1

ASSIGNMENT COVER SHEET

Course Code ESEB 4703

Course Title Seminar in Education

Supervisor Madam Norul Huda Mohd Ghazali

Topic The effects of collaborative learning on Form 4

secondary students’ learning achievement in
essay writing

Student’s Name Pravita A/P Mahathevan

Matric Number MC1510BC10480

Section 2

Issue Date/week 29/6/2018

Submission Date 21/9/2018

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Contents
Abstract ............................................................................................................................................................... 4
CHAPTER 1 ........................................................................................................................................................... 5
INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................................... 5
1.1 BACKGROUND OF STUDY .......................................................................................................................... 5
1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT .............................................................................................................................. 5
1.3 PURPOSE OF STUDY ................................................................................................................................... 6
1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS .............................................................................................................................. 6
1.4.1 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES ........................................................................................................... 6
1.5 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ...................................................................................................................... 7
1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY ........................................................................................................................... 7
1.7 RESEARCH FRAMEWORK ........................................................................................................................... 7
1.8 DEFINITION OF TERMS .............................................................................................................................. 8
1.9 RESEARCH GAP .......................................................................................................................................... 8
CHAPTER 2 ........................................................................................................................................................... 9
LITERATURE REVIEW............................................................................................................................................ 9
2.1 WRITING APPROACHES ............................................................................................................................. 9
2.1.1 Expository Writing ........................................................................................................................... 9
2.1.2 Descriptive Writing ........................................................................................................................ 10
2.1.3 Persuasive Writing ........................................................................................................................ 10
2.1.4 Narrative Writing ........................................................................................................................... 10
2.2 COLLABORATIVE LEARNING..................................................................................................................... 10
2.3 GROUP DISCUSSION ................................................................................................................................ 11
2.4 WRITING SKILLS ....................................................................................................................................... 12
CHAPTER 3 ......................................................................................................................................................... 13
METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................................................................. 13
3.1 RESEARCH DESIGN ................................................................................................................................... 13
3.2 RESEARCH SETTING ................................................................................................................................. 14
3.3 STUDY PARTICIPANTS .............................................................................................................................. 14
3.4 INSTRUMENTATION................................................................................................................................. 15
3.5 DATA COLLECTION METHOD ................................................................................................................... 15
3.6 PROCEDURES ........................................................................................................................................... 15
CHAPTER 4 ......................................................................................................................................................... 16
RESULT AND DISCUSSION .................................................................................................................................. 16
CHAPTER 5 ......................................................................................................................................................... 24
CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................................................................... 24
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5.1 IMPLICATIONS ......................................................................................................................................... 25

5.2 LIMITATION OF STUDY............................................................................................................................. 26
5.3 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCHES ................................................................................... 27
REFERENCES ...................................................................................................................................................... 28
Appendix ............................................................................................................................................................ 30
Open-ended Questionnaire ........................................................................................................................... 30
 Abstract 4

Abstract

A research was conducted at a secondary school in Klang; SMK Sri Andalas among 30 sixteen-
year-old students to analyze whether collaborative learning is beneficial to them if implemented for
enhancing their writing skills and if they adapt better to this method of learning. The instrumentation
used for this particular research was open – ended questionnaires where multiple IQ questions
were asked along with general ideated questions based on the class activity the students carried
out much earlier. The findings of the study were overwhelming; majority of the students agreed that
collaborative learning indeed is very helpful to them especially to improve their writing skills, what
astounded them the most was they could rectify their mistakes and learn many more things other
than just to write in an extremely short time frame. Thus, the research objective which was to
investigate the implementation of collaborative learning using group discussion influence on
students’ writing skill in English and to examine the impact of collaborative learning using group
discussion influence on students’ writing skill in English was achieved successfully because the
impact of collaborative learning as well as group discussion’s influence on the students was a
tremendous one. On top of that, most students prefer collaborative learning as it has proven to be
beneficial to them and they enjoy the learning process even more so. Based on the result and
discussion of this study, 28 students out of 30 students would not only like but love to conduct group
discussion again, it only further proves the impact and influence collaborative learning has had on
them.

Keywords: cooperative learning, collaborative learning community, academic literacy, constructivist

learning
 CHAPTER 1 5

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

There is a speculation going around that collaborative learning is a waste of time because it often
leads to unproductive discussions and would not be enough for students to grasp the main idea of a
certain topic which is being discussed (educationrickshaw, 2018). However, many failed to
understand the essence of collaborative learning and the main functions of it. Collaborative learning
brings about a definition by the means of a group of students actively participating in a discussion
with various inputs which in turn is guided by a teacher.

1.1 BACKGROUND OF STUDY

As reported by Gerlach, “collaborative learning is based on the idea that learning is naturally a
social act in which the participants talk among themselves, it is through the talk that learning occurs”
(Gerlach 1994). Collaborative learning can also be categorized as peer to peer learning and based
on several sources (Chioran, 2018), (CL1, 2018), (Simonin, 1997) is a very productive way of
learning although underrated and misunderstood.

Collaborative learning brings about plenty of benefits to both students as well as educators and is
full of activities, discussions, games as well as lessons but all in a fun way thus making it all the
more interesting to those who despise studying. Even students who usually won’t pay attention tend
to be more attentive during the lesson period. Although it comes with its own sets of disadvantages
just like everything else, the advantages overpower the disadvantages and hence making it way
more productive and efficient.

1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT

Normally cooperative learning is the method implemented in Malaysian schools as well as
education system via collaborative learning community which means the students cooperate with
the teachers somewhat passively apart from question and answer sessions which affects students’
academic literacy. (What is the Effect of Collaborative Learning on Students’ Interest, 2018).

This in turn makes the students indifferent to the inputs from their teachers, they merely memorize
facts and techniques rather than come up with creative or innovative ideas themselves. This
becomes the learning process to the extend that students are barely able to think for themselves
and therefore forge a lack of thinking ability or can also be said as problem solving skills. Students
quietly accept whatever information is being fed to them by their educators without question,
curiosity or the will to learn more; passive learning.
 INTRODUCTION 6

Not only that but according to a Canadian Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning,
there is also shortage of interaction among students themselves in terms of academic
purpose since they are not allowed to interact with each other during the lessons. (Anon, 2018). In
fact, students rarely communicate with the educators themselves, they choose to remain silent even
when they don’t understand something because they are used to being passive.

According to a statistic report which was conducted in Malaysia by the title of “Case Studies in a
Passive Learning Environment”, an average of 78% of students are passive and do not question
their educators even when they don’t understand what is being taught (Nik Azli Nik Ahmad, Maliah
Sulaiman, 2013).

