tfm-itziar mojarrieta sanz - ucm · pdf file3 2. ma dissertation rationale different...

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INDEX

1. Abstract ………………………………………………………………………………….. 2

2. MA Dissertation rationale ………………………………………………………… ….. 3

3. Objectives ……………………………………………………………………………….. 5

4. Review of literature ……………………………………………………………………. . 6

5. Methodology ……………………………………………………………………………. 12

6. Analysis of the results ……………………………………………………………… .. 25

7. Conclusions …………………………………………………………………………….. 36

8. Bibliography ……………………………………………………………………………. 39

9. Appendix ………………………………………………………………………………… 42

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1. Abstract

Several literature and researchers talk about the benefits of working cooperatively in teams.

For years, they have been investigating on the influence that a more socialised way of

learning would have on the level of students’ comprehension.

In a current context where autonomy is seen as one of the greatest abilities to achieve, more

schools are following innovative teaching schemes designed with this aim. It is undoubtedly

true that autonomy is a competence to improve during the scholarship period of any student,

but also social conduct and team work are activities that any pupil should improve as they

will have to face situations in this context in their future life.

Moreover, motivation, especially with young students is a key element to consider when

designing a teaching method in order to make it successful. Furthermore, especially focused

in English classes, when dealing with a new language a socialised scheme should be

considered necessary, as language is a tool for communication, and this one can happen in

a socialised context.

This paper introduces the concept of collaborative learning as a useful tool for enhancing

students English comprehension. Collaborative learning in this research has been

understood as a team-based learning scheme. More specifically, its main objective is to test

the positive impact that this method would have in terms of motivation and improvement in

grammar knowledge.

In order to accomplish these objectives, the sample, composed by 49 participants belonging

to third year of E.S.O., has been subject to a pre-test on both variables studied (motivation

and grammar competence), a period of instruction in which team work has been developed,

and one more test after that period, in which again both variables have been measured

Outcomes are expected to show that there is considerable evidence to demonstrate the

positive effect of this method in the student’s level of English comprehension.

Key Words

English teaching, Motivation, Grammar, Project Work, Individualised learning, Group work,

Collaborative learning, Key competences.

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2. MA Dissertation rationale

Different literature talks about the benefits of working cooperatively in teams. Most of the

authors who I refer to in section 4 support this idea: Dewey, Kilpatrick, Charters and Bode

(the classical authors who formulated the project-work method applied in this Master’s

Dissertation, talked about the importance to fill in the gap between school and society); this

idea was also shared by Waks, L. J. who summarised it in 1997. Other examples are Núria

Vidal (who according to Antonio R. Roldán Tapia (1997) acknowledged the importance of the

communicative learning method), or Tom Hutchinson (2001) whose ideas are briefly

explained in the aforementioned section.

After visiting the innovative school assigned to me as part of my teaching practices, I decided

this idea could work there, and also benefit my teaching experience. This school had a very

innovative teaching system, based on a methodology called Basic Interactive Education (EBI

Spanish acronym) which encourages students’ autonomy. This system does not use master

classes as a way of transmission of knowledge, but a personalised syllabus which is

comprised of subjects which are composed of what they call guías (guides). These guides

include the instructions the students have to follow to achieve the key competences the

teacher has established for each unit. From 5th year of Primary Education students have

access to their syllabus through a web platform, specially designed for this system. Teachers

arrange appointments with one or a small group of students to solve any doubts which have

arisen during the execution of the guide. According to that program, each pupil evolved

through the course lessons in their own timelines and usually worked alone, with the unique

support of the teacher and a computer, and with fewer opportunities to interact among his

classmates.

From a general point of view, the method could had many benefits, as students could work

as if they were doing their homework, so pupils could do other things later, such as:

practising sport, learning other languages, or simply spending more time with their families

and neighbours. Nevertheless, it had also some drawbacks such as loss of shared learning

and interaction that could help to motivate the pupils.

In this context, I thought it could be interesting to work with the students, in a more classical

and socialised way, giving them some topics to develop together during the English class

once a week. This way, pupils could benefit from each other.

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The proposed teaching method was well accepted in the school, and the classroom of 3rd

year of E.S.O. students was the targeted group to test it.

The design of the teaching method (more information can be found at section 5) took into

account the key competences included in the Recommendation 2006/962/EC of the

European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2006 on key competences for

lifelong learning [Official Journal L 394 of 30.12.2006], “Key competences for lifelong learning

are a combination of knowledge, skills and attitudes appropriate to the context. They are

particularly necessary for personal fulfilment and development, social inclusion, active

citizenship and employment.” Key competences should be acquired at the end of the

students’ compulsory education.

Among the eight key competences (communication in the mother tongue, communication in

foreign languages, mathematical competence and basic competences in science and

technology, digital competence, learning to learn, social and civic competences, sense of

initiative and entrepreneurship and cultural awareness and expression), the following were

developed and acquired within this teaching unit through the following activities:

- communication in foreign languages: reading authentic texts from Britannica Online

for Kids and BBC Food, transferring what they have read through a presentation,

listening to their classmates, listening to a song in English, etc. Materials: Music:

worksheet 1, Music: group 1-5, Ireland (group 1), Northern Ireland (group 2) ,

Scotland (group 3), Wales (group 4), England (group 5), Colcannon (group 1), Irish

beef stew (group 2), Haggis (group 3), Welsh rarebit (group 4) and Roast beef (group

5).

- mathematical competence: understanding the value of English measurement units,

such as: pound (lb.), ounce (oz), pint, tablespoon (tbs.), etc., while reading a recipe.

Materials: Colcannon (group 1), Irish beef stew (group 2), Haggis (group 3), Welsh

rarebit (group 4) and Roast beef (group 5).

- basic competences in science and technology: finding on a map the city or region

where a band or a singer is from, knowing the biggest British Isles (Great Britain and

Ireland) and the four countries of the United Kingdom plus Ireland. Materials: maps.

- digital competence: visiting the official webpage of some bands or singers in order to

gather the information needed and looking for information about some sightseeings in

the Internet.

- learning to learn: searching for information on their own, data processing and

presentation.

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- social and civic competences: respecting classmates’ (musical) preferences,

understanding cultural differences (typical dishes from other countries), participating,

in a respectful way, in group work, etc.

- sense of initiative and entrepreneurship: suggesting topics for the projects, planning

and managing them, and suggesting changes and own preferences. Materials:

Questionnaire (Ramón Ribé & Núria Vidal 1993).

- cultural awareness and expression: appreciating musical and gastronomic culture,

enjoying listening to songs in English, and designing a poster.

3. Objectives

The main objective of this research work is to prove the positive effect of the collaborative

learning by means of two project works in student’s English comprehension. Project works

have been designed with the objective that pupils socialise more, and enjoy learning English

at the same time that they revise some grammar points which they have to improve.

Some other objectives related to the first one are the following:

- to revise some grammar units through the project-work method;

- to know and appreciate some aspects of the English and American culture: music,

food, different measurement units, and names and the location of some cities of the

United Kingdom and the United States of America;

- to understand original texts in English, using monolingual dictionaries and glossaries,

and to learn how to use the dictionary;

- to talk about their musical preferences;

- to read and search for information about music and food;

- to locate a city on a map from the USA or UK;

- to listen to a song in English, just for pleasure, and understand most of it;

- to learn some differences between USA and UK;

- to be aware of the English measurement units (lb., oz, pint...);

- to understand a list of ingredients of an original recipe;

- to be able to read and fill in a questionnaire in English;

- to have fun at English class thanks to this method, preparing a presentation;

- and to give them enough chances to express themselves in English and to talk about

motivating and interesting topics.

