cooperative learning also promotes higher achievement and greater motivation than individual learning.
Besides this, the findings supported the study conducted by Johnson Johnson 1987, who stated that cooperative learning promotes positive attitudes towards
instructional experiences and the subject areas.
From the findings, we can conclude that cooperative learning might not be beneficial for every student. However, majority of the students would benefit both
socially and academically if cooperative learning is implemented in the classroom. It can enhance achievement in English language acquisition in a class. Cooperative learning
activities can help maximize the performance of the students in acquiring the English language as well as interpersonal skills needed for success in school and society.
5.3 Pedagogical Implications
From the results and findings, the following recommendations are made for teachers who would like to implement cooperative learning strategy in their teaching.
Firstly, teachers need to start by teaching social skills because some students cannot get used to the new strategy. Based on the findings, there were types of students
who prefer to work alone. Because of this, teachers need to teach the students how to ask for help, how to listen to others and how to give opinion Johnson Johnson, 1996.
According to Johnson Johnson 1994, in order to achieve goals in the group, students
must get to know and trust each other, communicate accurately and unambiguously, accept and support each other and resolve conflict constructively.
Besides teaching social skills, teachers need to teach students ‘Quiet Signal’ which was introduced by Kagan 1992 because from the findings, students tend to get
over-excited and thus create a very noisy atmosphere. Hence, the quiet signal is an appropriate signal for students to stop talking and to give their full attention to the teacher.
It works well in a classroom. When the teacher raises hisher hand, the students do the same action to give full attention to the teacher Kagan, 1992.
Moreover, cooperative learning could be implemented for different types of students. Students with special needs might need different strategies to keep them on
track. In this research, there were students who preferred to work alone. For this type of students, teachers could give them positive reinforcement for completing a given task.
For students who cannot get along, teachers can keep cooperative group activities brief and simple while they are working in groups. They are led to focus on improving their
social skills Ellis Whalen, 35-37, 1992.
Furthermore, the cooperative learning strategy should be continued as a teaching method to enhance the social communication among the students in the group. It offers
the secondary school students the chance to develop positive, productive relationships among themselves. Cooperative teams may offer some students the academic support that
will help them to excel in their studies.