1.3 PURPOSE OF STUDY

The purpose of this study is to make certain parties aware of the pros of collaborative learning, how
efficient it is, how students and educators can make maximum use of this said technique, and avoid
the classic boring lectures during lessons which make the students sleepy, inattentive, less
productive and no point of the entire learning as well as teaching process.

This study was conducted to test the depth of this method’s coherence and prove that it is the best
way to conduct the teaching and learning process and also in the hopes of changing the education
system by introducing this new way of learning.

In addition to that, the purpose of this study is also to introduce creative, innovative, and interesting
ways to learn a dull, dry, subject which would otherwise be boring. Teachers will get to gauge
student’s level of understanding via collaborative learning too.

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

These questions as listed below influenced this study as I analysed collaborative learning:

1. How does the implementation of collaborative learning using group discussion influence on
students’ writing skill in English?
2. What is the impact of collaborative learning using group discussion influence on students’
writing skill in English.

1.4.1 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

Following are the purpose of this study in terms of collaborative learning:

1. To investigate the implementation of collaborative learning using group discussion influence

on students’ writing skill in English.
2. To examine the impact of collaborative learning using group discussion influence on
students’ writing skill in English.
 INTRODUCTION 7

1.5 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

Constructivism was the theoretical basis for collaborative learning. According to one of the social
constructivist theory, participants in a learning environment will socially construct with their learning
experience. Educators who uses a social constructivist approach of learning will create authentic
contexts so that learners could create knowledge in the context of social situations (Woolley, &
Hosey,1999). Constructivism helped in improving students learning and created a positive learning
environment (Meyer, 2009: Powell & Kaliha, 2009).

Constructivist educators encourage students to use techniques to create new information and
explain concepts (Ormrod, 2008, p63). Based on Bradley (2010) mentioned that a teacher should
helped the students in creating a robust learning environment that supported learners constructing
knowledge in collaboration with other learners and teacher. Teachers emphasize student-to-student
interaction with the aim of maintaining the learner-centered philosophy of constructivist learning
theory through collaborative teaching style.

1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY

This current study of discovering collaborative learning is significant by a few points such as it helps
to improve innovation in teaching and classroom techniques instead of just using the same old
traditional way of teaching and learning. In addition to that, this study also encourages positive
attitude towards the subject matter which is writing in this case, students would be boost up to
explore more and be open to constructivist learning rather than dreading the long lectures in
classrooms. Another importance of this study will be to create an environment of active, involved,
and exploratory learning among students which would definitely pick on their curiosity and
willingness to learn effectively.

1.7 RESEARCH FRAMEWORK

Independent Variable
Dependent variable
Collaborative Learning
 Writing skill
 Group discussion
 INTRODUCTION 8

1.8 DEFINITION OF TERMS

Collaborative learning means a group of two or more students discussing a concept or academic
material to find solutions for problems (“CTI-Collaborative Learning”, 2018). Collaborative activities
are usually based on four main principles which are the student is the main focus of instruction,
interaction and action are of central focus, working in groups is a pivotal mode of learning and
structured approaches to work out quick fixes to real-world problems should be integrated into
learning.

1. The learner or student is the main focus of instruction.

2. Interaction and action are of central focus.
3. Working in groups is a pivotal mode of learning.
4. Structured approaches to work out quick fixes to real-world problems should be integrated
into learning.

Cooperative learning is the instructional use of small groups of students working together by
separating tasks and compiling the end product (“What is Cooperative Learning?”, 2018). As an
example, a group of five students working on different parts of a scrap book.

Collaborative learning community. A group of teachers who meet often, shares expertise and
work together to upgrade teaching skills as well as the academic performance of students or also
can be said as professionals coming together to learn.

Academic literacy or also known as academic knowledge refers to the oral, written, auditory and
visual language competence required to learn efficiently in schools and academic programs.
Examples include vocabulary, grammar, punctuation, syntax and rhetorical conventions.

Constructivist learning is the basic idea that students are more likely interested in what they are
learning, more motivated to learn new concepts and skills as well as equips them with useful skills
to face the outside world.

1.9 RESEARCH GAP

As for this part, it is divided into two sections which are assumptions and limitations. It is assumed
that productivity of students in writing will improve through collaborative writing because students
get to interact more with their friends and exchange creative ideas besides trying to come up with
innovative thought processes themselves. Besides, collaborative learning is easier and fun to learn
compared to cooperative learning because they get to discuss, present their points, compete
healthily to see who come up with the best ideas and voice out instead of just listening to their
educators. To top that up, students will be prepared to face the outside world bravely via
collaborative learning in comparison to the traditional way or learning by reason of they will be great
at problem-solving, voicing out opinions, and will boldly make a decision when a situation arises.
 CHAPTER 2 9

On the other hand, the limitations of this study are as follows; this observation is limited to students
of higher secondary only; form 4 and form 5 students since they have more writing to do when
weighed against other age students. Not only that but, this study is also narrowed especially to the
progress of writing among students by way of collaborative learning. Furthermore, the results may
or may not apply to students of other ages because this observation is for a niche group of students,
hence there is a possibility that it might not apply students of all ages. Another limitation is the
findings of this research might vary for different subjects, this is because not all subjects are as
subjective as writing, writing is a very broad field of study, so collaborative learning is an excellent
way to approach, nevertheless, we can’t say the same for every other subject which requires
calculation, practise, theories, and so on.

CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter discusses the background of this study by breaking it down to a few subtopics. The
first part delves into writing approaches, while the second section reviews the mechanics of
collaborative learning and the last subtopic for this chapter explains the independent variable and
dependent variable of this study.

2.1 WRITING APPROACHES

Writing is a very broad, subjective field where often times students are required to be creative
without following a grid of rules. Usually students are required to write essays in high schools to test
their creativity, vocabulary, grammar, punctuation, as well as their ability.

There are four types of writing in general especially among higher secondary school students which
are as follows; expository, descriptive, persuasive, and narrative (“Types of Writing Styles – About
Writing: A Guide”, 2018). Sometimes, a single text may include more than one writing style, which
makes it even more necessary for students to learn and master all four.

2.1.1 Expository Writing

One of the most usual types of writing where the writer writes in an expository style while trying to
explain an idea. The author normally conveys the information they already have to the reader. This
particular style of writing does not consist of the writer’s personal opinions but facts encompassing
statistics, graphs, and other evidences (“Types of Writing Styles – About Writing: A Guide”, 2018).
Examples of expository writing comprises of how-to articles, recipes, news stories and technical
writing.
 LITERATURE REVIEW 10

2.1.2 Descriptive Writing

This form of writing can be used for fiction and non – fiction as well (memoirs, first-hand accounts of
events and travel guides). The writer would describe what they can see, smell, touch, hear and
taste in this form of writing, nevertheless the author is not trying to convince the audience of
anything or give an explanation, it merely describes things for what they are. (“Types of Writing
Styles – About Writing: A Guide”, 2018). For example, poetry, diary writing, descriptions of nature,
or descriptive essays are types of descriptive writing.