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4. Review of literature

This review covers the following points: first Spanish work on project work; a review of the

classical formulation of project method in the United States (Dewey, Kilpatrick, Charters and

Bode), a review of the projects developed in Spain during the 1980s and the 1990s, and

Leonard J. Waks’ and Antonio R. Roldán Tapia’s proposals on this teaching method, which

were published in their articles: ‘The project method in postindustrial education’ and ‘El

trabajo por proyectos en el sistema educativo español: revisión de propuestas de realización’,

respectively, both published in 1997.

According to Antonio R. Roldán Tapia1 (1997: 116), the project method has its origin in Spain

during the Spanish Second Republic (1931-1939) when F. Sáinz -following in the American

(Kilpatrick and John Dewey) and the European (Decroly and Célestin Freinet) precursor‘s

footsteps- published El método de proyectos in 1934. As Roldán states (1997: 116), Sainz’s

theory is based on the idea of activity opposed to the idea of passive learning within an

educational system characterized by memorisation.

Let us have a look at Dewey’s and Kilpatrick’s formulation of the project method and the

early US debate about it, through Leonard J. Waks 2 ’ article ‘The project method in

postindustrial education’.

To start with, I would like to add a quotation from Jane Addam’s work Democracy and Social

Ethics (1902) taken from Waks’ article which, from my point of view, perfectly evokes the

feeling of lost which led to the devising of the method.

‘The domestic arts are gone, with their absorbing interest for the children, their educational

value, and incentive to activity... For the hundreds of children who have never seen wheat

grow, there are dozens who have never seen bread baked... The child of such a family has

little or no opportunity to use this energies in domestic manufacture, or indeed, constructively

in any direction’.

Probably Adams’ last sentence is too pessimistic, but the truth is that as Waks states (1997:

391), ‘the organisation of learning in projects under learner control was a major theme of

1 English teacher at Alhaken II secondary school in Córdoba (Spain) and teacher trainer. (Information

taken from his blog) 2 Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at Temple University

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early twentieth century American philosophers of education and curriculum theorist’.

According to him (Waks 1997: 391), ‘school-based projects under learner control first gained

a foothold in the USA in technical and agricultural education at the end of the nineteenth

century’ and it was thanks to John Dewey’s work The School and Society that they ‘were

given added legitimacy in general education’. Nevertheless, as Waks’ article explains (Waks

1997: 391), Dewey’s work was just a seed to sow and ‘projects were elevated to the status of

a general method by William H. Kilpatrick, and had a profound influence educational practice

in the USA, Europe, and even the Soviet Union (Dewey 1984, 1990).’

Taking again into account the feeling of lost evoked by the above-mentioned Adams words,

we could better understand that (Waks 1997: 395) ‘in taking up the slack, teachers soon

discovered that school routines (lectures, demonstrations, recitations) designed for training in

basic literacy and conventional school subjects were ineffective for these new tasks. They

started experimenting with learning projects in schools simulating conditions and tasks in

home and at work.’ According to Waks (1997: 395), Dewey “accepted the benefits claimed

for these innovations by their founders; that they engaged the interest and attention of

students, keeping them alert, making them more capable and better prepared for adult life.

(...) But he also found such stated benefits ‘unnecessarily narrow’ (Dewey 1900: 14, 15-16,

18) because of their individual focus”, and he ‘understood clearly that skills acquired in

industrial and domestic arts classes would find little direct application in industrial work

places’ and also that ‘the introduction of ‘more active, expressive, and self-directing factors’

in the schools, and the ‘relegation of the merely symbolic and formal to a secondary position’,

signalled a necessary evolution to social life.’ (1997:395). As Waks states (1997: 396), it was

Kilpatrick who organised the aforementioned factors, undertaking the task Dewey delegated

to future scholars.

In 1918 Kilpatrick’s work Teachers College Record defined project as ‘a wholeheartedly

purposeful activity carried on in a social context’3 and, as Waks (1997: 396) states, ‘he

argued that the project, so defined, could be made the organising unit of all school learning,

hence the idea of a project method. According to Waks’ explanation (1997: 396), “to make

the learning project into a general method of school education, Kilpatrick sought the broadest

possible interpretation of the term ‘project’, noting that ‘projects may present every variety

that purposes present in life’”. As he also explains, this ‘wholeheartedness’ and ‘a social

context’ - ‘value judgement through the consideration by peers’ (Walks 1997: 396)- were the

two main conditions of Kilpatrick’s analysis, which identified four different types of projects:

3 the definition is taken from Waks, 1997: 396

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‘(1) those where the purpose is to embody some idea or plan in external form; (2) those

where the purpose is to enjoy some experience; (3) those where the purpose is to straighten

out some intellectual difficulty – to solve some problem; and (4) those where the purpose is

to obtain knowledge or skill.’ (Waks, 1997: 397).

According to Waks’ article, three years later, J. A. Steveson redefined the term project and in

1923 W. W. Charters found Kilpatrick’s definition of project too broaden and also provided a

new one; ‘a problematic act carried to completion in a natural setting’4.

In 1925, Kilpatrick’s Foundation of Method was published. According to Waks (1997: 399), it

“consisted of an amplification of the ideas in his original ‘project method’ paper and a

consideration of the criticisms it provoked”. As Waks explains (1997: 399, 400), Kilpatrick

“tenaciously stuck to his guns on the centrality of the ‘wholehearted purpose’ condition in

defining ‘projects’”; but ‘he distinguished two senses of ‘purposing’, or ‘having a purpose’,

corresponding to (a) doing what you like and (b) liking what you do, and opted for the second

as definitive of projects’. In Kilpatrick’s words, ‘If the purpose dies and the teacher still

requires completion of what was begun, then it becomes a task.’5

As Waks states (1997: 400), in 1927, Kilpatrick’s method was again revisited by Boyd Bode,

who ‘began his consideration of the project method in Modern Educational Theories (1927:

145) by affirming its primary motivation: the desire to close the gap between school and out-

of-school life’. According to Waks (1997; 401), Bode thought that Kilpatrick “had attempted to

redefine ‘projects’ in terms of the attitudes of the learner towards his activity”, and ‘as this

attitude of wholeheartedness could be extended from projects in the initial and clear sense to

all school activities, Kilpatrick’s approach appeared (by some magic trick) to have extended

what was worthwhile in such projects (the attitude) to the rest of school learning’; moreover

Bode argued that the incidental learning which resulted from the completion of project work

was ‘too random, too haphazard, too immediate in its function, unless we supplement it with

something else’. In Bode’s words, “‘project method’ has only introduced conceptual confusion

and a ‘new attempt to solve educational problems by means of a magic formula” (Bode 1927:

165 in Waks 1997: 402).

Nevertheless and in accordance with Waks (1997: 402), “Bode himself had no intention of

questioning the educational value of projects under learner control. For Bode incidental

4 the definition is included in Waks, 1997: 398 5 Quotation taken from Waks (1997: 400)

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learning was important and even ‘tremendously effective’. But it was also inevitably

incomplete.”

Going back to Europe and focusing on Antonio Roldán’s article, we are going to enumerate

some of the main projects regarding the teaching of English developed in Spain during the

last two decades of the 20th century. This enumeration is suitable as a review of the themes

which were discussed during the last century and, along with the previous rationale, as a

justification for this Master Dissertation.

As Roldán Tapia states (1997: 116), regarding the teaching of English, the first project works

were developed in the 1980s in Catalonia. This idea concurs with Diana L. Fried-Booth’s

update of Project Work (2002: 5, 6) which states that ‘The original reason for developing

project work at the beginning of the 1980s resulted from the impact of the communicative

approach on what teachers were doing in the classroom’.

According to Roldán’s review (1997: 116), Núria Vidal carried out a project work with C.O.U.

students under the motto ‘Humanizing the classroom’. The experience was compiled and

published in Barcelona in 1984. As Roldán Tapia states two years later, in 1986, M. Casañas

described two projects (‘A visit to a hospital’ and ‘A trip to the isle of Skye’) which were

carried out with 3º B.U.P. students, and M. Ravera and N. Vidal designed three teaching

units occurred at the en of each unit (‘A personality game’, ‘The trip’ and ‘The island’).

