nguyen viet hong highschool students perceptions about collaborative learning in learning english as a second language

CAN THO UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT



B.A Thesis

NGUYEN VIET HONG HIGH-SCHOOL
STUDENTS' PERCEPTIONS ABOUT
COLLABORATIVE LEARNING IN LEARNING
ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE

Supervisor: Nguyen Thi Van Su, M.Ed.

Student: Le Ngoc Thu Huong
Student‟s code: 7086594
Class: NN0852A1
Course: 34

Cantho, May, 2012


Nguyen Viet Hong high school Students' Perceptions about CL in ESL

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
In the effort to complete the task, I have received a great deal of useful and practical
support from many teachers, friends and relatives.
First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Miss. Nguyen
Thi Van Su, for her scholarly knowledge, encouragement and enthusiastic, insightful
invaluable guidance and constructive critical feedback. Besides, experiences in the data

analysis with the SPSS program was a gift from her helping me so much.
Secondly, I am also grateful to Ms. Le Thi Da Thao at English teachers at Nguyen Viet
Hong, who gave me many useful advices and advantaged condition to investigate this
thesis during my pedagogy practice stage.
Thirdly, my special thanks are sent to my beloved high school students in class 10A,
class 10B9, class 11B9, class 11B10, class 12B4, and class 12B6 of Nguyen Viet Hong
high school for their participation in as well as their valuable information without which
my work would have not been completed.
Also, I would like to thank Ms. Ngo Thi Trang Thao and Ms. Truong Nguyen Quynh
Nhu for their valuable feedbacks which helped my study to be more complete.
Next, I would like to express my gratitude to my friends and my roommates, Huynh
Minh Thu, Vu Thi Thanh Thuy, Dinh Thi Thuy Hang, Nguyen Thi Le Quyen, Nguyen
Thi Ngoc Dieu, for their help in collecting the data, data processing, their
encouragements and checking my thesis mistakes. And, I would also like to thank my
boy friend who gave me many help and wrote useful simple software for me to process
data.
Last but not least, I would like to convey my heartfelt thanks to my parents, my younger
sisters and who were always by my side and give me spiritual advice, unconditional love
and support during the time of work.
Le Ngoc Thu Huong

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Nguyen Viet Hong high school Students' Perceptions about CL in ESL

ABSTRACT
Collaborative learning (CL) is especially useful in Foreign Language and English as
a Second Language (ESL) course where interactions involving use of the language are
important (Liang, Mohan & Early, 1998). CL has been widely researched and advocated

throughout many professional literatures related to students in universities and colleges.
However, there has been very little research in CL in high school contexts around the
world and especially in Vietnam. Taking the advantages of collaborative learning, the
author of this study attempted to investigate (1) high school students‟ perceptions about
CL and (2) the frequency that they apply CL in study English by 210 students of all grade
classes at Nguyen Viet Hong high school. The instrument used in the study was a
questionnaire including 2 parts: high school students‟ perceptions about collaborative
learning (using 4-point Likert scale) and high school students‟ frequency of collaborative
learning (using 5-point Likert scale). They were adapted from those by Brown (2008) and
Pham (2011). The results of this study revealed that high school students are highly
aware of CL‟s benefits such as academic benefits (M = 3.2; SD = .38), social benefits (M
= 3.11; SD = .42), generic skills (M = 3.06; SD = .37) and also disagree the negative
aspects of CL (M = 1.93; SD = .50). The results from the study also indicated that CL was
applied frequently in English class in high school educational environment and showed
that the participants had applied CL in their English learning both in class time (M = 3.4;
SD = .75) and beyond class time (M = 2.56; SD = .51) but in a medium frequency. Based
on the results, discussions and implications for teaching high school English at the
context of Vietnam are suggested.

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Nguyen Viet Hong high school Students' Perceptions about CL in ESL

TÓM LƯỢC
“Cộng tác học tập” đặc biệt hữu ích với ngoại ngữ và các lớp chia sẻ và học tiếng
Anh nơi mà sự tương tác của ngôn ngữ được coi trọng (Liang, Mohan and Early, 1998).
Cộng tác học tập đã được nghiên cứu rộng rãi và cũng được tán thành thông qua nhiều
bài ấn phẩm chuyên liên quan đến sinh viên ở các trường đại học và cao đẳng nhưng với
học sinh trung học phổ thông thì vẫn chưa có nhiều bài viết. Dựa trên các thuận lợi của