2.1.3 Persuasive Writing

Persuasive writing is the main style of writing usually used in academic papers. The writer generally
uses this kind of writing to convince or persuade the reader of their opinion or point of view with
reasons, justifications, and evidences to proof their point. This type of writing is quite bias. (“Types
of Writing Styles – About Writing: A Guide”, 2018). Examples of persuasive writing includes
argumentative essays, editorial essays, letters of complaint and also letters of recommendation.

2.1.4 Narrative Writing

Just like descriptive writing, narrative writing comes in fiction as well as non-fiction and is ordinarily a
longer piece of work. The writer is not trying to persuade the reader or explain facts but construct a
story for the reader with characters, conflict, settings, and drama. (“Types of Writing Styles – About
Writing: A Guide”, 2018). Examples of narrative writing are short stories or essays which start from
“I woke up from a dream”, “it was a beautiful day when I missed the school bus”, and so on.

To conclude this chapter, some background research was done regarding collaboration, learning as
well as types of writing among higher secondary school students to conduct the rest of the study.
This chapter has provided a detailed information which would probably make the research more
thorough and easier to handle.

2.2 COLLABORATIVE LEARNING

Collaborative learning is a technique of both teaching and learning in which students form a group
to discuss a specific question or initiate a significant project. Other examples of collaborative
learning include students from different schools working together on the internet on a common
assignment or a team of students discussing a given lecture. (“Cooperative and Collaborative
Learning: Explanation”, 2018).

In an educational research survey, it was stated that collaborative learning exhibits cooperation and
teamwork which results in higher achievement, improved capacity, more caring, auxiliary and
devoted relationships as well as better mental health, social skills and self-confidence (Johnsons,
2009).
 LITERATURE REVIEW 11

Collaborative learning is an encouraging approach for human engagement that has become a
twenty-first century fashion. The necessity to think and work together as a team on serious topics
have heightened (Austin, J.E., 2010; Welch, M., 1998), making to stress on from individual attempts
to teamwork and from autonomy to community (Leonard, P.E. & Leonard, L.J., 2014).

Plenty of benefits have been categorized under collaborative learning (Pantiz, T., 2015). The
elaboration of benefits below are results of Johnsons (2014) and Pantiz (2014) survey. Social
advantages of collaborative learning are: aids to generate a social support system for students,
starts to bring about diverse comprehension amidst students as well as teachers, builds a positive
environment to practice cooperation and establishes learning communities.

Furthermore, the psychological pros of collaborative learning are it provokes positive behaviour
towards educators, collaborative participation dwindles anxiety because there are backups
available, and it also boosts students’ self-confidence because they are the ones who give out
instructions.

Last but not the least, the academic benefits of collaborative learning include improved classroom
results because students tend to grasp the subject matter faster via this method, students are
engaged actively in the learning process and would not feel bored or sleepy during lessons,
stimulates critical thinking skills as well as problem solving skills, and motivates students to do
better in specific curriculum.

In our current society and academic scheme, competition against one another is highly regarded in
comparison to cooperation among one another. Students can be informed of the necessity for
healthy, positive, helping interactions via collaborative learning by asking team members to analyse
the characteristics that help them to work together and by asking individuals to ponder upon their
contribution to the team’s victory or downfall (Panitz; T., 2015; Cohen B.P. & Cohen, E.G., 2015).

2.3 GROUP DISCUSSION

Group is a team of people who contact each other regularly and work cooperatively to achieve a
mutual objective. Discussion is a procedure where a group of two or more individual trade
information or ideas directly to also achieve a said mutual objective. The end result may be more
knowledge, agreement leading to response, controversy leading to competition, or the continuation
of existing conditions.

Group discussion, or widely labelled as ‘GD’ is an important methodology in any situation, be it in

schools, colleges, work force, and so on. This methodology is popularly used by huge companies or
institutes to see if the candidates have specific personality traits since most of the work needs to be
done cooperatively in a group where discussions are of utter importance.
 LITERATURE REVIEW 12

In this case, the group of qualified candidates are normally given a topic, some time to think about
it, and discuss it among themselves for a certain period of time. This engulfs team work, integrating
ideas and opinions of different group members to achieve a mutual objective. Basically, group
discussion associates with a conversable situation that permits members to contribute their points
and views with other members; an efficient exchange of knowledge, views and opinions regarding a
subject matter, conflict, dilemma or situation amidst team members who share a mutual goal.
(Gdpi.hitbullseye.com, 2018)

2.4 WRITING SKILLS

Excellent writing skills are important when it comes to academic or even at work place because that
is how one communicates with the rest more often than not; reports, essays, emails, even text
messages require writing. When one has a good command of grammar, punctuation, and skills to
construct a sentence he or she would master a good foundation for their studies or even career.
(Naveed, 2018).

Specialists in language divide writing into three main branches which are; pre-writing, writing, and
post writing. Pre-writing is a preliminary stage which involves plenty of thinking, researching,
reflecting on what to write, and planning on what can possibly go on. Whereas, writing is the utter
act of constructing a sentence, transforming ideas into words, and exploring newly found ideas; a
form of art which would capture the reader’s attention. Post writing is done after the entire work has
been written, it needs proof reading for spell check, look out for grammatical errors, reviewing and
editing before it could be published. (Naveed, 2018).

A few factors which affect a person’s writing skills are psychological factors, linguistic factors,
cognitive factors and the process of writing itself. Firstly, linguistic factors affect a person’s writing
skills because when a non-native person is trying to write in their second language, there will be
language barriers. Secondly, psychological factors because writing involves knowledge of the
person and the purpose of writing, thus lack of knowledge will cause difficulties for a person to write
well. Next comes cognitive factors which talks about a person’s interest in writing, writing without a
purpose or audience brings about an air of duplicacy and makes the entire work even more
unworthy. Finally, the process of writing itself by the reason of it being an overly complicated job
since at any given moment the entire work could be changed; a page deleted, a sentence altered
and so on. This creates even more difficulty for a person to improve their writing skills. (Naveed,
2018).