Roldán also mentioned two project works which Vidal did with 2º B.U.P. students during two

different trips to England and which were published in 1987 and 1988 under the title ‘Account

of a trip to Bournemouth, England, with I.B. students, the symbol of a dream accomplished

with enthusiasm and effort’ and ‘The shadow in the mist’, respectively. All of these projects

were published by the I.C.E. Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona.

Roldán Tapia also describes the project works carried out by I. M. Palacios Martínez in a

Galician institute by 3º B.U.P. students which were compiled in 1988 by the publication Aula

de Inglés. According to A. Roldán (1997: 116, 117), the themes of these projects were: a

guide book of the student’s village, an audiovisual presentation of the village, British and

Spanish press, American and Spanish basketball and la movida viguesa (cultural activity of

Vigo, Galicia).

By means of Roldán Tapia article, now we are going to continue this journey visiting the main

projects within the English lessons of the 1990s in Spain.

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In 1991 a project developed by M. López de Blas at the outskirts of Madrid, which was

designed for E.G.B., B.U.P. and F.P. students around the topic comparatives and

superlatives in English, was described in the publication TESOL-Spain Newsletter. In 1992, a

project carried out in parallel in four different countries (England, Spain, Finland and Austria)

was registered. The theme was ‘Our environment’ and the authors: A. Klee, N. Vidal, E.

Syrjaelaeinen and K. Demetz. Two years later, in 1994, he (A. Roldán), M. C. Luque, J.

Gallego, F. Sánchez and J. Tejederas described in the magazine of the Provincial Delegation

of Education from Cordoba a project on music. Also that year Ramón Ribé described two

project works carried out in Barcelona with C.O.U. students ‘The land of the green people’,

aims and achievements during the students’ academic year, and a third project developed

with 1º B.U.P. students whose theme was free. In 1995, I. Pérez Torres described a work

with 16-18-year-old students from Granada; ‘A project in/about London’. Finally, in 1996 A.

Roldán recorded the project work he carried out with 2º B.U.P. students the Worlds AIDS

Day on that topic.

Most of the project works mentioned above were developed with B.U.P. or C.O.U. students

but, since in this Master’s Dissertation we are analysing the effects of two projects designed

for and carried out by 3º E.S.O. students, now I would like to mention the ones carried out by

Secondary students in Spain in the 1990s which A. Roldán recorded in the aforementioned

article. In chronological order, these are:

Two project works developed by students of 7th year of E.G.B. described by F. Rodríguez

Torras; the first one on Hawaii and the second one on the discovery of America. According to

Roldán (1997: 118), the project about Hawaii was more guided by the teacher due to the age

of the students.

J. M. Cabezas’ projects about ‘The Valentine project’ and ‘The food and drink projects’.

The projects carried out by the Granada Learner Autonomy Group whose topics are not

included in Antonio Roldán’s article.

M. Olivera Tejedor’s project work on music, ‘The use of written material related to music’

published by TESOL-Spain Newsletter.

M. P. De la Serna and A. Fernández, and P. Fernández Vez projects, both of them based on

the use of the school environment to foster the students’ motivation.

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Also Antonio R. Roldán refers to his articles ‘Proyectos en el ciclo 12-14: un modo de

empezar’ and ‘Inglés y juegos de mesa: una experiencia con proyectos.’6

After this review of some of the project works developed in Spain and the themes that were

discussed in the Spanish classrooms during the last century, I would like to mention some of

the changes proposed by these authors.

Antonio Roldán suggests some topics suitable for the 21st century students, arguing (1997:

119) that they are relevant to every human’s daily life. The topics he proposes are: human

rights, the role of women, the environment, health and quality of life; and topics that deal with

some of the cross-curricular subjects of the new Spanish Educational Law, such as:

Education for Peace, Health Education, Road Safety Education, Education on Sustainable

Consume, Coeducation, etc.

Taking all of these into account, Roldán designed a project on the Worlds AIDS Day whose

objectives and concepts (conceptual, procedural and attitudinal) are, as Waks states (1997:

121), in accordance with Hutchinson’s and with Eyring’s works published in 1991 and with

Littlejohn’s idea of the “educational value of a project” which Waks briefly describes (1997:

121) and which I think Hutchinson also shares.

In Tom Hutchinson’s words (2001: 11), ‘project work captures better than any other activity

the two principal elements of a communicative approach. These are: a concern for motivation,

that is, how the learners relate to the task; a concern for relevance, that is, how the learners

relate to the language. We could add to these a third element: a concern for educational

values, that is, how the language curriculum relates to the general educational development

of the learner.’

Leonard J. Waks (1997: 404) also suggests some changes of the formulation of project work:

a negotiation of the group product, a situation of the group project in a social context, an

assessment of incidental learning potential relative to learner’s needs, a needs-assessment

of background knowledge, a facilitation of project tasks and a project assessment and

learning integration.

6 Both articles were written by Antonio R. Roldán Tapias and published in 1995 and in 1997

respectively.

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Finally Leonard J. Waks (1997: 404) states that ‘(...) the problem is to lay a foundation of

learning experiences, in the contemporary technological and economic climate, to prepare

the community as a whole for a democratic shaping of the postindustrial order’.

5. Methodology

This section covers a detailed description of the methodology that has been selected in order

to test the formulated hypothesis of this Master’s Dissertation. The aforementioned

hypothesis intends to prove the positive impact of collaborative learning through the project

work method in student’s English comprehension. The rationale behind that supposition is

described in detail at section 2.

In order to test that, it is important to consider that one of the most important aspects when

selecting the most suitable type of methodology to be applied in a research is to acquire

enough theoretical knowledge that will help with the design of the best testing method.

Moreover, that literature review can help to confirm the existence of similar hypothesis, which

could have common grounds with the one intended to explore, and to identify different

aspects to take into account when designing the testing methodology. A full description of

this literature review can be found at section 4.

In any case, it could be interesting to note some methodological principles which partially

guided the design of the methodology. They were taken from “The Natural Approach”

developed by Tracy Terrell and Stephen Krashen, and its communicative view of language:

1. Language acquisition is an unconscious process developed through using language

meaningfully (in this case, while students are carrying out and presenting the different

projects);

2. In order to avoid the affective filter hypothesis (the learner's emotional state can act as a

filter that impedes or blocks input necessary to acquisition), teacher and classmates help

shier students feel confident while speaking and errors are tolerated most of the times;

3. Errors must not be seen as faults, but as evidence of the learning process;

4.Target language is not the object of study but a vehicle for classroom communication

(students present and transfer the knowledge they have acquired);

5. Fluent and acceptable language is the primary goal;

6. Authentic materials are used (materials from Britannica Online for Kids and BBC Food);

7. Students work in groups and help each other;

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9. Students are negotiators between the self, the learning process, and the object of learning

(they suggest topics, possible changes, etc.);

10. The teacher is a facilitator, an organizer of resources and a group process manager;

11. Classes are student-centered;

12. Collaborative learning is one of the teaching techniques used. According to this

technique, small teams use a variety of learning activities to improve their understanding of a

subject.

Derived from the hypothesis, some research questions were raised:

A. Does the project method and therefore collaborative learning increase students’

motivation in schools with a personalised learning system?

B. Does this method increase their willing to learn and, therefore, the number of hours of

learning devoted to this subject?

C. Do students who interact in project works get better results in grammar?

Apart from identifying the situation to be explored, defining the hypothesis to test, and

establishing the research questions, additional work is needed in the identification of both,

the dependent and the independent variables which are derived from the hypothesis, and in

the selection of an appropriate sample to work with.

