Students’ Reflective Writing FINDINGS

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CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS AND RESULTS

A. FINDINGS

The researcher analyzes the data qualitatively to find out how cooperative learning improved the participants‘ communicative competence as well as their learning empowerment. The findings involved the results of the students‘ reflective writing, video recording on authentic tasks conducted in a non-school setting, and multiple observers‘ feedback.

1. Students’ Reflective Writing

The first finding answers the two research questions. The first is to c onfirm that cooperative learning is effective in improving the participants‘ communicative competence and the second is to describe how it empowers them. The data relates with the participants‘ communicative competence and learning empowerment taken from their reflective writing which were conducted three times during the study. There were fourteen questions they had to answer in order to see how it improved their communicative competence and their learning empowerment. The following was the elaboration of their answers in their reflective writing. The first ten questions related with the first research question on the effectiveness of CL to improve communicative competence. 72 1. Who did you talk to during the learning activities? On the first reflective writing, Seven out of eleven students 63.6 talked with all friends in the class. Two students 18.2 talked with nine different friends. One student 9.1 interacted with 6 friends. Another student 9.1 talked with 4 students. On the second reflective writing, six out of seven students 85.71 interacted with all the friends during the learning activities using cooperative learning. The other student 14.28 practiced English with five out of six friends. On the third reflective writing, six students were present. Four out of six students 67 interacted with the whole friends who were present that day. The other two students 33,33 interacted with four different students 2. What sentences did you say during the learning process? Four out of eleven students 36.4 interacted using four out of five language expressions being taught. Two students 18.2 used three language expressions, three students 27.3 used two language expressions, and the other two 18.2 used only 1 expression. Two out of seven students 28.6 wrote six expressions in their answers, three students 42.9 wrote five expressions, one student 14.3 wrote three expressions, and the other one 14.3 wrote only two expressions. On the third reflective writing, two students 33,33 wrote seven expressions the whole expressions being taught on their answers. Two other 73 students 33,33 wrote six expressions while two others wrote five out of seven expressions learned that day. 3. What sentences did you hear from someone? They had the same answers as in question no 2. I assumed because they took turns during the role play activity. Therefore, they practiced all language expressions used by the two roles in the dialogues between a buyer and a seller. The results remained the same for the second and third reflective writing they did. 4. Did your friends say the sentences clearly? Most of them 81.8 answered that some of the friends said the sentences in English clearly while some others did not. Only two of them 18.2 answered that all the friends said the sentences clearly. Like in the first reflection, most of the students 85.71 answered that some of their friends said the sentences clearly while some others did not. Only one of them 14.3 answered that all the friends said the sentences clearly. On the third reflection, five out of six students 83,3 stated that some friends use English clearly in their communication while some others do not. Only one student 16.7 answered that everyone spoke English clearly. 5. Did you have experience of authentic communicative situations during the learning activities? If yes, what experiences did you have? All of the students 100 stated that they experienced of authentic communicative situation in the role play activities of buying and selling. It could be summarized that they all had the opportunity to really use the language expressions they learned in a situation where the expressions are really used. They 74 also stated that they experienced real conversation like in the buying and selling activities using English. On the third reflection, all of them stated that they all experience authentic communication like asking about price, asking about like and dislike, asking about what one has, and thanking. 6. Which kinds of learning activities that make you feel confident to use English in communication? Seven out of eleven students 63.6 stated that the activities that made them feel confident was buying and selling role plays. Two students 18.2 wrote in their answers that they felt confident with both STAD and buying selling role plays while two of them 18.2 only enjoyed STAD. It could be concluded that most of them 81.8 felt confident to use English in their communication through buying and selling activities. On the second reflection, five out of seven students 71.42 stated that they felt confident to use English in their interaction using buying and selling role play while only two of them 28.57 said they felt more comfortable with STAD than buying selling role play. On the third reflection, all of the students stated that all of the activities conducted in small groups helped them to interact with their friends in English. Most of them in specific answered that they enjoyed the activity of STAD. 7. Did you like working in small groups? Why Why not? 75 All of the students 100 stated that they liked working in small groups. Like the previous answers, all of the students 100 stated that they liked and enjoyed working in small groups. On the third reflective writing, all of the students answered that they liked working in small groups for some reasons. Firstly, they think that they are able to ask their friends in groups when they have problems understanding things. Secondly, it helps them in interacting in English with their friends. Thirdly, they are able to understand things better in small groups and lastly because it is more fun to learn in small groups. 