Nevertheless, if students are engaged in group discussions, they will find it a little easier to catch up
with writing because they can discuss new ideas, exchange views, improvise their vocabulary and
learn something from each other. Not only that, but their knowledge capacity will grow and they will
become even more capable to write something by themselves eventually. Since group discussion is
 CHAPTER 3 13

a nice way to learn, students’ interest will peak and they will put in even more effort to improvise
their abilities and think out of the box.

CHAPTER 3

METHODOLOGY

This chapter is entirely about exploring the methods, systematic approach, and analysis of how the
study would be conducted, way of doing it, how it will be effective, and how it can be applied to this
field of observation. It is clearly a study of techniques that can be used or have been used
previously to gauge the theoretical analysis and doctrine correlated with a particular subject of
knowledge. A methodology does not under any circumstance offers solutions, but provides
theoretical support to comprehend which technique or set of techniques or the best approaches
which can be used to measure a certain result.

In this study, the following research questions guided the observation as the researcher delved into
collaborative learning to explore it:

1. How does the implementation of collaborative learning using group discussion influence on
students’ writing skill in English?
2. What is the impact of collaborative learning using group discussion influence on students’
writing skill in English?

The level of improvement in students’ writing skills after practicing group discussion will be
measured in qualitative approach only since the outcome of essays will be better if measured in the
sense of its quality and value rather than quantity of words or paragraph. Hence, the reason of
using the said method.

3.1 RESEARCH DESIGN

Based on USC; University of Southern California, research design explains about the entire
approach of one’s choice to coordinate the various elements of the observation in an
understandable and sensible manner so that one could easily figure out the research problem; it
includes the prototype for accumulation, measurement, as well as analysis of data. (“Research
Guides: Organizing Your Social Sciences Research Paper: Types of Research Designs”, 2018).

The particular research design used for this research is case study. According to a website called
“Measuring U”, case study is one of the ways to measure qualitative methods among the other four
 METHODOLOGY 14

which are narrative, phenomenological, grounded theory and ethnography. (“MeasuringU: 5 Types
of Qualitative Methods”, 2018).

Case study involves deep understanding through multiple types of data sources. Case studies can
be explanatory, exploratory, or descriptive even. As an example, a case study of how a huge
multinational company introduced new methods into an agile development environment would be
informative to many organizations. The observer goes through the situation first hand by themselves
and at times as an eyewitness for the target group which happened in this research since the
researcher observed and developed various understandings about the student’s perspective on
collaborative learning and decoded the information via questionnaires which would come in handy
for future researches, or similar researchers who would like to explore more on the subject.

As for this study, case study approached is used to address the research problem if using
collaborative learning by way of group discussion could improve students’ writing skills in English
and how it works because the researcher personally observed the students who are the target
group for this study and have seen the situation thus encoding qualitative method via this specific
research design.

3.2 RESEARCH SETTING

Research setting is regarding the location in which the study was conducted, in this case it was at
SMK Sri Andalas in Klang. The purpose of choosing this location is because the researcher did her
practical there and noticed how weak the students were when it comes to essay writing and better
yet, there was plenty of room for improvement.

History of SMK Sri Andalas is nothing to boast about, students started registering there in 1995 but
since the school was still under construction, the students used the vicinity of SK Sri Andalas
(primary school) which is located just next to the secondary school. In 1996, the number of students
increased to 25, and in 1997 they shifted to a new building. Currently, after 18 years since SMK Sri
Andalas was started, there are added facilities, new buildings, more teachers (130 teachers), and
even more students (2063 students). According to the official portal of the school, it will continue to
service the people to create a knowledgeable and moralised generation to face this challenging life.
SMK Sri Andalas is nothing short of a typical government school.

3.3 STUDY PARTICIPANTS

The study participants who are also the target group consists of a group of 30 sixteen-year olds
from 4ST1 who are of different races and family backgrounds as well. The number of students is
oddly divided among males and females especially from lower middle class and upper-class families
with intermediate level of proficiency. As of the reason for why researcher chose this particular
 METHODOLOGY 15

group of students as the target audience because the researcher did her practical here and gauged
that these students might do better if only some other way of education was implemented.

3.4 INSTRUMENTATION
This part of the research elaborates on the equipments or means used to conduct this particular
research such as the permission letter from UNITAR to execute the experimentation. Since the
method of this entire research was qualitative based, research questions were handed out to the
target group to get more feedbacks; a topic was given to the target group to be discussed among
them and presented in front of the whole class, later a questionnaire was given to them to evaluate
the outcome of the group discussion, to analyse if the target group learned better, were comfortable
and so on.

3.5 DATA COLLECTION METHOD

As for the data collection method, an open-ended questionnaire was prepared solely for this
purpose to be handed out to the target group. The said questionnaire was given to a number of 30
participants in SMK Sri Andalas. 20 whole minutes were given to each participant to answer the
questionnaire, they answered it individually, 10 questions were given to each student and most
importantly, it was a qualitative questionnaire.

3.6 PROCEDURES
First and foremost, the teacher divides students into groups of 5, hence there will be 6 groups in
total. Each group will contain students of mixed race as well as genders. Researcher will then give
out the topic of discussion for the students to brainstorm for a period of 30 minutes. The researcher
will guide the students throughout the discussion. Once the given 30 minutes is over, students will
be required to share the points they brainstormed with the rest of the class. Researcher will correct
the points and relate it back to the topic if needed. Researcher will also have to instruct the students
to write a complete essay based on the points given in another 30 minutes. Once this task is done,
a 20 minutes questionnaire of 10 open ended questions will be handed out to each student to share
their opinions about collaborative learning especially in writing that helps to improve their writing
techniques and skills; mainly to gauge the level of improvement in students’ writing skills after
engaging in collaborative learning or group discussion to be more precise.
 CHAPTER 4 16

CHAPTER 4

RESULT AND DISCUSSION

Students were given an open-ended questionnaire upon finishing the group discussion activity to
gauge their opinions regarding this method of learning. The questionnaire consisted of 10 open
ended questions about collaborative learning and how they find it. The end result was 80% of the
students had positive feedbacks to give about collaborative learning and they really find it beneficial,
while the remaining 20% seem to dislike it due to petty reasons like small misunderstandings and a
few arguments to prove their point.

As mentioned, the findings of this research was a fruitful one since the researcher achieved her
research objectives which are to investigate the implementation of collaborative learning using
group discussion influence on students’ writing skill in English and to examine the impact of
collaborative learning using group discussion influence on students’ writing skill in English. The
result was obtained via the survey conducted at the school, some 30 students answered the survey
and the end result was positive.

For the very first question of the survey which was along the lines of;

Question 1: How did working in a group help you to improve your writing skill?