việc “cộng tác học tập”, tác giả của bài nghiên cứu này đã nỗ lực để tìm ra (1) các nhận
thức của học sinh trung học về cộng tác học tập, và (2) mức độ áp dụng cộng tác học tập
trong việc học môn tiếng Anh của 210 học sinh ở tất cả các khối lớp của trường Trung
học phổ thông Nguyễn Việt Hồng. Công cụ sử dụng trong bài nghiên cứu này là một
bảng khảo sát có 3 phần gồm: thông tin người tham gia khảo sát, nhận thức của học sinh
trung học phổ thông về Cộng tác học tập với mức đánh giá 4 Likert mức đo và mức độ áp
dụng Cộng tác học tập của học sinh trung học phổ thông vào việc học tiếng anh bằng
mức đánh giá 5 Likert. Các câu khảo sát được phỏng theo bài nghiên cứu của Brown
(2008) và Phạm (2011). Phần mền SPSS phiên bản 16.0 được sử dụng để phân tích các số
liệu. Kết quả nghiên cứu chỉ ra rằng học sinh trung học phổ thông nhận thức khá cao về
các lợi ích của cộng tác học tập như lợi ích về các lý thuyết môn học (M = 3.2; SD = .38),
lợi ích xã hội (M = 3.11; SD = .42), các kĩ năng chung (M = 3.06; SD = .37) và đồng thời
không đồng ý với các quan điểm phủ nhận về lợi ích của cộng tác học tập (M = 1.93; SD
= .50). Kết quả của bài nghiên cứu này cũng chỉ ra được rằng cộng tác học tập được áp
dụng điều đặn trong các lớp học tiếng Anh ở trường phổ thông và cho thấy rằng các đối
tượng tham gia bài nghiên cứu này có áp dụng cộng tác học tập cả trong thời gian ở lớp
(M = 3.4; SD = .75) và cả ngoài thời gian lên lớp (M = 2.56; SD = .51). Dựa trên các kết
quả nghiên cứu, các thảo luận và gợi ý cho việc giảng dạy tiếng Anh ở trường phổ thông
cũng được đề xuất.

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Nguyen Viet Hong high school Students' Perceptions about CL in ESL

CONTENTS
Acknowledgments .............................................................................................................i
Abstract (English version) .............................................................................................. ii
Abstract (Vietnamese version) ....................................................................................... iii
Contents .........................................................................................................................iv

List of Tables and Figures ...............................................................................................vi
Chapter 1: Introduction ................................................................................................. 1
1.1 Rationale ................................................................................................................. 1
1.2. The Research Aim(s) and Questions ....................................................................... 2
1.3. Research Hypothesis .............................................................................................. 3
1.4. Research Significance ............................................................................................. 3
1.5. Research Organization ............................................................................................ 3
Chapter 2: Literature Review ........................................................................................ 5
2.1. An introduction to Collaborative Learning .............................................................. 5
2.1.1. Definition of CL ............................................................................................. 5
2.1.2 The Collaborative learning versus the Cooperative learning ............................ 6
2.1.3. The Benefits of Collaborative Learning .......................................................... 7
2.1.4. The Importance of Collaborative Learning in Studying English...................... 8
2.2. Some Students‟ Perceptions about Collaborative Learning in EFL ......................... 9
2.2.1. Students‟ Perceptions about Academic Benefits ............................................. 9
2.2.2. Students‟ Perceptions about Social Benefits ................................................... 9
2.2.3. Students‟ Perceptions about Generic Skills ................................................... 10
2.2.4. Students‟ Perceptions about Negative Aspects of Collaborative Learning..... 10
2.3. The Frequency that Students Apply CL in EFL .................................................... 11
2.3.1. CL in Asian Classroom Practice in EFL ...................................................... 11
2.3.2. CL in Vietnamese Classroom Practice in EFL ............................................. 12
2.4. Justifications of the present study ................................................................... 12
Chapter 3: Research Methodology ............................................................................. 14
3.1. Research design ................................................................................................... 14
3.2. Participants .......................................................................................................... 14

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3.3. Instrument ............................................................................................................ 14
3.4. Research procedures ............................................................................................ 16
Chapter 4: Results and Discussions ............................................................................ 17
4.1. Normal distribution of data .................................................................................. 17
4.2. Descriptive statistics on high school students‟ perceptions about CL ................... 19
4.3. Descriptive statistics on frequency of applying CL in learning English by
clusters ....................................................................................................................... 21
Chapter 5: Conclusion, Implications, Limitations, and Recommendations ............. 24
5.1. Conclusions ......................................................................................................... 24
5.2. Implications for teaching high school English in the context of Vietnam ............. 24
5.3. Limitations and further research directions .......................................................... 25
References ....................................................................................................................vii
Appendices ..................................................................................................................... x
Appendix 1 ................................................................................................................... x
Appendix 2 ............................................................................................................... xiii
Appendix 3 ................................................................................................................ xvi

