Implementing Cooperative Learning for Language Minority Students

Abstract

Abstract This study analyzed the relationships between variables affecting the degree to which cooperative learning (CL) was implemented by English as second language (ESL) and bilingual education teachers. Three sets of variables were investigated: (a) teacher beliefs about the acquisition of knowledge, teacher role, and second language instruction, (b) teacher attitudes about CL, and (c) teacher perceptions of constraints and opportunities of their school environment. Subjects were 227 ESL and bilingual teachers (K-12) who elected to respond to a questionnaire of 87 items. The dependent variable, frequency of CL implementation, was based on teachers' estimations of the percent of their teaching time used for CL instruction. A hierarchical discriminant function analysis predicted membership in one of three groups; HI, MID-RANGE, and LO users. There was a statistically significant discrimination among the three groups on the basis of the 28 variables included in the analysis. The largest percentage of the variables was a subset of the Interpretive/Transmissive Belief Scale. Second in importance were variables representing external constraints and opportunities, while variables representing teachers' attitudes towards CL ranked third. Implications regarding ways to encourage more use of CL in ESL and bilingual classrooms are gleaned from these results.