The students answered: “I can always ask someone in the group when I am not sure of
something, not only that but I can also get many new ideas as well as opinions, the others
help to correct my grammatical errors and share a few powerful vocabularies thus improving
my writing skill, I now feel much more confident to write in English.”

Another student said: “It is more fun and not formal so we are more comfortable to ask doubts
or things we don’t understand, there’s no hesitation and we can adapt better”.

Whereas, some of them said: “When others explain their point of view, we can get ideas to
elaborate our sentences also when our team mates point out our mistakes, we tend to
receive it better and make amendments. When our peers are giving better ideas, we are
motivated to do so ourselves”.

These students’ answers justify that working in a group help their writing skills better than the
traditional form of learning because as the researcher mentioned previously, they feel much more
comfortable to communicate and less humiliated to accept their mistakes since the team mates are
one of them and it is done so in a smaller group instead of an entire class.
 RESULT AND DISCUSSION 17

Based on a previous thesis by the title of “Collaborative and Independent Writing” (Yuko Watanabe,
2014), thinking aloud protocols are widely used instead of private speech by the reason of
participants tend to perform better via voicing out their thoughts rather than thinking by themselves.
The answers from the students also proves that the vast majority are happy with collaborative
learning and it is known to enhance their command of the English language along with their writing
skills.

Question 2: In your view, what is the biggest benefit of working with a group?

Most of the students said: “I get to know more people and their unique personality based on
their opinions to complete the task, it also helps me to overcome the fear of voicing out my
opinions, it is very important to be a good team player and working in a group gives me a
chance to improve my team work, I am sure it will come in handy in future. All of us can
share our viewpoints and help each other to work efficiently simultaneously.”

It will definitely help me during meetings, extracurricular activities, I get to mix and match
ideas which we discussed in this task for another essay, and I am more open to mix around
with other students whom I usually don’t mingle with”.

On the other hand, some of them even said: “The biggest benefit of working in a group for me
was I get to learn more technical elements of the English language; it widens my vocabulary
level, increases my knowledge and improves my grammar, not only that but it has also
improved my social skills tremendously”.

The students seem to be very happy about collaborative learning since they can reap the benefits
out of it and see the results immediately. They realise it doesn’t only improve their writing skills and
proficiency of the language but also their social skills; how they mingle with everyone else except for
a certain group, speaking with everybody, voicing out and giving feedbacks which will turn out to be
very crucial in college as well as workforce in the future.

This further justifies that a lot of the students are aware of the importance of collaborative learning
and the benefits they can reap out of it in the long run, just as mentioned by Storch (2015) in her
study that those who worked in pairs made lesser mistakes, was more accurate and generated
innovative ideas, even though they spent more time on the task as they tried to come up with
solutions for the problems faced, it only resulted in precise work quality. Storch concluded that
collaboration made it possible for students to combine ideas and give feedback for each other which
helps create beautiful ideas and depicts excellent work performance.
 RESULT AND DISCUSSION 18

Question 3: In your view, what is the biggest challenge working with a group?

Approximately 28 out of 30 students mentioned that: “Cooperating with everyone’s ideas,

satisfying all the group members, making other team mates participate actively in the
discussion, voicing out opinions and trying to make the others understand where I’m coming
from, misunderstandings, and difficulties in communicating are the hardest part”.

Some even said: “I hated the part where we were on our own to complete the task without the
assistance of a teacher, we are not grown enough to handle these things on our own”.

“The biggest challenge came in the form of opening up to others who are not my friends, I
can’t rebut their ideas even though I don’t agree with them, and I get offended when my idea
is not accepted”, were also among the replies of the students.

These are enough reasons to conduct more group discussions in classroom because we have to
encourage students to get out of their comfort zone, put their self under the spotlight, get used to
disagree or agree with other people’s opinions even though they are not the students’ friends or
acquaintance and most importantly obtain a chance to prove that they can handle this kind of
activities on their own because they will have to in the nearest future without being spoonfed and
pampered all the time.

These answers elaborate that there is not enough group discussions to make students feel
comfortable with anyone other than their friends, so some of them find it difficult to engage in this
kind of activity even though it is extremely productive and beneficial hence more of these sort of
activities should be conducted frequently to help students overcome these challenges.

As mentioned by William James Harrington in his thesis; “Collaborative Learning Among High
School Students In a Chamber Music Setting” (Harrington, 2016), some students are uncomfortable
to engage in collaborative learning due to low English proficiency. They feel ashamed to even speak
let alone come up with ideas while some feel writing is a solitary activity and should be done
individually even if it means using the same ideas redundantly.

Question 4: How did the information helped you during the group discussion affect your writing skill?

“Based on the proverb: if we talk we can only share what we already know but if we listen we
will learn something new, I can now use the information I gathered in group discussion as a
stepping stone to improve my writing skill by making it more interesting and worthy, I am
also able to generate fresh ideas inspired by other members’ opinions as well as point of
view not just for the assigned essay but for future essays too. I was also enlightened on
what I was lacking to enhance my writing skill,” was the response for how did the information
help you during the group discussion affect your writing skill.
 RESULT AND DISCUSSION 19

Among the other response that the researcher was able to gauge from the questionnaire was:
“Couple of my team members’ thoughts were very unique indeed, I always Google new ideas
for my essays but I realize that I can’t always rely on Google in class or during a test. I tend
to remember whatever thoughts we put forward in a discussion better than those I Googled”.

“The information I gained during a group discussion comes in handy even for a totally
different topic, it also enhances my creativity and thinking skills, I can now think out of the
box with the information I gained, and of course, thanks to my team members”, were also
some students opinion for this particular question.

This shows that the discussion was a productive one and students did in fact learn many new things
that they didn’t when they did essays on their own without exchanging knowledge, most of them
found it easier to construct sentences and elaborate their ideas since the conversation was flowing
and they had better understanding of the given topic.

Yuko also included in her thesis that majority of the students have never engaged in collaborative
learning before hence having a misconception that it means oral task and has nothing to do with
writing, but after engaging in the group discussion, most of them changed their opinions since they
obtained new ideologies and knowledge which now only helped them to construct the given essay
but would potentially be of help for future essays and be an inspiration to come up with more
innovative as well as creative point of views when needed; “Collaborative and Independent Writing”
(Yuko Watanabe, 2014).

Question 5: How can you ensure that all members of your group are participating equally?

Students said “We have to be responsible enough to spilt the tasks carefully, ask other
members if they understand the points which are put forward, ask their thoughts, and
require everyone to contribute at least 2 points” to ensure all the group members participate
equally. Most of them are actually matured enough to conduct a proactive group discussion and
make sure it is a productive one.

