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3. Student’s Cognitive Values
Research Questions Research Finding and Discussion
2. Do and to what extent the content of FEWs promote their readability?
3. Student’s Cognitive Values a. Interactive group activities
b. Low order activities
Table 4.2.4 Student’s Cognitive Values
a. Interactive group activities
Document study shows that there is no interactive group activities found in FEW. It can be seen in several task instructions of FEW which only allow the young
learners do the task individually. If, there is still any, the task is only intended for practicing dialogue as modeled by the English teacher. In page 3 in Spoken Activity
section, for example, there is a task that instructs the students to “Listen and Practice the Dialogue” Appendix 5 and 6. This task type which only allows the young
learners to listen and practice the given dialogues is ungrounded since it will be more beneficial if the young learners get more experiences in sharing their ideas in a small
group discussion. Furthermore, an interactive discussion is possible for class six elementary school students even though they may only use simple talk. Jacob and
Ball in Litz 2007 also suggest that the best types of activities are those that encourage the negotiation of meaning or those that promote positive interdependence
and facilitate individual accountability through cooperative learning strategies. As it is proposed by the theorist above, it will be beneficial for the students if
there is a task that allows the students get involved in a small group activity. For instance, in theme 2, there is theme entitled “Order and Request”. It will be much
80 better for the students are instructed to make a group of two or three, then making
simple dialogues based on the given situation. For instance, there is a given situation: This room is hot. Student A says, “May I open the window?” Or “May I turn on the
fan?” .Student B says, “Yes, you may because I feel hot too” and student C says, “You may make iced syrup”.
As mentioned previously that there are a number of theorists such as Long has advocated the cognitive value of student-studentsocial interaction for promoting
learning. He cites five benefits of interactive group activities in comparison with teacher-fronted whole class instruction. These include:1 increased quantities of
students language use;2 enhanced quality of the language students use;3 more opportunities to individualize instruction;4 a less threatening environment in which
to use the language; and 5 greater motivation for learning 1990:39. In addition, peer interaction gives students the opportunity to encounter ideas
and perceptions that differ form their own as well as the opportunity to clarify, elaborate, reorganize, and re-conceptualize information, express ideas, get feedback,
and justify their claims Schraw, and Ronning, 1995:119. If this task is still not appropriate for the young learners of English especially
for the ones who live in suburb area, Jacob and Ball give alternative idea to include numerous exercises that exemplify ‘non communicative’ situation that demand
controlled responses, such as drilling, listing, ordering and sorting, comparing, matching and filling in the blanks task.
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b. Low order activities
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