The aim of this Master’s Dissertation is to test the effect of the collaborative learning by

means of two project works in student’s English comprehension at English class in a

privately-owned but state-funded school, with students of 3rd year of E.S.O. Moreover, it

intends to explore the relationship and possible benefits between the use of this teaching

scheme and the possible improvement in English comprehension, motivation and grammar

knowledge.

In order to do that, it has been crucial to firstly study the present circumstances (pre-project

situation) found at the school of the sample selected to work with, since it is the only way to

compare pre and post results. The study of that situation has been based basically on

observation, carried out during the first period of the teaching practice, in January 2012.

Once this situation was identified, several dependent (outcome variable which is caused by

an input) and the independent (antecedent variable which causes an outcome) variables

were noted. The picture below consists of a visual representation of both of them, which

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have been involved in this research work, as well as the interrelationship that exists between

them.

Dependent

- Students’ English comprehension.

Independent

- Motivation (self-confidence, interest in the topics...);

- Grammar knowledge.

Apart from the hypothesis and the variables, it is crucial to describe the participants who

have been involved in this research. The participants who have taken part in this experiment

belong to the same environment, what ensures results’ adequacy, since all students are

influenced by the same independent variables.

The sample tested is composed by students belonging to a privately-owned but state-funded

school of Madrid, whose name is not going to be given as neither the names of the students

taking part of the sample, trying to preserve the privacy that all researches imply. The

students, apart from belonging to the same school, belonged to the same class. In this sense,

the majority of the students have the same age being the average age 15/16 years old. As

described in the pre-project situation, the fact that the students belonged to the same class

does not obviously mean that they have the same level of English. This is due to the

innovative teaching method applied at that school, based on an autonomous learning method

developed individually by each pupil, with the unique help of the computer and some

appointments arranged by the teacher eventually with one or a small group of students to

solve any doubts which have arisen during the execution of their own learning method.

After the observation week in January, I divided two classes into five groups formed by

students with a medium, high and very high level of English, and almost by the same number

Collaborative Learning

Motivation

Grammar knowledge

Students’ English Comprehension

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of young boys and girls. Regarding the level of English, groups were formed thanks to the

marks assigned by my mentor. With regard to the number of boys and girls, they were

assigned to the groups randomly. The sample is composed by 24 students in each class,

including both males and females. The sample was designed according to the

aforementioned criterion in order to make it homogenous, to ensure the validity and reliability

of the results of this research.

Sample Group

• Two 3rd year of E.S.O. classrooms (of 24 and 25 students)

• Subject: English

• Length: 7 lessons (one lesson of 50 minutes per week, from the 23rd of March until

the 18th of May). Class I worked with this method on Wednesday from 12 to 12:50

and Group II worked on Fridays from 10 to 10:50.

• Number of groups in each class: 5. Each group was formed by weak and stronger

students in English, so that the weaker ones take advantage of their classmates.

Another benefit was that they will socialise more (in the pre-project situation two days

a week they work in different classrooms) and thus motivation could increase.

Thanks to this new teaching scheme students could work one day per week cooperatively

(bright and weak students together) on the key competences and on common topics related

to the English world. So that weaker students could take advantage of this situation and

could learn from their peers. Since they were divided into two different levels and two days a

week they worked in different classrooms with a native English teacher, they could also

socialise more and the project would be more easily developed.

Finally, a particular methodology has been chosen and some materials were needed to be

used. Firstly, the materials used to test the hypothesis have involved:

• Personal resources: the students

• Environmental resources: free unlimited Internet access (WiFi system) and six big

tables, where groups of four or five students were able to work together. Students

could bring their laptop (they usually worked with it) and used it as a research tool for

the activities proposed during the project. The classroom used to have a digital

whiteboard which was removed during the process of the project and was not

replaced neither with a new one or with a common white or blackboard. Because of

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that we worked with pictures and posters. The classroom was also equipped with a

cassette with CD player, which was used during the project on Music.

• Curriculum-related materials: Since, due to the school’s system, most of the students

worked on different units and the aim the project method was to work with the whole

class, we didn’t use any textbook. Two project works were developed. Original

materials were designed from webpages and two books, which will be mentioned at

section 8. A monolingual dictionary was available as well as some glossaries which

were also designed by me because of the complexity of the texts. Finally, other

materials used to test the hypothesis have been three tests, used to evaluate the

results of the teaching method applied. A full description of them is detailed at the end

of this section.

• ICT resources: Laptops were used as research tools.

Secondly, the particular teaching methodology involved two project works: one on Music and

a second one on Food (Project Work 1: Pop music, and Project Work 2: UK & Ireland:

Typical dishes). Initially a test on “topics of interest” was thought to be circulated among the

students, but due to time constraints the selection of the topics was done by me taking into

account general culture related to the English world.

Although both project works were initially designed to be tested with the two classes, the two

projects were only finished with Class I (24 pupils). With Class II (25 pupils) only the first

project work caused enough enthusiasm among the students, thus the second was not

developed, in any case grammar theory related to that second project work was explained.

Picture 1: Examples of materials: pictures and posters

17

Seven sessions were devoted to this research, in addition to the observation of students’

improvements during my mentor classes. First session was devoted to explain students the

aim of the research, and to briefly inform them about rights, protection & liabilities. I also

passed a motivation and a grammar test. During the next five sessions two projects works

were carried out, and pupil’s final work was presented at the end of each of these projects.

The last session was devoted to pass a final test and to receive feedback about the project

works.

Project works enabled the fulfilment of a common task among students who usually work at

their own pace on different units. Students also enjoyed learning English at the same time

they revised some grammar points they had to improve. The content of the project works

was designed based on the lacks identified thanks to a pre-project test on grammar

circulated among the students in the first session.

Project works contained a worksheet with reading (R), listening (L) and grammar exercises.

They also included a task based on the preparation of a presentation where each member of

the group should take part, and also with writing exercises (W) as they had to prepare the

outline of the presentations. This way, students improved their speaking (S) and listening

skills, as some questions were included so that the rest of the class should pay attention to

their classmates’ presentation.

Reading, listening, writing and speaking were skills to be improved by means of the project

works. These skills were improved collectively as students had to work in groups.

Nevertheless, the assessment of this teaching methodology was designed to be measured

only by a grammar post-test based on the grammar worksheets, which the students had to

work with.

18

The following tables show a brief description of the project works that have been used in order to prove the main hypothesis, which was to

investigate about the influence of the collective learning in students’ English comprehension. For detailed information on the project works,

please see the correlated document Practices Aid Memory (Memoria de prácticas).

SESSION 1: 23rd March

Skills Grouping Step (time)

Activities

Communication (functions)

Language (gram, vocab, pron) L S R W C G P I

Materials

1. (5 m.)

Explain students the aim of the questionnaire and the grammar test.

--- --- X ---

2. (10 m.)

Activity 2 Fill in the following questionnaire on motivation in English.

--- --- X ---

3. ( 30 m.)

Activity 3 Do the following test.

- Revising grammar points they have studied during the first and second term.

Grammar: Present simple, present continuos, past simple, there was/were, too much/many, comparatives & superlatives, and first conditional.

X X X Diagnostic test

4. (5 m.)

Explain students that once a week from now until the end of the course we are going to work on some projects. Suggest music as the first topic.

X X X

19

SESSION 2: 13 th April Skills Grouping Step

(time) Activities



Materials

1. (5 m.)

Activity 1 Warm-up: Do you like music? What type of music do you like the most? What do you know about pop music?

- Talking about musical preferences

X X X

2. (15 m.)

Activity 2 a) A volunteer or the teacher

reads the first two paragraphs;

b) In pairs, fill in the gaps; c) Check it as a whole-class

activity.

- Relating what they said about pop music to its definition.

- Past simple of some irregular verbs; - Vocabulary on music (musician, rhythm, performer, trend, bass, low and high notes, etc.)

X X X X POPULAR Music: worksheet 1

3. (30 m.)

