Group Process The Students’ Perceptions of Cooperative Learning Implemented in

66 learning was one of some strategies that could be used in delivering materials to the students. Based on the data obtained by the researcher, the teacher presented some steps of implementation of cooperative learning in 8D class. The first, the teacher explained the task in the beginning of the class. The teacher gave some instructions in doing task and presented the objectives and the goals to the students. He presented the standard competence and basic competence using power point presentation and asked the students to write them. The teacher elaborated: “For the narrative material that I gave, the main objective is to develop the students ‟ writing skill. The students have to write narrative using their own words from what they have seen from the video. ” The teacher also set the task submission. The deadline of the narrative task submission was in the following English class. The objective was to make the students be accustomed to submitting the task on time. According to the theory from Johnson et al. 1994, the researcher believed that the teacher used formal cooperative learning groups. The groups last from one class period to several weeks. These are used for a specific task and involve students working together to achieve shared learning goals. The second, the teacher divided the class into groups of four. The seating arrangement of the group was face-to-face situation. Therefore, the teacher said that it was only needed to turn the students‟ chair into face-to-face situation. The groups were set from the start of the academic year based on the students‟ report cards in the 7 th grade. Substantively, it depended on the difficulties of the task, 67 when the task could be done by two persons, the teacher grouped the students in pairs. According to Richard and Rodgers 2001: 192, Cooperative learning is an approach of teaching that makes maximum use of cooperative activities involving pairs and small groups of learners in the classroom. When the tasks were difficult, the teacher used 6-member-group. However, as far as the teacher knows, 4- member-group works best. Moreover, Gaies 1985: 9 stated that all interaction requires a minimum of two participants; the amount of participation differs greatly for the teacher and learners. He added, groups of four or five members work best instead of larger groups which give less opportunity for the members to participate. The teacher took the responsibility in forming the group. From the gender basis, the teacher had set mixed group because the limited number of the male students. Therefore, some groups were heterogeneous groups; meanwhile, the rest of the groups were homogeneous groups of female students. The teacher divided the group based on the learning abilities, not on the friendships. The teacher had a notion that as long as there waswere one or two smart students in a group, the higher-achieving students in a group would automatically have encouraged and triggered to help other group members. Other group members would learn from the higher-achieving students. The lower-achieving students would also have triggered to learn independently in order not to fall behind the higher-achieving students. Hence the situations would help the students to master the materials and increase their grade. The third, the teacher opened a chance for students to consult their problems related to the materials. The teacher asked the students whether the 68 instruction was clear. It was important to ask the students about what they had shared in order to monitor and to ensure the students are able to focus on achieving the course‟s objectives. Group leaders must be clearly aware of the purposes of the group and equally aware about what is going on at the moment which can lead the group toward or away from those purposes Douglas, 1978. The fourth, the students shared their material they learnt in a group discussion. The students had well interaction with other students and shared their opinions with other members in a group discussion. Cooperative learning characteristics from the observation and the interview with the teacher showed the same characteristics with the theory from Johnson et al. 1994; the students learnt and used appropriate social skills including leadership, decision-making, trust building, communication and conflict-management. The fifth, the teacher had good interaction with students in explaining the task and checking stud ents‟ understanding. This activity challenged the students‟ individual performance especially when they had difficulty. It triggered the students to ask the teacher about the material and the task. The sixth, the teacher moved around and assisted the students to ask some groups whether there was any difficulty and to check the students‟ performance. According to Johnson et al. 1994, the students should perform individually eventhough they work together. Each individual performance needed to be assessed and the students must take personal responsibility to work toward the group goals. The researcher believed that the teacher did a great job by assessing the students‟ performance in cooperative learning. 69 The seventh, the students could help each other and could work cooperatively with others to complete the task. The teacher believed that cooperative learning is the method that needs interaction between students in a group andor other students in different groups. According to Johnson et al. 1994, students must share resources with other, provide constructive feedback, challenge other member‟s reasoning and ideas, keep their mind open, act in a trustworthy way, and promote a safe feeling for all by reducing anxiety. Therefore, if their group members were stuck, the teacher allowed the students to ask other groups. The last option was asking the teacher. The eight, the students were involved actively in classroom activities. The teacher asked the students about the characteristics of narrative Generic structure: orientation – complication – resolution. This activity triggered teacher-students interaction andor vice versa. It could be seen when the teacher asked the students andor when the teacher gave the opportunity for the students to ask about the task and the material. The ninth, the method encouraged students‟ communication skills. The teacher chose three groups randomly to present their work. Groups‟ representatives were asked to present their works in front of the class. This activity encouraged the students to have high confidence to interact with their friends and triggered the students to have good interactions with others outside the class and in their daily activities. The tenth step was the teacher‟s assessment and evaluation toward the cooperative learning implemented in 8D class. The students were asked to reflect