İşbirlikli Öğrenme ve Geleneksel Öğretimin Okuduğunu Anlama Üzerinde Etkileri ve Cinsiyet İle İlişkileri

Effects of Cooperative Learning and Traditional Methods on Reading Comprehension and Its Relationship with Gender

Özet

Bu araştırmanın amacı, işbirlikli öğrenme ve geleneksel öğretim yöntemlerinin, ilköğretim öğrencilerinin okuduğunu anlamaları üzerindeki etkileri ve bu etkilerin cinsiyet ile ilişkilerini incelemektir. Araştırmada, kontrol gruplu ön-test son-test deney deseni uygulanmıştır. Araştırmada, deney grubunda “Birlikte Öğrenme” tekniği, kontrol grubunda ise geleneksel öğretim yöntemleri uygulanmıştır. Araştırmanın verileri, Okuduğunu Anlama Testleri (Çoktan Seçmeli ve Yazılı Yoklama) ile toplanmıştır. Verilerin çözümlenmesinde, aritmetik ortalama, standart sapma, t-testi, Varyans Çözümlemesi, Kovaryans Çözümlemesi, Benferroni İkili Karşılaştırma ve Scheffeé Testi kullanılmıştır. Elde edilen verilerin çözümlemesi sonucunda işbirlikli öğrenme yönteminin, öğrencilerin Türkçe dersinde okuduğunu anlamaları üzerinde geleneksel öğretime göre daha etkili olduğu belirlenmiştir. Ayrıca, işbirlikli öğrenmenin okuduğunu anlamadaki cinsiyete dayalı farklılıkları ortadan kaldırdığı saptanmıştır.

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to study the effects of cooperative learning and traditional methods elementary school students' reading comprehension and the student gender. The pre- and post- test experimental design with control group was employed for the research. “Learning Together” technique was used in the experimental group and the traditional teaching methods in the control group. The data of the research was collected through Reading Comprehension Tests (Multiple Choice and Essays). Mean, Standard Deviation, t-test, Correlation, Analysis of Variance, Analysis of Covariance, Benferroni Pairwise Comparisons and Scheffeé test were utilized in data analyses. Research results indicate that cooperative learning method is more effective than traditional methods on reading comprehension. In addition, it has been found out that cooperative learning eliminates the gender differences in reading comprehension. Summary Reading has been one of the most important ways of getting information. Particularly, in the new millennium of industry, reading and reading comprehension will be the most important steps to information production and reproduction (Altunay, 2000). Reading is not merely seeing the words or the sentences. Some cognitive activities must take place beyond seeing for comprehension. Achievement in reading comprehension, which is one of the fundamental objectives of the Turkish language course and which is important not only in students' education process but also in social life, varies significantly in terms of gender. According to most research, female students are more successful than male students (Brantmeier, 2000; Moss, 2000; Phakiti, 2003; Rothman, 2002). Cooperative learning method is an alternative to reach the actual goals of reading comprehension activities and to diminish the differences in the levels of reading comprehension due to gender. Cooperative learning is considered to increase the achievement in school, improve the students cognitively, socially and emotionally and, therefore, improve the quality of their life in the future (Açıkgöz, 2002). Cooperative learning has been proved to be effective on reading comprehension as well as many other subject matters because cooperative learning makes up one of the most important component of the instruction of reading comprehension programs (Fielding & Pearson, 1999). However, since the research into the effects of cooperative learning on primary school students' reading comprehension is very little and there is not any research into the relationship of these effects with gender, it has been thought that research needs to be done in this area. The purpose of this research is to study the effects of cooperative learning and traditional methods elementary school students' reading comprehension and the student gender. Method The model of the research: The pre- and post- test experimental design with control group was employed for the research. The Cooperative learning technique “Learning Together” was used in the experimental group and the traditional teaching methods in the control group Participants: 56 students (experimental group: 12 females and 18 males, control group: 12 females and 14 males). Data Collection: The data of the research were collected through Reading Comprehension Tests (Multiple Choice and Essays). The process: The experiment lasted for 30 hours. The same reading comprehension passages were in both the Cooperative Learning and the Traditional Instruction groups. After the preparations had been made, the applications began. The cooperative learning technique “Learning Together” was used with the experimental group. The “Learning Together” technique was used along with such instructional tasks as illustrating, story tree, drawing conclusions, generating slogans, story completion, listing what has been learnt, summarizing, making posters, writing poems, writing lyrics to songs and making questions. Data Analysis: Mean, Standard Deviation, t test, Correlation, Analysis of Variance, Analysis of Covariance, Benferroni Pairwise Comparisons and Scheffeé tests were utilized in data analyses. Results and Discussion Cooperative learning was found to be more effective on students' achievement in reading comprehension in the Turkish language course than the traditional teaching method. It is not surprising that cooperative learning is more effective than traditional methods on the students' achievement in reading comprehension because in the traditional class a) the teacher conducts the reading comprehension activities with only a few students, b) the students answer the questions about the reading passages reciting word-for-word extracts, and they do not produce original answers about the ideas and the themes in the passages, c) the students do not question or criticize ideas but only follow lessons in a passive manner, d) the students feel bored in the monotously conducted reading comprehension activities. Therefore, the reading comprehension activities do not lead to the desired objectives. Reading is an active cognitive process. When the student only listens passively as a passive receiver, she/he has difficulty igniting her/his own cognitive processes. Unlike the traditional instruction group, all the students in the cooperative learning group participated in the activities, interacted with the texts and their peers, thought about information in the passages, made comparisons, questioned the ideas in the passages, made inferences, synthesized and reproduced the information in the passages, even made such decisions as which instructional task would be more suitable for her/his learning and stated that they were pleased with what they were doing. In addition, the students made gains not only in “reading and understanding” but also in “listening”, “writing” and “speaking”, which form the basis for mother tongue instruction. Therefore, cooperative learning technique has proved to be more successful