The Effect of Cooperative Learning Approach on Iranian EFL Students’ Achievement among Different Majors in General English Course

Abstract

The present study intends to investigate the effect of cooperative learning on English language achievement of undergraduate students in higher education classrooms. This quasi-experimental research used a pre and post-test group design. Fifty four Iranian undergraduate students in different majors at Shiraz Azad University who were taking general English course were involved in this research. Some cooperative learning methods were implemented in reading comprehension and writing. The students were asked to do the pretest for the sake of homogeneity and the final exam as the post test for the sake of academic achievement. The average was taken to indicate students’ overall English language achievement. An independent t-test was run to compare the achievement scores of the experimental and control groups. Results indicated significant difference between cooperative learning and teacher-fronted method of instructions in language learning in General English course.