Effect of Cooperative Learning on Elementary Students’ Reading Comprehension in English

Abstract

The present study was aimed to investigate the effect of cooperative learning on elementary school students’ reading comprehension in English. Quasi-experimental non-equivalent control group pretest-posttest research design was employed. The study was conducted on 8th grade students in a Government Girls High School district, Faisalabad. Two sections as intact groups were taken to conduct the experiment which was lasted for 8 weeks. Each group was comprised of 35 students. The English Reading Comprehension test was developed following test construction principles. Experimental group students were taught by cooperative learning techniques Jigsaw and Think-Pair-Share in English reading comprehension, at the same time control group students were taught with the traditional method of teaching. Data were analyzed by using inferential statistics (independent samples t-test and paired samples t-test). Study findings revealed that a significant difference was found between experimental and control group students’ reading comprehension in English. Experimental group students significantly performed better in post- test than the control group. It is recommended that cooperative learning might be applied on different school subjects at elementary level.