Activity 3 Preparing the presentation. In groups of 4 or 5, read the texts assigned to your group. With the information given and after visiting the official website of the artists/bands, locate their birthplace on the map and write an outline of what you are going to present in front of the class. Use the dictionary and/or the glossary. If you want, you can bring a song to class. Each member of the group should take part in the presentation. Suggestion: student 1 (1st music style), student 2 (singer/band), student 3 (2nd music style), student 4 (singer/band), and student 5 (map & song).

- Reading and searching for information about music.

- Locating a city on map from the USA or UK.

- Preparing a presentation, writing an outline in groups.

- Past tense - Vocabulary on Music

X X X X Music: group 1 Music: group 2 Music: group 3 Music: group 4 Music: group 5 Dictionary music-glossary

20

SESSION 3: 20 th April


Activities



Materials

1. (5 m.)

Activity 1 Warm-up: Get ready to present your music style and singer/band in front of the class.

-- -- X --

2. (5 m.)

Activity 2 Present your music style and artists. a) Presentation group 1: blues & surf rock

- Explaining and transferring information; - Listening to classmates’ presentations.


X X X X Music: group 1 DIN A1 card, maps, crayons and glue.

3. (20 m.)

Activity 3 a) Presentation group 2: British invasion & psychedelic rock b) Worksheet 2: b.1.) Compete the following table in pairs (comparatives and superlatives). b.2.) Listen to the song and fill in the lyrics individually.

- Explaining and transferring; - Listening to classmates’ presentations; - Revising the comparatives and superlatives; -Listening to a song in English.

- Past tense - Vocabulary on Music - Comparatives and superlatives

X X X X X X Music: group 2 Music: worksheet 2; DIN A1 card, maps, crayons and glue. CD player

4. (15 m.)

Activity 4 a) Presentation group 3:

progressive rock & singer-songwriters;

b) Presentation group 4: Disco & glam rock; c) Presentation group 5: punk & heavy metal;

- Explaining and transferring information; - Listening to classmates’ presentations.


X X X X Music: group 3 Music: group 4 Music: group 5 DIN A1 card, maps, crayons and glue.

21

SESSION 4: 27 th of April


Activities



Materials

1. (15 m.)

Activity 1 a) end of presentation 5; b) listening to a song students

brought while finishing and displaying the poster.

- Explaining and transferring information; - Listening to classmates’ presentations. - Listening to a song in English, just for pleasure.


X X X X Music: group 5; DIN A1 card, maps, crayons and glue; Computer & loudspeakers; Student’s pendrive.

2. (10 m.)

Activity 2 Warm-up: have a look at the map and see the places we are going to visit and their typical dishes. Have you ever been to one of these cities? Have you eaten one of these dishes? After reading the list of ingredients you might not now, complete the table below with the words in the box.

-Understanding a definition in English.

- Vocabulary on food (ingredients).

X X UK & Ireland: booklet; UK & Ireland: worksheet 1

3. (10 m.)

Activity 3 a) A volunteer student or the teacher reads grammar reference A: too much, too many and enough; b) Do exercise 2 from the worksheet individually. Check it as a whole-class activity.

- Revising the use of too much, too many and enough.

- Too much, too many and enough.

X X X UK & Ireland: booklet; UK & Ireland: worksheet 1

4. (15 m.)

Activity 4 a) A volunteer student or the teacher reads grammar reference B: zero, first and second conditional. b) Do exercise 3 from the worksheet in pairs. Check it as a whole-class activity.

- Revising the use of zero and first conditional. - Learning the use of second conditional (weak students) or revising it (strong students).

- Zero, first and second conditional.

X X X UK & Ireland: booklet; UK & Ireland: worksheet 1

22

SESSION 5: 4 th of May Skills Grouping Step

(time) Activities



Materials

1. ( 5 m.)

Activity 1 Warm-up: Do you know what does this map represent? (Great Britain vs. England)

- Speaking about general knowledge: difference between Great Britain and England.

X X Map

2. ( 15 m.)

Activity 2 a) Read the text individually. In pairs, answer the following questions and check the answers within your group. Complete the sentence “if I were in (...), I would visit...” using the second conditional and looking for a sightseeing in the Internet. b) If you want to prepare... Read the following recipe (just the ingredients). In groups, enumerate them and write two sentences using too much, too many and enough.

- Reading and understanding a text (authentic material from Britannica Online for Kids and BBC Food); - Understanding the value of English measurement units (lb, oz, pint, tbs).

-First and second conditional If I were in (...), I would visit... If you want to prepare/cook (...), you will need -Vocabulary about food: pound (lb), ounce (oz), pint, tablespoon (tbs). -Too much, too many and enough

X X X X X - Ireland (group 1) & Colcannon (group 1); -Northern Ireland (group 2) & Irish beef stew (group 2); - Scotland (group 3)& Haggis (group 3); - Wales (group 4) & Welsh rarebit (group 4); -England (group 5)& Roast beef (group 5) - Laptop (Internet)

3. (10 m.)

Activity 3 Preparing the presentation: write, with your own words, an outline about your region and its typical dish. Each member of the group should take part in the presentation. Your classmates will have to answer to the same questions, so do not forget to include that information!

- Writing an outline for a presentation.

X X X Notebook

4. (20 m.)

Activity 1 a) presentation group 1; read and answer the following questions in pairs. b) presentation group 2; read and answer the following questions in pairs.

- Explaining and transferring information; - Listening to classmates’ presentations and answering some questions.

X X X X X -Map, pictures of the typical dishes and glue. - UK & Ireland: worksheet 2

23

SESSION 6: 11 th of May Skills Grouping Step

(time) Activities



Materials

1. (15 m.)

Activity 1 Do the grammar post-test and answer the following questions about group work.

- Past simple; - Comparatives and

superlatives; - Too much & too

many; 1st, 2nd, 3rd conditional

X X X

2. (10 m.)

Activity 1 Group 3, 4 and 5. Revise your outline and get ready! Group 1 and 2: agree on a topic for the last project/suggestion for future project works and fill in the questionnaire.

- Speaking: to reach an agreement in English. - Reading and filling in a questionnaire in English.

X X X - Scotland (group 3)& Haggis (group 3); - Wales (group 4)& Welsh rarebit (group 4) ; -England (group 5)& Roast beef (group 5); - Questionnaire (Ramón Ribé & Núria Vidal 1993)

3. (25 m.)

Activity 2 a) presentation group 3; read and answer the following questions in pairs. b) presentation group 4; read and answer the following questions in pairs. c) presentation group 5; read and answer the following questions in pairs.

- Explaining and transferring information; - Listening to classmates’ presentations and answering some questions.

X X X X X - Map, pictures of the typical dishes and glue. - UK & Ireland: worksheet 2

24

In order to measure the results of the methodology, three assessment tests were passed

to the pupils. Results were assessed before and after the teaching period. One of them

was a specific test on motivation on English learning and the other two were grammar

tests. Nevertheless, the second one included an activity related also to motivation, which

would let me to evaluate results on this variable after the teaching period.

MOTIVATION

The first day a motivation questionnaire was passed to the pupils (see appendix:

Motivation Test). This was extracted from Doctor R. C. Gadner’s test (2004). The

questionnaire included twelve items, which had to be rated from one (low motivation) to

seven (high motivation) by pupils from both classes. This test allowed to categorise them

in three groups: high, medium and low initial motivation.

At the end of the teaching period, some motivation questions were passed as part of the

grammar post-test (see appendix: Grammar Post-test, question 5). It included six

questions related to the work within the five groups, which were based on Ribé R. and

Vidal L. (1995: 106). This test again allowed to categorise them in three groups: high,

medium and low initial motivation, in order to permit the comparison of pre and post data.