“It is true enough that some team members wouldn’t want to open up during a discussion, it
is so hard because they are passive and we can’t even know if they understand what’s going
on, but it is also our part to make them feel comfortable and ask them questions to probe
something out of them”, were also some of the responses from the students.

A student also said: “As a team, we have to explain to the passive members that we have to
work as a team to complete the task given and convince them to at least give one idea to see
how we can take it from there. It has worked for me, so I think this is what we should do to
make the quiet ones more vocal”.
 RESULT AND DISCUSSION 20

The students’ answers were astounding because such matured answers were not expected at all,
since even they have a method to make all the team members participate to complete the given
task, it is not an actual barrier to stop conducting this kind of activity as a part of the lesson.

Their answers were somewhat similar to what William Harrington highlighted in his thesis
“Collaborative Learning Among High School Students In a Chamber Music Setting” (Harrington,
2016): students actually are capable of participating actively in collaborative learning, they just need
some time to get used to it since they have always been working on assignments individually, but
once they are comfortable with it they will prefer this method of studying because it is interesting
and way more beneficial in comparison to the traditional way of education.

Question 6: Do you feel group discussion improve your English writing skill? Why?

When questioned if group discussion improves their English writing skill and why, students said
“Yes, it has definitely improved my writing skills because I get to know where I make
mistakes, how to amend those mistakes, I can also elaborate my sentences better because
we discuss out loud during the group discussion so there is better understanding of the
topic. It has also improved my English-speaking skills, we tend to speak in English most of
the time and I got the hang of the language quite easily”.

“Some of my team members use colourful language in their essays like similes, idioms and
metaphors, I didn’t even know such phrases before the discussion, so it has definitely gave
me a whole new idea of how I can improve my writing skill”, was one of the student’s response
for this question.

A profound answer was along the lines of: “I thought my writing skill was on point till I engaged
in the group discussion and found out why I got average marks even though I didn’t face any
technical language problems because of creativity, that’s what I lacked all along, I didn’t coin
any creative phrases and that’s exactly how the group discussion helped me with my writing
skill”.

Thus, the group discussion has even helped students who are actually good in English to develop
and improve their writing skills, consequently doing wonders for those who are weak in the subject.
It is definitely a good way to encourage students to up their game and do better even if they think
they can’t do any better because they have mastered the language already.

Jennifer Olson also mentioned that collaborative learning is developed to support cognitive
processes through step-by-step support, error, feedback and on demand hints. Collaborative
learning can thoroughly provide cognitive and social support that students need in order to learn
more effectively and quickly in her study by the name of “Orchestrating Combined Collaborative and
Individual Learning in the Classroom” (Jennifer Olson, 2017). For example, when a student sees his
 RESULT AND DISCUSSION 21

or her team mates doing better in their tasks and they point out the mistakes this student did, there
are higher chances for this student to understand better where they are coming from and rectify his
or her mistakes in a shorter time span and getting motivated as well as inspired by the others.

Question 7: Do you hope your teacher will let you to do group discussion first before starts writing?

An exact number of 26 students answered yes when asked if they hope their teacher will let them to
do group discussion first before they start writing and a meagre number of 4 students answered no.
For those who answered yes, their justification for their choice is as such: “Studying together with
my friends is more helpful and enjoyable rather than going straight to the teacher and since
our friends are from our own age group it makes the conversation to flow easily”.

“I prefer group discussions because we can feel free to engage in a conversation regarding
the topic, I usually feel sleepy during lessons when the teacher just goes on about the
lesson, that way is just a one way communication and I have to wait till the teacher is done to
ask my questions, by that time I would have actually forgot what I wanted to ask”, were most
of the response.

Some students even said: “I learn better through group discussions because everyone is on
the same page, no one is ahead of anyone and no one is left behind either, it is only fair for
everyone to learn that way and we can also have the same level of outputs as the amount of
inputs that we get”.

Majority of students are at ease with group discussions and admitted that they learn better since it is
a two-way communication and they are more interested to learn without dreading long periods of
merely listening to the teacher without understanding most of the things that was taught or put
forward by the teacher.

According to Jana A. Lenox, based on her study of “Effects of Collaborative Learning on

Persuasive Writing In 11th Grade Inclusive Classrooms” (Lenox, 2015), most students definitely
prefer collaborative learning once they’re used to it because it has a nobody-gets-left-behind
concept; everyone gets to speak, share, help others, and write their own essays at the end of the
day which is a good way to not only boost their language proficiency and thinking capability but also
to increase their self-esteem as well as self-worth.

Question 8: Why does collaborative learning has made you feel like to write English composition?

Some 27 students agreed that collaborative learning has made them like to write English
compositions by saying: “Yes it has because writing compositions now is a lot easier and we
are practising to do it in no time at all, it is also more interesting to learn this way and we are
having fun while learning”. On the other hand, merely 3 students disagreed to the statement
 RESULT AND DISCUSSION 22

saying they find it a waste of time as they can always Google new ideas and prefer to work
individually.

A handful of students also agreed by saying: “I always look forward to the group discussions
because it has made writing a hundred times easier and fun, instead of wrecking my brain by
myself and getting nowhere at the end of the day, this is a whole better way to make learning
productive”.

“We don’t misuse the time allocated for group discussion because we want to fully utilize the
time to learn, we are aware of that, so when we discuss the given topic, I also usually start
constructing my essay skeleton in my head and note it down on the side, so when I finally
get down to writing, I finish my essay really fast and I love it”, was also among some of the
students’ response.

Most students find it relatively easy to compose an essay after a group discussion because they
have already gathered the necessary information as tools to write a powerful essay, they also finish
their essay faster than before because they have already discussed and thought out their points
before hand, so the only thing left to do is to put all the ideas, knowledge and information to words
which they find easier to do.

In the study of “High School Teacher Perceptions of Collaborative Professional Learning” by Scott
Dill in 2015, it is said, proved and agreed that collaborative learning is indeed a tool for teachers to
make students improve in their respective subjects because it is a hundred times more engaging
and active in comparison to the dull, passive traditional way of learning. Students will pay more
attention due to the interaction rather than zoning out and having no clue of what the teacher is
talking about at the end of the day.

Question 9: Which task better helped you to write-alone or in group? Why?

A vast majority of 25 students accepted that writing after a group discussion helped them to write
better while 5 students disregarded the fact. When asked why, the majority answered: “When
working in a group, we tend to gauge ideas easily, grasp the explanation better and learn to
explain ourselves thus constructing power packed sentences which in turn makes our essay
worth reading”. The minority said: “I feel we are just playing and joking around more, so I
prefer to do the task given alone as I can use the entire time given to focus on writing my
essay”.

