An investigation of the relationship between forms of positive interdependence, social support, and selected aspects of classroom climate

Abstract

Studies on the effect of cooperative learning have demonstrated its efficacy in improving the cognitive and non-cognitive outcomes of schooling. However, it remains unclear what forms of cooperation are especially effective in multilingual contexts. This research examines the connection between positive goal interdependence and positive resource interdependence as two forms of cooperation and learners’ perceptions of selected aspects of classroom climate, namely the degree of personal and academic support, valuing of heterogeneity, alienation from school, and fairness of grading. The participants are 76 ( n = 76) students enrolled in an intensive English program associated with a major university in the Middle East and designed to enable learners to function in all-English curricula at the college level. The results indicated statistically significant differences between the low and high positive goal interdependence groups in favor of the latter on the variables of teacher academic support, teacher personal support, peer academic support, peer personal support, and fairness of grading. Likewise, significant differences were found between the low and high positive resource interdependence groups in favor of the latter on the variables of teacher academic support, teacher personal support, and peer academic support. Results are presented and discussed in light of previous research.