the teacher-centred method, the educational environment in Saudi Arabia has been widely criticized since the method is regarded as insufficient to meet the needs of the modern era. In Arabic reading, the lack of attention to areas such as high-order thinking skills, critical thinking, synthesis and problem-solving has been cited as some of the factors that have also contributed to the poor performance of students in Arabic reading (Albuhairi, 2015). The purpose of the current research is to investigate how effective the cooperative learning method is in Arabic reading for primary students in Saudi Arabia. The research relies on past literature on the benefits of using cooperative learning method in teaching and seeks to find out if these benefits can help primary students in improving their performance in Arabic reading. The research discusses the possibility of introducing cooperative learning into the Saudi Arabia education system and find out whether the widespread effects felt in other countries which have adopted the method can also be experienced in Saudi Arabia Research Questions The research seeks to answer the following question; 1. How effective is the use of cooperative learning method in Arabic reading for primary students in Saudi Arabia? The sub-questions to be answered in the course of the research are; 1. What is the effect of cooperative learning compared to the teacher-centred method on the achievement of primary learners in Arabic reading? 2. To what extent, if any, do students who are taught Arabic reading using the cooperative learning method have better reading and comprehension performance than those taught using the teacher-centred method? 3. What is the attitude of teachers towards cooperative learning and how does it affect its implementation in the classroom? 4. What is the attitude of primary students towards the implementation of cooperative learning in Arabic reading and how does it affect their performance. Significance of the Study Previous research on the implementation of cooperative learning in Saudi Arabia has focused on discussing the benefits that other countries, where the method has been successfully used, are experiencing. The research has also focused on the need to adopt the method and implement it in Saudi Arabia education system in general. However, not much research has been done focusing on using the cooperative learning method in teaching primary students the Arabic language. The Ministry of Education in Saudi Arabia has adopted policies to ensure that Arabic is taught as the first language to students for different reasons (Alghamdi, 2012). First, the language is taught to provide students with a linguistic eloquence that should help them understand the Islamic heritage and the developments in the modern life. Most importantly, the language is taught to improve the language abilities of the students to help them understand language events. The teaching of Arabic is supposed to be the foundation on which students can rely on in further reading and comprehension later in their education life and their life after school. The failure to achieve the above objectives at the primary level also means that the ability to read and understand is impaired and the students may have difficulties later in life (Alghamdi, 2012). The current research contributes to the debate that teacher-centred learning is no longer an effective teaching method and hence other methods such as cooperative learning should be adopted. The research goes a step further to suggest and provide evidence that the cooperative learning method is more effective in teaching Arabic to primary students compared to the teacher-centred approach. The findings from this research will guide the Arabic language teachers in Saudi Arabia in restructuring class practices to allow students to work in small groups to help improve their understanding of the language and better their performance. The research also contributed to the current debate over the reform of the education system in Saudi Arabia touching on the training of teachers, teaching instruments and the teaching methods (Hua, 2014). Literature Review According to Dyson & Casey (2012), Cooperative learning refers to the method of teaching where learners of different levels of capability are arranged into small groups, and a range of different educational activities are used to enhance their understanding of a subject or topic. The method is learner centred and focuses on having students functioning together to attain certain learning objectives. Once students have received instructions from a teacher, they are organized into small groups. The students are expected to work through the task given to them until all the members of the group understand it. This means that the success of each team member depends on individual effort and the efforts of the other group members (Balal, 2013). The method promotes positive interdependence among students to promote improvement in performance for the students involved. The method has been widely used in language teaching such the English Language Teaching. Research has revealed that there are significant benefits achieved through the use of cooperative learning in the learning process. Even in situations where students are in large-sized classes, the level of understanding is higher compared to students learning through a teacher-centred method. Hua (2014) conducted research to test the effectiveness of cooperative learning techniques in Chinese Universities where two English classes of more than 100 students participated. One of the classes was taught through the traditional teacher-centred approach while the other was taught through the cooperative learning approach. Data for the research was conducted through questionnaires and pretest as well as posttest assessment of reading, writing, listening, speaking and vocabulary skills. The research revealed that the students taught through the cooperative learning technique had higher scores in all the areas tested (Hua, 2014). The mere fact that students are learning in groups does not connote the use of the cooperative learning method. According to Alshammari (2015), a learning practice can only be considered as cooperative learning only if it promotes cognitive complexity and the development of teamwork that is of quality. Cognitive complexity refers to the level and depth of knowledge that learners in a group have regarding a particular area or subject. Quality teamwork means that there must be collaboration, group cohesion, and cooperation. This means that for a learning technique to be considered as falling under the category of cooperative learning, it must foster a deeper understanding of a certain subject and also promote quality teamwork (Alshammari, 2015). Theoretical Basis for