GRAMMAR COMPETENCE

The first day a diagnostic test (see appendix: Diagnostic Test) , based on the

educational program of the school, was passed in order to identify students’ strengths and

weaknesses and to prepare the subsequent project works. In this test only their grammar

competence was evaluated. The test, prepared by me, was composed by five questions

taken from the grammar units the less advanced students should have worked on during

the first term. The exam included some activities following the “filling the gaps” type of

exercise, which were taken from different pages of Naunton, J. (1997) and Betty’s Basic

English Grammar edited by Prentice-Hall. These grammar units were: past simple (regular

and irregular verbs), comparatives and superlatives, much and many, and conditionals

(zero, first and second).

At the end of the teaching period, a grammar post-test was passed. It had the same

grammar contents as the one passed at the first session, but with elements from reading

materials and worksheets, so that they were meaningful to them. (See appendix:

Grammar Post-test). This final test ended thanking them their participation, since without

their help it would have been impossible to have had a sample and thus, to test the

hypothesis.

25

In order to have both valid and reliable results, the sample had the same environment

conditions at the time of fulfilling it. The comparison of both motivation and grammar pre

and post tests, as well as my personal views, permits to evaluate the results in order to

asses the adequacy of the hypothesis initially described.

6. Analysis of the results

This section presents and analyses the different results that have been obtained after my

teaching practices period, and will help to asses the hypothesis stated at the beginning.

Results come from the tests distributed among the students before and after the teaching

period, as well as some personal assessments which were done during the teaching

period. The analysis of the results will be mainly based in the comparison of this pre and

post tests and will be related to the variables identified in the previous section: motivation

and grammar.

Results will be displayed in graphics, as it is considered a visual and easy way to show

them. A corresponding explanation will follow each graphic in order to facilitate its fully

comprehension.

The main objective of this research work is to test the effect of collaborative learning by

means of two project works in student’s English comprehension, trying to confirm as the

review of literature states, that students could improve their English comprehension

thanks to their work in groups. Motivation should increase and also grammar

improvements could be shown thanks to the help that weaker students could take from

their classmates.

Beginning with one of the two variables related to this hypothesis, the following graphics

are going to show the results that have been gathered from the pre and post tests on

MOTIVATION, that were distributed among the two classes I worked with.

It should be remained that Class I was formed by 24 pupils, and received both project

works. On the other hand, Class II was composed by 25 pupils which only received

project work 1. That was due to lack of interest in the second topic. Further information on

this can be found at the previous section (methodology).

26

The first graphic below presents the results obtained from the sample in the pre-test on

motivation. After fulfilling the motivation test, and according to their answers, pupils were

classified in three categories: pupils with high, medium or low initial motivation.

MOTIVATION PRE-TEST - Class I

4

614

low

medium

high

MOTIVATION PRE-TEST - Class II

7

11

17

low

medium

high

As it can be observed, the information above shows an initial situation with almost more

than a half of each class motivated with English. Equally, the number of low motivated

pupils was very small in both of them with less than ten pupils in this category in each

class.

The interesting aspect here is that Class II had a smaller number of highly motivated

pupils with English, and it was the classroom where problems of lack of interest arose and

which finally didn’t received the second project work. This lack of initial motivation could

be one of the reasons why the second project work did not result interesting to them.

In any case, the pre-project situation in both classes is very similar with almost more than

the half of pupils with high motivation, being a little bit higher in Class I.

In order to continue analysing and explaining the results on this first variable, the chart

below represents results obtained in the post motivation tests which were passed to the

same sample after working with them with the method during the teaching period.

Again, it should be noted that the last day of my teaching practices, when the post test

was passed to the pupils, not all of them attended the class. Therefore, a new category

27

has been added to present the same total number of results: 24 pupils for the first class

and 25 for the second. This second category has been categorised as “no data”.

MOTIVATION POST-TEST - Class I

1 0

18

5

low

medium

high

no data

MOTIVATION POST-TEST - Class II

14

12

8low

medium

high

no data

This “no data” category responds to lack of information from some pupils. This lack of

information comes from two different situations, the first one is from pupils who did not

attended the last day class due to different reasons. This number is: 4 absent pupils in

Class I and 3 absent pupils in Class II. The second situation related to the “no data”

category includes: the absence of data from one pupil of Class I who didn’t answered any

motivation questions, and five pupils of Class II who didn’t gave me back any final test.

In order to compare the post-method situation with regard to motivation, the charts below

represent the same data that the ones above but excluding the absent pupils. These

second charts will allow us to understand the impact of results of the project method in

motivation, in terms of percentages. In these graphs, lack of data from not answered test

is (intentionally) classified as low motivated. The only excluded lack of data is the one

from absent pupils.

MOTIVATION POST-TEST - Class Iexcluding absent pupils

2 0

18

low

medium

high

28

MOTIVATION POST-TEST - Class II excluding absent pupils

6

4

12

low

medium

high

As it can be observed, the information above shows best results in motivation with Class I

than Class II. That is the class which received both project works.

Class I has lost the category of mid motivated pupils, and has only high and low motivated

ones. Also, the percentage of high motivated is much higher that the low motivated, it

surpasses the 75%. On the other hand, Class II has more than a half of high motivated

pupils, and also a good representation of mid and low motivated ones.

In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the method in terms of MOTIVATION, it is

included a visual summary of what has been obtained before and after the teaching period

in both classes:

MOTIVATION PRE-TEST - Class I

4

614

low

medium

high

MOTIVATION PRE-TEST - Class II

7

11

17

low

medium

high

MOTIVATION POST-TEST - Class Iexcluding absent pupils

2 0

18

low

medium

high

MOTIVATION POST-TEST - Class II excluding absent pupils

6

4

12

low

medium

high

The information above corroborates the positive results of the project method in terms of

motivation. This information should be seen in terms of percentages and not number of

29

pupils in each category, as according to what was previously explained, there are some

missed data due to the absence of some pupils in the last day of the teaching period.

Seeing the considerable difference between both pre and post results in both classes,

there is no doubt that motivation increased after the development of the teaching practices.

It also can be noted that this increase was higher in Class I where both project works were

developed.

Therefore, taking into consideration this first result, it can be thought that the first part of

the hypothesis (the one related to motivation) worked.

Some of the reasons behind that success, which had helped to increase this motivation

are:

- Work with not confident students: when presenting the project two shy students did

not feel confident enough to talk in front of the class. We agreed that one of them

was the person in charge of saying where the singers were from and locating

those cities on a map. The other one, a student from a different group who has a

slight stutter, was helped and encouraged by the members of the group and finally

presented the music style he was assigned to. Students listened to him in a

respectful manner and he felt happy with the challenge.

- Improvement of the environment conditions to reinforce pupils self confidence: in

order to avoid noises and that some students get distracted, students were asked

to answer a set of questions related to their classmates’ presentations during the

second project. The result of this measure was highly positive.

- Change in the class dynamic: the sole change in their teaching scheme also could

be attractive to pupils and help to increase their motivation. A new teacher and

exercises with music, groups... were different to their usual way of working and

could also help in the increased motivation. In any case, it should be noted that

this change in the teaching method was not always seen as positive by pupils.

Some of them, especially the brightest ones, raised problems to work in this more

flexible way and intended to leave the teaching method to continue improving and

evolving in their personalised individual lessons. That situation required also lot of

work from my side, trying to motivate them in the teaching method adopted.

Finally, looking at the second variable, GRAMMAR COMPETENCE, the following

graphics are going to show the results that have been gathered from the pre and post

tests distributed among the two classes I worked with.

30

The same conditions apply to the sample than in the previous explanation, which are

number of students in each class (24 in Class I and 25 in Class II) and the lack of data in

the last day of the teaching period. With regard to this second situation, numbers change

in Class I as the pupil who did not answered the motivation questions, answered the

grammar ones. So in Class I only 4 “no data” pupils appear, and all of them correspond to

absent pupils. In Class II, the situation does not vary and it remains with 3 absent pupils

and 5 not returned tests.

