comes to the conclusion that collaborative learning is the approach in grouping students in a group of learning to get them more active and to encourage them to
build their social skill. Collaborative learning is also the methods that do not only encouraging the sense of togetherness but also competitiveness and still, their
learning goal is the guide and has to be achieved.
3. Elements in Collaborative Learning
According to Robert Slavin, there are 4 elements in Collaborative learning method. They are:
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a. The positive interdependence
A key element of collaborative learning is positive interdependence. It is a situation in which students make an effort to teach each other and learn from each
other. The students are thinking collaboratively not individualistically in terms of group, while to another group they are thinking competitively. They also realize a
need to collaborate one another to finish the task or to understand a subject matter. Olsen and Kagan also views that the positive interdependence occurs when the
gains for one individual are associated with gains for others; that is, when one student achieves, others benefit, too.
14
Also, positive interdependence can be defined as the perception among group members that what helps one group member helps all group members, and what
hurts one group member hurts all.
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Here, we can see that positive interdependence encourages cooperation and feeling of support. Then, if they take
different role within the group, they will each be able to focus on a certain aspect during the learning process therefore, they work more efficiently and the sense of
togetherness arises. b.
Face-to-face interaction Grouping students to learn together or to complete a task, definitely, needs
face to face interaction. This will help students to strengthen the friendship or even making a new friendship. In a group, it is the situation where learners
explain, argue, elaborate, and link current material with what they have learned
13 Robert Slavin, Cooperative Learning: Theory, Research, and Practice, New York: Allyn and Bacon,1995 P. 129
14 Carolyn Kessler, Cooperative Language Learning: A Teacher’s Resource Book New Jersey:prentice-Hall, inc, 1992 p. 8
15 Jack C. Richards and Theodore S. Rodgers, Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching, 2
nd
, Ed, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001 p.196
previously. They will get a better understanding to the materials by doing this. c.
Individual and group accountability. Methods which use only a group grade or a group product without making
each member accountable do not consistently produce achievement gains. This means that in collaborative learning, not only a group must be accountable, but
also the individual. Slavin defines the individual accountability as being present when “the team’s success depends on the individual learning of all team
members”.
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The students must show that they have individually mastered the material. Every team member feels in charge of their own and their team mates and makes
an active contribution to the group. Although students work together, each student is individually accountable. They count on their selves for the sake of group
achievement and give the best without only depending on their other group member. This is very important, because the goal of teaching is not only the
highest rank of each group, but also highest comprehension of each member of group.
d. Interpersonally and small group skills.
These skills include the way students interact as team mates. Here, in collaborative learning, they are needed to train and to build the social skills they
have. Of course, the students must be taught effective means of working together and of discussing how well their groups are working to achieve their goal. The
team periodically asses what they have learned, how well they are working together and how they might do better as learning team.
Learning collaboratively is not only as a matter of working together in a group, but it is also emphasized to the learning process which includes a whole
and fair communication process in a classroom.
4. The Characteristics of Collaborative Learning