8. Did you collaborate with your friends during the learning activities? If yes, whom did you work together with? When put in groups, all of the students 100 stated that they interacted and worked together with all their friends in group. The results of the second and third reflection remain the same. The next finding relates with the participants‘ learning empowerment obtained from their reflective writing particularly questions number nine to fourteen. The following is the information to support the data in order to answer the question on the particip ants‘ learning empowerment. 9. What role did you play today? All of the students 100 played the roles as both buyers and sellers. It meant that they took turn taking the roles and practicing the expressions for both roles during the role playing activities. It also confirmed that everyone in the groups had equal opportunity to practice interacting in the English 76 communication. One student 9.1 stated that she also became the participant of STAD. The other students were also the participants of STAD. However, it seemed that they did not consider STAD as an activity in which they had specific role and expressions to use. Another student 9.1 also stated that besides being a buyer and a seller, she also became a chairman in her group. On the second reflection, all of the students 100 played the roles as both buyers and sellers. On the third reflective writing, all of them stated that they play the role as the participants of STAD, Writing around, buyers, and sellers. All of them in short play different roles during the learning activities. 10. Did you have equal opportunities to practice communicating in English when put in groups? All of the students 100 thought that they had equal opportunity to practice communicating in English when put in groups during the three times of doing the reflection. Through the activities like writing around, everyone has to write something to complete to the group list. For example, when doing jigsaw puzzle, they all contribute to add the list of certain animals they are asked to complete. Another finding is when doing STAD, no one in the group is being idle. Each of the group members has to contribute scores for their group success. In short, all the participants are actively involved during the learning process. The next four questions relate with the second research question, the description on the effectiveness of CL to empower the participants. 11. When put in groups, did you feel less anxious? 77 During the three weeks conducting the reflective writing, all of the students 100 stated that they felt less anxious when working in groups. They stated that they had more courage to ask questions or to clarify information to both the teacher and the friends when they are put in groups. The small group activities also encourage them to use English more comfortably with their friends. Another finding to support their being more confident to use the target language is when the teacher invites a native speaker from Canada. All of them surprisingly were not only enthusiastic to meet and talk with the native speaker, but they were also able to understand and able to interact with her using English through some learning activities like role playing. 12. Did the teacher give equal attention to all of the students? All of the participants 100 witnessed that the teacher gave equal attention to everyone during the learning process. They confirmed that the teacher like to go around the groups when they are working on particular activities and monitor every member about her comprehension toward the tasks given by the teacher. 13. How did the teacher put you in groups? All of the students 100 stated that they were put in groups based on mixed grades. The teacher assigned them to work in heterogeneous way so that they were able to assist one another. However, in the activity like STAD, they were competed with those of similar ability. 14.Which one did you prefer, learning English in schools or in a non-school setting? Please elaborate your answers. 78 All of the students 100 stated that they preferred to learn English in a non-classroom setting than in their formal classes in schools. The main reasons were because they felt comfortable and felt fun to learn in a non-school setting. Besides, they also enjoyed being involved in groups when learning English because it made them feel less anxious and more comfortable to ask their friends than to ask the teacher when they were having problems comprehending the lesson. On the third reflective writing, all of them stated that they preferred to learn English in a non-school setting for some reasons. First, it is because they have more opportunities to ask questions. Second, they stated that they never have any small group activities especially those which require them to interact in English during their learning in formal school. Third, they think that they are able to understand the lesson better in a non-school learning.

2. Students’ Authentic Tasks