In order to continue analysing and explaining the results that have been obtained, the

chart below shows results in grammar knowledge obtained after passing the diagnosis

test the first day.

The graphs show the number of correct answers in each of the exercises in the test.

These exercises were 1. verb-tenses; 2. verb-tenses (II), 3. much & many and 4.

comparatives & superlatives and 5. conditionals (zero, first & second).

Remember to evaluate them with regard to the number of pupils in each class (24 in Class

I and 25 in Class II).

GRAMMAR PRE-TEST - Class I

16

20

17

15

10

exercise 1

exercise 2

exercise 3

exercise 4

exercise 5

GRAMMAR PRE-TEST - Class II

19

2115

11

9

exercise 1

exercise 2

exercise 3

exercise 4

exercise 5

According to this analysis, in Class I 16 pupils out of 24 passed the exercise 1 (verb-tense

exercise); 20 passed the exercise 2 about “there was and there were”; 17 passed the

exercise 3 (much-and-many exercise), 15 passed the exercise 4 about the use of

31

comparatives and superlatives and only 10 out of 24 pupils passed the exercise 5 on first

conditional.

In Class II, 19 pupils out of 24 passed the exercise 1 (verb-tense exercise); 21 passed the

exercise 2 about “there was and there were”; 15 passed the exercise 3 (much-and-many

exercise), 11 passed the exercise 4 about the use of comparatives and superlatives and

only 9 out of 24 pupils passed the exercise 5 on first conditional.

In any case, the initial level from both classes was very similar, and the difficulty of the

different types of exercises was also similar to both classes. As it can be seen, exercises

1 and 2 got the best success rates, and exercises 3, 4 and 5 were the ones with the

lowest ones. These results were taken into consideration when designing the project

works.

This way, during the first project work, we worked on texts which talked about past events,

and an activity on past simple was also designed. Moreover, as some students also had

problems with comparatives and superlatives, a worksheet and a listening exercise were

specially designed to solve this problem.

Moreover, even advanced students had problems with some irregular comparisons (far,

farther/further, farthest/furthest) and made mistakes about the use of “much” and “many”.

Finally, most of the weaker students did not know how to form the first conditional.

Because of that the fourth session was devoted to explain the use of “much”, “many”,

“enough”, and zero, first and second conditional.

After designing the specific grammar content of the project works to cope with this lack of

knowledge, results were measured again with the grammar post test. As it has been fully

explained at section 5 (methodology), the content was very similar to the pre-test (to allow

the correct comparison of both pre and post tests) but with elements from reading

materials and worksheets, so that they were meaningful to them.

It should be noted that exercises 1 and 2 in the pre-test referred to verb-tenses and got

positive results. This way, in the grammar post-test, they were melted in one exercise.

This way, the exercises in the post grammar test were: 1. past tens; 2. comparatives &

superlatives; 3. (zero, first & second). The charts below show the results:

32

GRAMMAR POST-TEST - Class I

19

18

16

84

excercise 1

excercise 2

excercise 3

excercise 4

no data

GRAMMAR POST-TEST - Class II

15

1716

5

7

excercise 1

excercise 2

excercise 3

excercise 4

no data

As it can be observed, the information above shows a similar trend in the answers of both

classes, in terms of percentages of success in each type of exercise. Again, the most

complicated exercises for both groups were the “much”, “many”, “enough”, and zero, first

and second conditional (exercises 3 and 4).

In order to compare the pre and post-method situation with regard to grammar

competence, the charts below represent the same data that the ones above but excluding

the absent pupils (“no data” category).

GRAMMAR POST-TEST - Class I excluding absent pupils

19

18

16

8

excercise 1

excercise 2

excercise 3

excercise 4

GRAMMAR POST-TEST - Class II excluding absent pupils

15

17

16

5

excercise 1

excercise 2

excercise 3

excercise 4

33

As it can be observed, the information above confirms a similar level in grammar

competence in both classes percentages. Nevertheless if we compare the number of

correct answers in each exercise, we can see a slight difference: exercise 1 got 19/24

correct answers in Class I compared to 15/25 correct answers in Class II. Exercise 2 got

18/24 and 17/25; exercise 3 16/24 and 16/25; and finally exercise 4 had 8 correct answers

out of 24 pupils in Class I and 5 correct answers out of 25 pupils in Class II. The

interesting aspect here is that the best results were obtained in Class I, the one that

received both project works. These seem to be the central lacks of grammar knowledge

that require further work, as exercises 3 and 4 still have the lowest success rates.

Therefore, taking into consideration these results, it can be thought that the development

of the project works had a positive influence in the grammar competence of the sample

tested.

In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the method in terms of GRAMMAR

COMPETENCE, it is included a visual summary of what has been obtained before and

after the teaching period in both classes:

GRAMMAR PRE-TEST - Class I

16

20

17

15

10

exercise 1

exercise 2

exercise 3

exercise 4

exercise 5

GRAMMAR PRE-TEST - Class II

19

2115

11

9

exercise 1

exercise 2

exercise 3

exercise 4

exercise 5

GRAMMAR POST-TEST - Class I excluding absent pupils

19

18

16

8

excercise 1

excercise 2

excercise 3

excercise 4

GRAMMAR POST-TEST - Class II excluding absent pupils

15

17

16

5

excercise 1

excercise 2

excercise 3

excercise 4

The information above corroborates the positive results of the project method in terms of

grammar competence. The information in percentages shows a static situation with regard

to the complexity of the different types of exercises for the pupils. They still consider

conditionals the most complicated type of exercise (with the lowest success rate). This is

34

normal, as conditionals are more advanced complex than the other exercises. In any case,

an improvement in the positive scores of each exercise can be seen, which moreover, is

more relevant in Class I, the one that received both project works.

Seeing the difference between both pre and post results in both classes, and specially in

Class I, it can be stated that grammar knowledge increased after the development of the

teaching practices. It also can be noted that this increase was higher in Class I where both

project works were developed.

Therefore, taking into consideration this result, it can be thought that the second part of

the hypothesis (the one related to grammar competence) also worked.

Finally, this last graphic acts as a visual summary of what has been presented before, but,

this time, all the information and the consequent comparisons can be appreciated in a

single view. It represents the results obtained in terms of the two identified variables:

motivation and grammar competence.

� Variable 1: Motivation.

35

� Variable 2: Grammar competence.

To conclude, if we remember the hypothesis “to test the positive effect of collaborative

learning by means of two project works in student’s English comprehension” and the

research questions related to it:

1. Does the project method and therefore collaborative learning increase students’

motivation in schools with a personalised learning system? Does this method

increase their willing to learn and, therefore, the number of hours of learning

devoted to this subject?

2. Do students who interact in project works get better results in grammar?

We can confirm the positive answer to both research questions, and thus the

effectiveness of the project method and the confirmation of the hypothesis.

36

7. Conclusions

The main purpose of this research has been to investigate about the influence that a

collaborative learning method could have on students English comprehension. This

objective was defined after a first visit to the school I was assigned to work with during my

teaching practices.

The school had a very innovative teaching system, based on a methodology called Basic

Interactive Education (EBI Spanish acronym) which encourages students’ autonomy.

According to that teaching system, each pupil evolved through the course lessons in their

own timelines and usually worked alone, with the unique support of the teacher and a

computer, and with fewer opportunities to interact among his classmates.

The hypothesis initially formulated tried to demonstrate that, despite the benefits that the

pre-existing individualised and innovative teaching method could have, a more traditional

teaching scheme developed at English classes, could end in positive impacts in terms of

motivation and improvement of grammar knowledge. This new scheme, would enable the

fulfilment of a common task among students who usually work at their own pace on

different units. Students would work cooperatively in teams, and weaker students will take

advantage learning from the brighter ones. They will also socialise more, and will enjoy

learning English at the same time that they revise some grammar points which they have

to improve. The intention of developing a team-based learning assignment was to ‘break

out’ of the normal format and encourage ‘active’ learning, which was challenging, as it was

promoting a new activity by confronting students with their colleagues in teams.

