Should Cooperative Learning be implemented in the Classroom?

English learning and teaching has been developed along the time. There is a wide variety of learning strategies that can be used to improve the students’ English skill. One of learning strategy that can be applied in the classroom is cooperative learning. Debbie Silver on her book Cooperative Learning for the Middle Level defines cooperative learning as a learning strategy that uses small groups of students to work together.
This learning strategy enables the students to help each other in their learning process. Cooperative learning should be applied in the classroom to improve the students’ English   skill.  Cooperative learning has many advantages, however, it still has some disadvantages.

    Firstly, cooperative learning makes the students become more responsible. Since this learning strategy puts the students to work together, the teacher will no longer become the centre of the learning process. So, the students are required to learn actively. They have responsibility to improve their own learning, especially their English skill. The students are expected become active and independent learners.  Not only have responsibility to improve their own learning, but the students also have responsibility to help their friends. Brown & Ciuffetelli Parker (2009) stated that each member of the group has to fully participate to improve their group achievement. In short, applying cooperative learning can make the students become more responsible because they have a big role in improving their English skill and helping their friends.

    Secondly, cooperative learning allows the students to get better understanding. Working together in group can develop their knowledge about English. As quoted from Brown (2001) “In cooperative learning models, a group learning activity is dependent on socially structured exchange information between learners.” The students can get many inputs from their friends so that it can strengthen their English skill. Moreover, this learning strategy also allows the students to correct each other. When they get feedback from their friends, they will be able to analyze their mistakes. Due to the fact that the students exchange information and correct each other, their understanding about English will be improved.

    Thirdly, cooperative learning can broaden their social life. In cooperative learning the students are assigned to work as team so that it will enhance the importance of teamwork. Besides, it is stated that this learning strategy can also facilitate the students to learn leadership and coordination. According to Jones (1994), it is important to learn teamwork and leadership skill since it will be useful for them in their work places later. In addition, cooperative learning improves the students’ communication skill as well. They can practice their speaking and also communication skill during the learning process. Once these skills have improved, the students will be able to communicate in English confidently. As they are able to communicate confidently, it is easy for them to widen their social life.

    Next, applying cooperative learning will help the students to learn efficiently. The students will not need a long time to understand the lesson since they are allowed to discuss the materials together and help each other. It can save their time effectively. It will be very effective since they do not need to do all the tasks alone. They can assign different tasks to each member and work more quickly. Also, it can save their energy. They can understand the lesson more easily since they learn together. Since the students are assigned to do their works together, the students will not be as tired as if they work alone. Because it can save time and energy, cooperative learning can facilitate the students to learn effectively.

    Another advantage, cooperative learning allows the students become more confident. Silver reveals that work in group can lower the students’ frustration and anxiety. Due to the fact that they work with their peers, they can feel more comfortable and relax. It can increase their self-esteem as well.  When they make mistakes, their friends will give feedback and correct them. They can be themselves in front of their friends once they feel comfortable. They will not be afraid to make mistakes since they know that their friends will help them to become better.

    Lastly, cooperative learning can make the students enjoy the learning process. Working in group enables the students to interact with their friends. They can exchange not only knowledge about English but also share many things together. It will be fun because they can learn in the situation in which they are allowed to interact freely with their friends. The classroom situation will also be fun since there is less tense in the classroom. It can build relax atmosphere in the classroom so that the students are not afraid to express their ideas.  Therefore, the students can enjoy the learning process.

    Despite of these advantages, cooperative learning still has several disadvantages. First of all, applying cooperative learning may take a long time. The teacher should be well trained before they can use this learning strategy. Jones states that the teacher should have at least two or three years experience of learning cooperative learning. In addition, it will need a long time to apply this strategy since the students are required to do many group projects. The students will need extra time to finish their works outside the class in case they cannot finish their discussion in one session.

    Second, the teacher will have difficulty in monitoring the classroom activities. Applying cooperative learning will lead to classroom management challenges. It is not easy for the teacher to control the group discussion since there are many groups in the classroom. During the learning process, those groups will discuss the lesson at the same time so the teacher should be able to monitor their discussion. Moreover, it will be very difficult for the teacher to monitor individual progress of each student. Since they are assigned to work in group, the teacher cannot easily know whether each student fully participates in the discussion or not.

    Another disadvantage, during applying this learning strategy, the classroom situation may not comfortable. This learning strategy may potentially cause a hectic situation. As it mentioned before, this learning strategy allows the students to discuss their lesson along the learning process. As the result of it, the situation will be very busy in the classroom. Sometimes, when somebody speaks others do not listen to him or her because they are too busy working on their works. Working in groups may create noisy sounds in the class. Consequently, the classroom situation will be uncomfortable and very distracting.

    Last disadvantage, the students may have difficulty to do the cooperative learning. “Some learners do not like to work in group” stated Jones on his book The Expert Educators. Some students may prefer to work individually than cooperatively. As the result of it, they will feel uncomfortable every time they work with their peers. Another difficulty, each student cannot fully participate in doing their group works. Since they feel uncomfortable, they may not enjoy the learning process. Furthermore, there are many different characters of students in a group. Some of them may dominate the discussion, while others may not. 

    All in all, cooperative learning is one of effective strategies that can be used to improve students’ learning and understanding. This learning strategy has both advantages and disadvantages. Since cooperative learning strategy has more advantages than its disadvantages, it is highly recommended for English teachers to apply this learning strategy in the classroom. By applying this learning strategy, the teacher will be able to help the students in improving their English skill.

References:
1.    Silver Debbie. Cooperative Learning for the Middle Level.
2.    http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooperative_Learnin.html
3.   Brown, H. D. (2001). Teaching by Principle: An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy. 4.    http://712educators.about.com/od/cooplearning/tp/Benefits-Of-Cooperative-Learning.html
5.    http://everydaylife.globalpost.com/three-disadvantages-using-cooperative-learning-6470.html    
6.    Jones, et.al. (1994). The Expert Educator.
7.    www.academic.edu/3380588/Using_cooperative_learning_in_large_class