“It has definitely helped me to write better because usually I take a long time to just think of
what I’m going to write, but after the group discussion I can just write the essay in a roll
because my thought process was already activated earlier and I have gathered all my
thoughts in sync”, was also among the feedback the researcher obtained via the questionnaire.
 RESULT AND DISCUSSION 23

Another prominent answer which stood out was: “I have improved my writing tremendously via
group discussions because despite getting new ideas, I also learned writing techniques and
methods from my team members, for example now I know I have to start writing instead of
just thinking of what to write to get the flow of writing, not only that I also learned to write
creatively by using bombastic words and string together hand-picked words to form a
beautiful sentence”.

Their answers further prove that a lot of students agree unanimously that group discussion has
helped them to write better in a shorter time frame due to the answers they gave in the
questionnaire thus proving collaborative learning has done its part in making students’ lives easier
and progress faster in the subject given.

Hui-Ju Wu mentioned in her study: “The Effects of Blog-supported Collaborative Writing on Writing
Performance, Writing Anxiety and Perceptions of EFL College Students in Taiwan” (2015), that
learning is not all about being serious, concentrated and studious but also in a fun way by laughing,
joking around which reduces students’ anxiety and stress level in the classroom. Most students
dread going to school because it is too serious for them to adapt, at the end of the day they are just
a bunch of kids, so there is no harm in making learning fun for them. We have to destroy the
misconception that learning can never be fun, and if it is fun the learning was not productive
enough. The fact is learning can be fun and it is the only way to gain students’ full attention and
potential.

Question 10: Would you like to have a similar activity like this as a classroom activity in the future?
Why?

28 students said they would love to have a similar classroom activity like this in the future,
“Because it helps me to communicate and get along with everyone in the classroom, I was
always worried of how I am going to adapt in college where the group will be bigger and we
would be required to have meetings, I was always nervous when it came to discussion but
now with this practise, I am a lot more confident about myself and capabilities, so I would
definitely love this kind of classroom activity frequently”. Only 2 students didn’t want these
kinds of activity anymore, “I feel it is not productive, teachers can give better ideas since they
are wiser and more experienced when compared to everyone my age, I don’t trust the other
team mates’ ideas half as much because we all have the same intelligence level”.

“It helps me carry myself well, present myself better, and speak out without any qualms, so I
would really love to have this kind of classroom activities in the future as frequent as
possible. It is really very helpful and beneficial in all aspects especially academically”, was
one of the highest responses among the students as well.
 CHAPTER 5 24

A few students also mentioned that: “I would like for this kind of activities to continue because I
can improve my people’s skills, I am making more friends, more open to new ideas, I’m much
more receptive then I was before, I can cope better with disagreements and criticisms and in
all, I think I am a much better person now compared to who I was before this sort of activity
was conducted in the classroom”.

On top of it all, the target group has understood the motive of the activity really well and responded
accordingly not just because they are obliged to, but because they really feel productive through the
activity they engaged in. They feel very useful because everyone somehow contributed to the
discussion, no matter how small a role they played. It was a teamwork and everyone had a part in it,
which further motivates them to do better in the future.

Overall, many students prefer collaborative learning as it has proven to be beneficial to them and
they enjoy the learning process even more so. The target of the researcher has been achieved,
since 28 students out of 30 students would not only like but love to conduct group discussion again
and they are quite opinionated about it, it only further proves that group discussion has made them
voice out their thoughts prominently and boldly.

CHAPTER 5

CONCLUSION

In a nutshell, the research was conducted thoroughly and the researcher came to a couple of
conclusions as a result; the first conclusion being collaborative learning is definitely beneficial to
students in comparison to the traditional approach as highlighted many a times in this very study.
Students tend to lay back and think way more effectively and produce high quality work via
collaborative learning rather than not giving their undivided attention to the teacher, zoning out
during lessons and not able to handle the given writing task since they have no idea what has been
going on all the while. Just like stated by William James Harrington in his thesis; “Collaborative
Learning Among High School Students In a Chamber Music Setting” (Harrington, 2016),
collaborative learning makes students even more comfortable to earn, ask questions clarify their
doubts, rectify their mistakes, and have fun while learning without dreading the lessons and feel put
on the spot when asked questions by the teacher which they have no clue how to answer.
 CONCLUSION 25

The second conclusion which was drawn by the researcher was students feel happier via
collaborative learning because they feel better about themselves since it improves their esteem,
makes them more confident not only in class but also for their future self, they learn how to carry
themselves, voice out, and subsequently write better because they learn to elaborate and justify
their points articulatively. This was put forward by Yuko Watanbe in her research: “Collaborative and
Independent Writing” (Yuko Watanabe, 2014); when students feel happier and more confident, it
shows in their work especially writing. Their free state of mind allows them to compose more
creative, technically adapt essays in return which indirectly enhance their level and proficiency of
writing.

The final conclusion which the researcher managed to gauge is even majority of the students prefer
collaborative learning when it comes to writing essays according to the questionnaire because it is a
two-way communication rather than a one-way traffic. They tend to feel more awake and contribute
to the task rather than impoverishly thinking on their own and finally using the same ideas and
repeating the same mistakes. Even Hui-Ju Wu mentioned in her study: “The Effects of Blog-
supported Collaborative Writing on Writing Performance, Writing Anxiety and Perceptions of EFL
College Students in Taiwan” (2015) that students will definitely prefer collaborative learning because
they can engage in the process of learning, educators should see education or learning process
from a wide perspective rather than just the traditional uni dimension and make it as fun and
creative as possible, if it has an excellent outcome then they should be open to different techniques
and approaches because the end goal is the students’ improvement.

Nevertheless, the information obtained via this particular research is only applicable and valid for
the time frame in which the researcher has done her observation which was 1 to 2 hours maximum.
This is because the researcher could only be there for a certain period of time and not throughout
the schooling session, hence he or she can only record the findings during his or her observation;
any change of mind after his or her period of observation was not taken into account.

5.1 IMPLICATIONS
The researcher’s main aim of this study was to identify if collaborative learning was beneficial to
higher secondary school students, if they like learning collaboratively, in what ways they have
improved their language proficiency, observe how collaborative learning influence students’ writing
skills and to investigate how collaborative learning especially by using the approach of group
discussion affects students’ writing skills. The researcher has done so by observing the students
during group discussion for a period of time, reporting their daily writing improvement, conducting a
questionnaire and analyzing the students feedback as well as the result of the researcher’s own
observation.
 CONCLUSION 26

The first major contribution of this research is it has provided sufficient data to know whether
collaborative learning has had an impact on both students and their writing skills through
observation and questionnaire as mentioned previously. The findings of this research is crucial for
the theory that collaborative learning enhances students writing skills in comparison to the usual
learning techniques because it doesn’t only conceptualize the fact but also has proved it practical.
For example, 30 students answered the questionnaire and 28 of them agreed unanimously that
group discussion has helped them to write better.

