Cooperative Learning in Primary EFL

Let’s tell the story of our

Action Research project

Class 5b a.s. 2007/2008 Scuola primaria “Munaretto” IC Comprensivo “Parolari” Venezia

Video: a class-building activityd.callegari@tin.it annavaleria.guazzieri@tin.it

A1 primary

6-10

A2 lower

Secondary11-14

B1upper

secondary15-16

B2 upper secondary

17-19

The Common European Framework defines six common reference levels for language proficiency .

These are the levels for Italian primary and secondary schools

A1 : focus on oral and mainly interactive competences !

Pair work and group work seems to be a natural setting for developing interaction competences

Ideally….

Number of students multiple of 4

All the students involved at the same time

Transparence of process

Wonderful, colourful and creatively different outcomes

Just like this….

To use a visual as methafora, this is what the teacher would like to have:

Number of studentsmultiple of 4

Transparence of process

Wonderful, colourful and

creatively different outcomes

All the students involved at the same time

“Le forchette di Munari"Corraini Editore

And this what she gets… doing group work!

without cooperative learning, of course!

One students does all the work

Only two students stay on task

Disruptive conflicts

Joking, not staying on task

Negative leaders

Not equal participation

Overview of the different theoretical background of the project

(Tony Buzan’s mindmapping)

My mind map

Focus on the

Critical Friend

The critical friend’s role in A-RThe ‘golden rules’ of a critical friend

Critical friends must exert certain fundamental “virtues”: • Respect • Trust • Understanding

Means of communication• f2f meetings• Classroom observation• Video/audio recording• Skype to exchange files, to discuss (using the chat)

My mind map

Focus on Cooperative Learning

CL is a “philosophy” because we:

work together

learn together

build new knowledge

together

grow together

change together

Basic principles of cooperative learning:Positive interdependence

Promotive simultaneous interaction

Individual and group accountability

Group work processing

Explicit teaching of social skills

Conflict resolution

Mutual support

random

streaming or hetherogeneous

self selection (autonomous, partially guided, leader’s choice)

Moreno’s social graph

Agree/disagree

Children have been trained to use their body language -facial expressions and hand gestures- to manage their role. Here you can see the turn-giver and the silence monitor

Exploring lesson plans:reflecting on the learningexperiences in the class

My mind map

NON - COOPERATIVE

COOPERATIVE

SIMPLECOMPLEX

LEXICAL CATEGORIES

TEAMMATES CONSULT

(FOOD PYRAMD)

WORSHEET MEALS

WORDBINGO

CHANT(WHO

STOLE…)

GROUP CHARADES

THE ODD ONE OUT

Name the activity

Put it in a section of your lesson plan

Invent a color code for m.i.

Reflect on its location in the “magic quadrant”

Record it in the“magic quadrant

Evaluation grid of the coursebook(without CL)

Best results (class)(CL lessons)

Best results (individual) (CL lessons)

Minimum results (individual) (CL lessons)

Average (CL lessons)

11 76 38-42 15 25-26

n. of sentences/n. of words 33/260 (token)/106 (type)

describing The oil group in the yellow triangle

I can see a girl with a dog

comparing The red triangle is smaller than the orange triangle

Number of items learnt through cooperative learning lessons

The final product of each unit:

Lapbooks…lapbooks and more lapbooks!

a bibliography• ALLWRIGHT, D. AND BAILEY, K.M. (1991), Focus on the Language Classroom: An Introduction to Classroom

Research for Language Teachers, CUP, Cambridge• BREEN M. P., LITTLEJOHN A. (2000), Classroom decision making, Cambridge University Press• COHEN E. et al. (ed) (2004), Teaching Cooperative Learning, SUNY, New York• COMOGLIO M., CARDOSO M. A. (2002), Insegnare e apprendere in gruppo, LAS, Roma• COONAN C.M (a cura di) (1998), La Ricerca-Azione, Cafoscarina, Venezia• DANIELS H. (2001), Vygotsky and Pedagogy, RoutledgeFalmer, London• ELLIS R.(2003), Task-based Language Learning and Teaching, OUP, Oxford• LANTOLF J. P., THORNE S. L. (2006), Sociocultural Theory and the Genesis of Second Language Development, OUP,

Oxford• LEWIS M., (1993), The Lexical Approach, LTP• JOHNSON D.W, JOHNSON R.T., HOLUBEC E. J., (1996) Apprendimento Cooperativo in Classe, Erickson• KAPLAN R.B.(2002), The Oxford Handbook of Applied Linguistics, OUP, Oxford• KAGAN S. (2000), L’apprendimento cooperativo: l’approccio strutturale, Ed. Lavoro, Roma• KRASHEN S. D.(1987), Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition, Prentice-Hall International, New York• MACARO E. (1997), Target Language, Collaborative Learning and Autonomy, Multilingual Matters, Clevedon• MCCAFFERTY S.G., JACOBS M.J., DASILVA IDDINGS A.C. (2006), Cooperative Learning and Second Language

Teaching, Cambridge Language Education, CUP, Cambridge• NUNAN, D. (1989), Understanding Language Classrooms, Prentice Hall, New York• NUNAN D.(ed) (1992), Collaborative Language Learning and Teaching, CUP, Cambridge• PUTNAM J. (ed.) (1998), Cooperative Learning and Strategies for Inclusion, Brookes Publishing, Baltimore• VARISCO B.M. (2002), Costruttivismo socio-culturale, Carocci, Roma• YULE G. (1997), Referential Communication Tasks, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, New Jersey• VAN LIER L. (1989), The Classroom and the Language Learner, Longman, Harlow• VYGOTSKIJ L. S.(1990), Pensiero e linguaggio, Laterza, Bari• WILLIS D., (1990), The Lexixcal Syllabus, A new approach to Language Teaching, Collins ELT• WILLIS J. (1996), A Framework for Task-Based Learning, Longman, Harlow