Abstract
This study was an attempt to investigate the effects of cooperative learning on Grade 11 students’ writing performance in Afar Regional State, Samara Secondary and Preparatory School, in focus. More specifically, the study addressed the following research questions: (1) What are the effects of cooperative learning on students’ writing performance? (2) Which one of the components of writing most benefited from the cooperative learning approach? And the following hypotheses: (Ho) There is no significant difference in the mean gain scores of the writing performance before and after the incorporation of cooperative learning and (H1) There is a significant difference in the mean gain scores of the writing performance before and after the incorporation of cooperative learning. This research project was mainly experimental in design. Pre-test and post-test measures were analyzed using a t-test statistical procedure. The main subjects of the study were two sections of Grade 11 students. Moreover, 60 students, 30 each from two natural science classes were randomly grouped as experimental and control groups. The effects of CL on students’ writing ability was examined through the pre-test and the post-test. The results of the pre-test showed that there was no significant difference in the students’ writing between the control and experimental groups prior to the experiment. The results of the post-test showed that there was a significant difference between the control and experimental groups in students’ writing abilities (P<0.05). Therefore, the null hypothesis was rejected and the alternative hypothesis was proved to bring change on students’ writing ability. Similarly, the study also identified that organization is the basic component of writing skill that benefited most from the cooperative learning approach. However the current study was showed positive effects of CL on students’ writing performance, in the future researches can be conducted on the effects of CL on other language skills.
Highlights
The Afar National Regional State of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia is astronomically located from 8o49’N to 14o30’N latitude and from 39o34’E to 42o28’E longitude
When we look at the research question, which one of the components of writing benefits most from the cooperative learning, looking at the total marks in the post-test that are organization (190), grammar (171.5), content (168.5), vocabulary (162), coherence and cohesion (181.5) and mechanics of writing (170) indicated that organization was the writing component that students most benefited from the cooperative learning approach
The results of the pre-test showed that there was no significant difference between the average scores of the control and the experimental groups at 0.05 level of significance (See table 1 and 2)
Summary
The Afar National Regional State of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia is astronomically located from 8o49’N to 14o30’N latitude and from 39o34’E to 42o28’E longitude. Situated at the Northeastern part of Ethiopia, the Afar Region is entirely found within the Great East African Rift Valley System. The region shares international boundaries with Eritrea in the north-east and Djibouti in the east. It shares borders with the Regional States of Tigray, Amhara, Oromia and Somali in the northwest, south-west, south and south-east respectively. The Afar National Regional State is subdivided into 5 administrative zones, 32 ‘weredas’ and 401 rural and urban ‘kebeles’. The Constitution of the Afar National Regional State (ANRS, 2000), recognizes ‘weredas’ as autonomous with clearly defined power and functions. The ‘wereda’ system had been laid down before two decades and power is being devolved upon the ‘wereda’ structures
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