It was also proven in the study of “Effects of Collaborative Learning on Persuasive Writing In 11 th
Grade Inclusive Classrooms” by Jana A. Lenox (Lenox, 2015) when the students performed better
in grouped lessons rather than individual ones or the normal teaching style where the teacher
teaches from in front of the class while the students wait for the lessons to be over. The effects of
collaborative writing according to Jana’s study was outstanding because even students who scored
rather poorly improved tremendously and their wellbeing, self-confidence and contentment
improved as a result, too.

In addition to that, the findings of this research is also quite pivotal for the practice of collaborative
learning in the future since educators can always grasp an idea or two of how to implement
collaborative learning in classroom, what type of collaborative learning students would prefer, to
know what other opinions students hold regarding collaborative learning, come up with a well-
thought-out, customized, unique lesson plan and to carry out collaborative learning effectively as
well as tactically.

Furthermore, the findings of this research can also be a stepping stone or a starter platform to aid
subsequent researches in the future just like how plenty of researches, journal articles and thesis
came in handy for the researcher of this study. As reported by RV Subrmanyam in his thesis; “Art of
Reading a Journal Article: Methodically and Effectively” (Subramnyam, 2013), the results of a
research will always be useful for more upcoming studies even though the topic is contradictory
hence it is all the very important to be clear and articulative in one’s notion, perception, facts, as well
as findings of a research.

5.2 LIMITATION OF STUDY

Limitation of a study is the elements which could have been improved or done better to further
progress the study but could not be done due to certain reasons. There were undeniably a handful
of limitations in this study; first and foremost, the sample size could have been bigger. Merely
conducting a research with a group of 30 students has specific drawbacks to it, because out of a
much larger population just 30 students is fairly a small group to prove that this method works for
everyone else or even the majority.
 CONCLUSION 27

Next limitation or this research was the time frame given, the research was to be conducted in a
period of 3 months which is too short a time to conduct a bigger observation with a larger number of
target group, to analyze the feedback of more such students, and even to complete a thesis. If the
time was longer, the research could have been thorough perhaps with more facts to hold the theory
up.

Last but not the least, the target group could have been wider with more variation of age groups
instead of only sixteen-year olds. Again, this is due to the time factor and it was also easier for the
researcher to conduct the said research with this specific category of target group by the reason of
the researcher has thought this class during her internship as mentioned in the thesis before, thus
knowing the target group better for a limited yet thorough observation in the given time frame.

5.3 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCHES

The researcher is well aware that the findings and conclusion of this research is based on a single
sample yet it will be excellent if a proper time frame was given for future research so that the
researchers don’t have to rush to complete their study, have plenty of time to observe and analyze a
bigger and wider target group and can come up with more precise notions along with statements
and evidences to prove their point.

Secondly, future researches could explore more on if schools should implement collaborative
learning in the education system to enhance students writing skills even if it is a simple mentor-
mantee program among classmates or a group discussion as the researcher observed and
analyzed in this particular study.

Finally, researchers can also propose or use online collaborative learning as a tool for upcoming
researches based on a more specified part of this topic since everything is based online now and it
is a digital world, so online collaborative learning could be a hundred times more beneficial to
students especially for their writing skills among other things.
 REFERENCES 28

REFERENCES

Agyemang, S. A. (2015). The Efficacy of Collaborative Teaching in Special and General Education
Classrooms in Public Secondary Schools (Master's Thesis, University of Phoenix) (Pp. 1-
131). ProQuest.

Alshalan, A. M. (2016). The Effects of Wiki-Based Collaborative Writing on Esl Student’s Individual

Writing Performance (Master's Thesis, Graduate School of Wayne State University Detroit,
Michigan) (Pp. 1-154). ProQuest.

D. H. (2018). High School Teacher Perceptions of Collaborative Professional Learning (Master's

Thesis, Southwest Baptist University) (Pp. 1-179). ProQuest.

Gilbert, L. B. (2017). The Effects of Collaborative Learning on Students' Achievement in

Kindergarten (Master's thesis, Bradley University) (pp. 1-135). ProQuest.

Grubb, A. G. (2014). The Effects of Collaborative Testing and The Testing Effect on Student

Achievement and Confidence of Undergraduate Business Students (Master's Thesis,

Graduate Faculty of The University of South Alabama) (Pp. 1-196). ProQuest.

Harrington, W. J. (2016). Collaborative Learning Among High School Students in A Chamber Music

Setting (Master's Thesis, Boston University College of Fine Arts) (Pp. 1-223). ProQuest.

H. W. (2015). The Effects of Blog-supported Collaborative Writing on Writing Performance, Writing

Anxiety and Perceptions of EFL College Students in Taiwan (Master's thesis, University of
South Florida) (pp. 1-303). ProQuest.
 REFERENCES 29

J. O. (2017). Orchestrating Combined Collaborative and Individual Learning in the Classroom

(Master's thesis, Carnegie Mellon University) (pp. 1-161). ProQuest.

Lenox, J. A. (2015). Effects of Collaborative Learning on Persuasive Writing in 11th Grade Inclusive

Classrooms (Master's thesis, Caldwell University) (pp. 1-89). ProQuest.

Streetman, R. R. (2018). The Effects of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning on Sense Of

Connectedness, Sense of Learning, And Overall Sense of Community Among High School
Students Enrolled in A Marketing Course (Master's Thesis, Liberty University) (Pp. 1-144).
ProQuest.

Watanabe, Y. (2014). Collaborative and Independent Writing: Japanese University English Learners

Processes, Texts and Opinions (Master's thesis, University of Toronto) (pp. 1-156).
ProQuest.
 Appendix 30

Appendix

Open-ended Questionnaire

Directions: Please answer the questions to the best of your ability about the collaborative
learning activity.

1. How did working in a group help you to improve your writing skill?

2. In your view, what is the biggest benefit of working with a group?

3. In your view, what is the biggest challenge working with a group?

4. How did the information helped you during the group discussion affect your writing skill?

5. How can you ensure that all members of your group are participating equally?

6. Do you feel group discussion improve your English writing skill? Why?

7. Do you hope your teacher will let you to do group discussion first before starts writing?

8. Why does collaborative learning has made you like to write English composition?

9. Which task better helped you to write- alone or in group? Why?

10. Would you like to have a similar activity like this as a classroom activity in the future?Why?

Thanks for completing the questionnaire.