Cooperative Learning Effective learning in every aspect of life requires people to work together to enhance individual and group productivity. Learning institutions are no different. The use of the cooperative learning method ensures that students learn from each other and gain interpersonal skills. Through collaboration, the students gain a broader understanding of the subjects. Group discussions promote better understanding compared to the traditional teacher-centred approach. The cooperative learning approach is based on different theories. Two of these theories are the social interdependence theory and the socio-cognitive development theory (Albuhairi, 2015). The social interdependence theory focuses on how people interact or work with each other. The theory was established by Karl Lewin who stated that the foundation of group work is a common goal which creates interdependence between the members of the group (Albuhairi, 2015). Social interdependence occurs where the individuals in a group have a common goal such that individual actions affect the outcome of the group and each person. The cooperative learning method emphasizes the need to have positive interdependence in the learning environment. Positive interdependence, according to the social interdependence theory, occurs when people are aware of the fact that their individual goals can only be achieved if the goals of the other students are achieved. Students, therefore, cooperate with each other so that they can achieve a common goal which is to learn (Morgan, 2003). Through interaction, the students encourage each other’s desire to learn. Morgan (2003), states that many development theories consider cooperation to be an important element in cognitive growth. The cognitive development of an individual is enhanced by interaction with others. This means that interaction between students in the learning process boosts their cognitive development. Through working with others, students reach consensus on new understandings through reaching an agreement with the other group members. Knowledge, morals, values and regulations are learned through interaction between the students. Albuhairi (2015) argues that knowledge is constructed socially. As a result, students achieve two levels of learning namely by interaction with others and by integrating what has been learned into the mind of the student. With cooperative learning, these two levels of learning are achieved. The teacher-centred approach is, therefore, ineffective in the learning process due to its individualistic nature. Cooperative Learning and Teacher-Centred Learning The main element in cooperative learning is interdependence. Students are taught to work together to discover the solutions to the problems they encounter while learning. Students working in teams encourage each other and promote their efforts to learn and teach others who have difficulties with a specific topic or subject (Gulnaz et al., 2015). The teacher-centred method and other traditional teaching methods promote independent learning. There are significant differences between the teacher-centred method and cooperative learning. One of these differences relates to the use of competition to motivate students. For the traditional method, setting competitive goals for the students compels students to work harder as they put in an effort to outdo their classmates. Cooperative learning, on the other hand, does not embrace competition among the students (Gulnaz et al., 2015). There are no personal goals in cooperative learning, but rather students help each other to be better in their academic performance. Peterson and Miller (2004) conducted a study to test the most effective method of learning the traditional approaches and cooperative learning. The participants for the study were 113 students who responded to the questionnaire. According to the collected after two weeks, the researcher found that the best method of learning was cooperative learning. Students who had gone through the cooperative learning experience were more positive towards learning compared to their counterparts who were taught using the traditional teacher-centred method. Those taught using the traditional method were not appreciative of the ideas of other students. The fact that there are significant benefits in the use of cooperative learning does not mean that the method does not have any disadvantages. The method relies on the willingness of the students to work together. This means that where students are not willing to work in groups, the method may not have the benefits discussed. Further, for students who have not gone through the experience of cooperative learning, the method may take longer to be implemented and for the benefits to be realized (Albuhairi, 2015). It is no longer beneficial for learners to depend on the teacher to provide all the information that is required in the learning process. The world today has changed, and new challenges have arisen. This means that the method of teaching adopted should be capable of equipping the students to deal with these problems. Students cannot learn problem-solving skills by merely listening to the lectures. They have to be involved in practical aspects of the learning process to gain the practical skills needed (Gulnaz et al., 2015). This can be achieved when students are allowed to work together to find solutions to common problems and encourage each other in the learning process. Language has always been an important aspect of life. It is through language and communication that people can talk to each other and understand. In Saudi Arabia, the Arabic language is the official language used. This means that students at the primary stage have to learn the language as the basis for other learning to be done later in life. Cooperative learning ensures that students in Saudi Arabia take an active role in the learning of Arabic and, therefore, improve their performance (Gulnaz et al., 2015). Research Plan The research uses the quantitative approach to evaluate the effectiveness of using cooperative learning method in Arabic reading for primary students in Saudi Arabia. The participants for the research will be divided into two groups namely the control group and the experimental group. The experimental group will be taught using cooperative learning strategies while the control group using the traditional strategies. The research is to be conducted through interviews of students and teachers who participated in the research. There will be 50 primary students from a school in Saudi Arabia divided into two classes of 25 students each. The school was chosen because the researcher knew that cooperative learning techniques were not being used. Further, the school is also close to the area where the researcher lives hence it is convenient. Before