EFFECT OF COOPERATIVE LEARNING ON STUDENTS’ WRITING ACHIEVEMENT IN ANKESHA SENIOR SECONDARY AND PREPARATORY SCHOOL, ETHIOPIA: GRADE 9 STUDENTS IN FOCUS

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to investigate the influence of cooperative learning on students' writing ability. To this end, data were collected from Grade 9 students of Anksha Senior Secondary and Preparatory school. Grade nine English language teachers and students were the targeted population of the study. All 12 sections of grade 9 students (N=540) were the population of the study. Among 12 sections, one section (n=45) was selected purposefully as subjects. Since the present study investigates the effects of cooperative language learning on students’ writing achievement for descriptive genre, an interventionist study was adopted as the research design of the study. The research instrument used was the pre-test and post-test of the descriptive writing. The data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Students' writing performance was assessed using a breakdown score on composite score and five components of writing: content, vocabulary, organization, grammatical accuracy, and mechanics. The findings indicate that the students achieve better in the post-test compared to the pre-test after the involvement of cooperative learning in the writing classes. The findings lend credence to the positive effects of cooperative learning in enhancing writing achievement.