The review of literature has mainly been focused on the positive effects that this type of

learning could have. Many researchers also reflect in the same way, with several authors

supporting this idea: Dewey, Kilpatrick, Charters and Bode (the classical authors who

formulated the project-work method applied in this research,); Waks, L. J. (1997), Núria

Vidal, who, according to Antonio R. Roldán Tapia (1997), acknowledged the importance of

the communicative learning method, or Tom Hutchinson (2001).

Apart from establishing the main hypothesis which was “to test the positive effect of

collaborative learning by means of two project works in student’s English comprehension”,

some research questions were raised to help in the development of that main idea.

37

Thanks to the investigation carried out, those questions as well as the main hypotheses

have found their corresponding answers.

In order to choose the right methodology for this particular research work, many aspects

have been taken into account. Some of these important aspects are the participants (the

sample), the materials and both the dependent and the independent variables.

The sample was composed by two third year of E.S.O. classrooms of 24 and 25 students

each one of them. Each class was divided in five groups formed by weak and stronger

students in English, so that the weaker ones take advantage of their classmates. The goal

was to produce well-balanced teams with complementary skills.

Materials included pictures and posters, a cassette with compact disc player, a

monolingual dictionary, two project works specifically designed for the groups, as well as

three tests, used to evaluate the results of the teaching method applied. Students were

tested in an individual way, although they also worked both in groups.

The third aspect, the dependent and the independent variables, was crucial to determine

the flow of the whole methodology, since they suppose the main pillars of the hypothesis.

Two main independent variables were identified: motivation and grammar knowledge.

Both of them would have a positive influence in students English comprehension, so that

according to the hypothesis, the higher motivation and grammar knowledge they achieve,

the better English comprehension they will have.

According to the review of literature, two pre-test were given to students to test the initial

level of grammar motivation and knowledge of both classes. The one of grammar also

helped to identify deficiencies that they should improve by means of the project works. At

the end of the teaching period, a grammar post-test was passed. It also included one

activity related to motivation evaluation with several questions students had to fulfil. The

participants who have taken part in this experiment had the same environment conditions

at the time of fulfilling them, what ensures results’ adequacy.

Difference between the results in the tests obtained before and after the instruction period

would allow us to assess the adequacy of the hypothesis. According to what was

expected to find, the results obtained demonstrated an improvement in both variables,

motivation and grammar competences, after the development of the project method. Thus,

it can be concluded that the hypothesis tested was adequate.

38

Based on the results, I would improve the project in some ways. First, I would involve

students in the selection of the topics for the project works. This way, one of the problems

which appeared with Class II (lack of interest) would have been overcome. It would be

worthwhile in future studies to include a differentiated study of the results obtained from

students with high and low grammar level, to provide a better understanding of how did

they feel the project method in terms of motivation, as well as how effective had it been in

terms of improvement of grammar competence. I also realized that the project design

would require a more dynamic format with different activities in each project work.

Moreover, other English competences could have been more deeply developed, such as

writing.

More experiments would also be needed in order to draw stronger conclusions. Because

of the small sample size and time constraints results should be treated carefully. For

example, the outcomes may have varied if the sample had been composed by different

age’s students. There also seems to be a group of pupils at the school who find this way

of working monotonous or useless as they did not gave back their final tests. This could

be also investigated. Additional questions could be formulated in order to further explore

the method, such as: what low and high ability students perceive as the benefits (if any)

that can be gleaned from working together on a project? Furthermore, there are additional

variables that affect group work and could have been investigated. These include: pupils

mood, or the time to explain and make pupils confident with the project method. Other

variables, such as peer predisposition to work alone or in groups and the content of the

projects should have been taken into account.

This way, the findings of this study can not be generalized to cover all secondary school

students and classrooms. We have to be conscious of the fact that the data set was small

and so the results are tentative. Nevertheless, this study offers a significant contribution to

educators’ understanding of some of the variables which influence students English

comprehension and means to improve them.

Although there are other researches on this topic, it should be remarked that it was the

first collaborative project that the students received in this school, so the method was

innovative there.

I would like to conclude by thanking the students who have contributed to this research as

without their help it wouldn’t have been possible.

39

8. Bibliography

Betty (--) Basic English Grammar. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall

Fried-Booth, D. L. (2002). Project Work. Ed. Alan Manley. Oxford: Oxford University Press

Hutchinson, T. (2001). Introduction to Project Work. Oxford (England): Oxford University

Press

Gardner R. C. (2004) Attitude/Motivation Test Battery: International AMTB Research

Project. The University of Western Ontario, Canada

Naunton, J. (1997) Think first Certificate. London: Longman and Schrampfer Azar

Official Journal of the European Union, (2006) Recommendation on key competences for

lifelong learning L 394

Oxford Collocations. Dictionary for students of English (2002). Oxford University Press

Recommendation 2006/962/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 Ribé,

Ribé R. y Vidal, N. (1993). Project Work, Step by Step. Oxford: Heinemann

Ribé R. and Vidal L. (1995). La enseñanza de la lengua extranjera en la educación

secundaria

Roldán Tapia, A. R. (1997) El trabajo por proyectos en el sistema educativo español:

revisión y propuestas de realización. Encuentro. Revista de Investigación e Innovación en

la clase de idioma, 9

Waks, L. J. (1997) The project method in postindustrial education. Curriculum Studies

29(4) 391- 4

References for materials of the Project Works

● Books:

Ribé, R. y Vidal, N. (1993). Project Work, Step by Step. Oxford: Heinemann

● Songs:

The Beatles, Hey Jude

● Maps:

Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Map_of_USA_with_state_names.svg

(03/17/2012)

Britannica Online for Kids. http://kids.britannica.com/comptons/art-143139 (04/14/2012)

● Computer sources:

TY - GEN

T1 - popular music

Y1 - 03/17/2012

40

SO - Britannica Online for Kids

UR - http://kids.britannica.com/comptons/article-9275996/popular-music












ER -

THE REPUBLIC OF IRELAND

TY - GEN

T1 - Ireland

Y1 - 04/14/2012


UR - http://kids.britannica.com/comptons/article-9275089/Ireland

ER -

NORTHERN IRELAND

TY - GEN

T1 - Northern Ireland

Y1 - 04/14/2012


UR - http://kids.britannica.com/comptons/article-9275088/Northern-Ireland

ER -

SCOTLAND

TY - GEN

T1 - Scotland

Y1 - 04/14/2012


UR - http://kids.britannica.com/comptons/article-224844/Scotland

ER -

WALES

41

TY - GEN

T1 - Wales

Y1 - 04/14/2012


UR - http://kids.britannica.com/comptons/article-9277638/Wales

ER -

ENGLAND

TY - GEN

T1 - England

Y1 - 04/14/2012


UR - http://kids.britannica.com/comptons/article-274308/England

ER -

● Allen, Rachel. Irish beef stew.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/irishbeefstew_73826.pdf (04/14/2012)

● Thomson, Worrall Anthony. Winter vegetable colcannon.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/wintervegetablecolca_73661.pdf (04/14/2012)

● BBC Food. Haggis. http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/haggis_66072.pdf (04/14/2012)

● The Hairy Bikers. Welsch rarebit.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/welsh_rarebit_05821.pdf (04/14/2012)

● Robinson, Mike. Roast beef and Yorkshire pudding.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/roastbeefandyorkshir_72053.pdf (04/14/2012)

42

9. Appendix

This section includes some materials used with the students. More concretely, it includes

an example of each of the tests from which the outcomes presented in this document

have been extracted. The documents below are attached in the same order as they were

passed to the students.

43

Pre-motivation Test

44

Pre-grammar Test

46

Post-Grammar Test

(plus post-motivation test, fifth exercise)

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