In her writing Carolyn Kessler also highlights some other advantages of jigsaw technique which can be categorized as cooperative learning in the use in
the classroom, for instance:
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a. Jigsaw activity can increase active communication in the classroom. In traditional classroom, students just listen to teacher’s explanation in all
activity. That activity causes students get fewer opportunities for talking in class or participate in class. Jigsaw activity requires student to communicate
actively in the group so the group can get a good understanding of the material. b. Jigsaw activity allows students to increase their complexity of communication.
Linguistic complexity is increased through various means, such as increased stating of new information, giving explanation, offering opinion and showing
integration of information. Complexity of communication is increased while processing group work activity.
c. Jigsaw activity can help students increase their comprehension. In jigsaw activity students must learn what other group members know. So they have to
understand the explanation from other member of the group.
7. Disadvantages of Jigsaw Technique
Regarding to the theoretical and practical aspects of Jigsaw technique, some disadvantages of this technique may also exist. There are at least three
disadvantages of Jigsaw technique, as follows:
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a. The Pressure of Accountability For some students, the design of the jigsaw process that ensures that all
students in the class are responsible for learning and for teaching what they have learned to others may create an overwhelming sense of pressure to
perform when they get their opportunity to explain what they have learn. Students may worry about their second-language communication skills,
learning difficulties, or social status, blocking their ability to contribute in their group’s understanding.
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ibid., pp. 5—7
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Shlomo Sharan, Handbook of Cooperative Learning Methods, Westport: Greenwood Press, 1994, p. 47.
b. Fairness with Assessment and Evaluation In Jigsaw activity, teachers cannot assign marks or grades to personal or social
development because it may teach self-serving shrewdness and promote competition amongst students within the class.
c. Contrived Interdependence Students’ certainty in the worth of their own contribution and in the worth of
the contributions of other group members cannot be developed instantly that makes artificially created interdependence is a thing that teacher cannot easily
make.
C. Concept of Effectiveness
The word effectiveness is a noun form of the word ‘effective’ which etymologically means
producing the result that is wanted or intended producing a successful result. European Environment Agency defines effectiveness as “to
what extent has the measure achieved its intended objectives, in relation either to outcomes, andor impacts”.
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Evaluations of effectiveness must be based upon comparing the effects of a measure i.e. outcomes andor impacts to its explicitly stated objectives. These
objectives may be expressed in general or specific terms, but the most useful evaluations of effectiveness require objectives to be expressed as clearly as
possible. Evaluations of effectiveness can be undertaken only in relation to the
explicit objectives of a policy, evaluations of utility seek to identify all the effects of the measure, intended and unintended, in relation to a wide range of issues –
social, economic, environmental, cultural etc - with a view to arriving at some judgment about its contribution to overall social welfare.
In short effectiveness can be defined as a measure of the ability of a program, project or task to produce a specific expected or intended effect or result
that can be qualitatively measured. In this case, the term ‘effectiveness’ will be
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European Environment Agency, Defining Criteria for Evaluating the Effectiveness of EU Environmental Measures, 10 November 1999, European Environmental Agency, 2 April 2014
http:www.eea.europa.eupublicationsremdefining.pdf