the study commenced, the teachers were given questionnaires with questions about the performance of the students in Arabic reading. The students, on the other hand, were interviewed on their learning experience in Arabic. The purpose was to understand the general attitude of the students towards learning Arabic. The questionnaire for the teachers was also meant to understand how the students performed and the teaching method that the teachers were using. Data Collection The instruments for data collection, as discussed above, will be interviews for the students and questionnaires for the teachers. The interviews and questionnaires will be done before and after the research was done to help the researchers understand the attitude and the performance of the students before and after the study. This would signify whether or not cooperative learning was an effective method in Arabic reading. The combination of these two methods will ensure that the researchers collect enough data to produce accurate and reliable results. The interviews for the students will focus on two areas. First, the students will be asked about their attitude towards learning Arabic and how whether or not the subject are easy or hard to them. Secondly, the interview will also focus on whether the students feel that the teaching method adopted by the teachers were sufficient or were effective. The questionnaires for the teachers will consist of both multiple choice and short answer questions. The questionnaire for the teachers will include questions relating to the method used to teach and the average performance of the students. The data collected from the two methods would be analyzed and used as the results of the research. The research will be conducted over a period of four weeks from November to December. The researchers will conduct orientation sessions for the participants where they will be informed about the purpose of the study. Before the start of the process, consent will be sought from the school management. Further, the teachers will also be required to give their informed consent prior to participating in the study. The purpose of the consent is to ensure that they understand the scope of the research and the role in the research. The adult participants were also required to sign forms declaring their willingness to operate within the scope of research ethics. Data Analysis The data analysis method to be used for the research is the statistical package for social science (SPSS). The reason for the choice of this tool for data analysis is the fact that it reduces the time needed for sorting and copying records of the data collected. Further, the method also enhances reliability, objectivity and validity of the results of the research. Conclusion The research intends to show the effectiveness of using cooperative learning in Arabic reading for primary students in Saudi Arabia. The performance of students in Arabic has not been satisfactory as certain skills such as reading and writing in Arabic are lacking in students at the primary stage. The number of lessons allocated to the teaching of Arabic is higher than any other subject yet the performance has not improved. Previous research has showed that cooperative learning techniques are beneficial to students especially in learning languages. The method involves allowing the students to work in groups and help each other achieve their learning objectives. Unlike the teacher-centred method, cooperative learning promotes positive interdependence of the students. Cooperative learning ensures that learners play an active role in learning. This method would be appropriate for students to help them become more enthusiastic about learning Arabic and improve their performance through working in groups. References Balal, B. (2013). The effects of using cooperative learning on EFL learners’ performance. The European Conference on Language Learning. Gubbad, A. (2010). The effect of cooperative learning on the academic achievement and retention of the mathematics concepts at the primary school in Holy Makkah. Journal of King Saud University, 22(2), 13-23. Alshammari, N. (2015). Effects of cooperative learning on academic performance of college students in Saudi Arabia. State University of New York. Alnassar, S. (2010). Evaluating roles of Arabic teachers at secondary and high schools in solving students’ weakness in the Arabic language. Journal of Alimam Muhammad bin Saud Islamic University for the Humanities and Social Sciences, 10, 78-137. Dyson, B. & Casey, A. (2012). Cooperative learning in physical education: A research-based approach: Routledge studies in physical education and youth sport. Routledge. Hua, N. (2014). A feasible study on cooperative learning in large class college English teaching. Theory and Practice in Lamguage Studies, 4(9), 1862-1868. Morgan, B. (2003). Cooperative learning in higher education: Undergraduate student reflections on group examinations for group grades. College Student Journal, 37(1), 40-50. Gulnaz, F., Alfaqih, A., & Mashhour, N. (2015). Paradigm shift: A critical appraisal of traditional and innovative roles of an English teacher in Saudi ELT classrooms. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 5(5), 934-946. Alghamdi, A. (2012). Teaching Arabic and the presentation of its teachers before service in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. International Journal for Cross-Disciplinary Subjects in Education, 3(1), 661-664. Alamer, S. (2014). Challenges facing gifted students in Saudi Arabia. Research on Humanities and Social Sciences, 4(24), 107-112. Albuhairi, S. (2015). Preliminary factors necessary for effective implementation of cooperative learning, and their prevalence in cooperative learning practice in Saudi Arabia. The University of Hull. Gillies, R. & Alghamdi, R. (2013). The impact of cooperative learning in comparison to traditional learning (small groups) on EFL learners’ outcomes when learning English as a foreign language. Asian Social Science, 9(13), 19-27. Appendices Appendix 1 Questionnaire for Teachers before and after the Research 1. How would you rate the performance of your students in Arabic reading? a. Excellent b. Good c. Average d. Poor 2. Do you allow your students to work in groups? a. Yes b. No 3. Are you aware of the cooperative learning teaching method? a. Yes b. No 4. If yes, explain what is it and what does it involve? 5. What would you to ensure that your students perform better in Arabic reading? Appendix 2 Interview Questions for the students before and after the research 1. Do you enjoy studying Arabic? a. Yes b. No 2. Do you find Arabic hard or easy? 3. Do you think that the method the teacher uses to teach Arabic is effective for you? 4. What more would you want your teacher to do in teaching Arabic? Read More