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LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES
Table 3.1:

Taxonomy on high school students‟ perceptions about CL and the
frequency applying CL in learning English .............................................. 15

Table 4.1a:

Descriptive statistics on high school students‟ perceptions about CL ....... 17

Table 4.1b: Descriptive statistics on frequency of applying CL in learning English .... 18
Descriptive statistics on high school students‟ perceptions about CL by
clusters ..................................................................................................... 19
Table 4.2b: Percentage of high school students‟ perceptions about CL by clusters ...... 19
Table 4.2a:

Table 4.3a:

Descriptive statistics on frequency of applying CL in learning English
divided into clusters .................................................................................. 22
Table 4.3b: The percentage of Frequency of applying CL in learning English by
clusters ..................................................................................................... 23

Figure 1:
Figure 2:

The mean scores of high school students‟ perceptions about CL .............. 20
The mean scores of frequency of applying CL in learning English ........... 22

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Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

In the first chapter – Introduction, an over view of the research will be presented. This
chapter will address the following five sections. They are (1) the rationale of the research,
(2) the research aim(s) and questions, (3) the research hypothesis, (4) the significance of the
research, and (5) the research organization.

1.1. Rationale
Collaborative learning has been a highly-appreciated learning and teaching method in
recent years since this method has provided many advantages in learning. It increases
interest among the participants, promotes critical thinking and enhances interpersonal
skills (Nation, 1989). Also, collaborative learning helps students to study in an active and
constructive environment, have an opportunity to engage in discussion, and makes them
take responsibility for their own learning (Panitz, 1996). It is more convenient that
collaborative learning can be used not only in the classrooms but also in laboratories, or
online. Nevertheless, it still has not been applied in most of Vietnamese high schools
because of some obstacles such as class size, curriculum coverage, etc (Pham, 2011).
Since the term “Collaborative Learning” or “CL” becomes more popular, there are many
studies which investigate the perceptions of learners about this term.
Specifically, there are some common perceptions about collaborative learning in existing
studies from Brown (2008) & Pham (2011) such as helping them more understanding;
fostering exchange of knowledge, information and experience; focusing on collective
effort and gave learners greater responsibility for their learning; enhancing
communication skills; giving a relaxed atmosphere; actively participating; and making
new friends.
Besides perceptions of collaborative learning‟s advantages has presented in previous
studies, there are some negative aspects of CL. Class size and noise are the first obstacles
that both teachers and students claim when implementing CL. In additions, Pham (2011)
argued that curriculum coverage is also one of barrier perceptions which strongly focus

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Nguyen Viet Hong high school Students' Perceptions about CL in ESL

on the amount of studying but not on the quality of studying. Furthermore, according to
Hadler (2005), most members working in a group perceive the competitive
unconsciously. Moreover, there are also some students who do not want to perform but
reap the benefits from other group members (Davies 2009).
However, most of the current researches have just investigated the students‟ perceptions
about CL in universities or colleges. When taking teaching observation practice for sixweeks at high school, I had a chance to observe some classes in English periods in which
the teachers organized collaborative activities like group works and pair works. Thus, CL
is not only applied in universities and colleges but also in high schools in Vietnam. I
found that some students were interested in working in pair and in group. They not only
got collaborative learning in classroom but also organized it outside of class. Meanwhile,
some other students seem to be passive in learning, afraid to answer teachers‟ questions,
and seldom contribute to the lessons. The teachers should know what perceptions of their
high school students are in both active and passive aspects to adjust and make this
method more and more effective in high school classrooms, especially in such a dynamic
subject like English. For this reason, I decide to carry out this paper. In my study, I will
explore Nguyen Viet Hong high school students‟ perceptions about collaborative learning
and the frequency that they apply CL in learning English.

1.2. The Research Aim(s) and Questions
This study aims to explore (1) Nguyen Viet Hong high school students‟ perceptions about
collaborative learning and (2) the frequency that they apply CL in learning English.
Specifically, this study is carried out in an attempt to find the answers for the questions:
1. What are Nguyen Viet Hong high school students‟ perceptions about
collaborative learning?
2. How frequently do Nguyen Viet Hong high school students apply CL in
learning English?

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Nguyen Viet Hong high school Students' Perceptions about CL in ESL

1.3. Research Hypothesis
Based on the related literature review and the research questions, it is hypothesized that
respondents will point out (1) what Nguyen Viet Hong high school students‟ perceptions
about collaborative learning are, (2) the frequency that they apply CL in learning English.

1.4. Research Significance
This study aims to investigate Nguyen Viet Hong high school students‟ perceptions about
collaborative learning and to find out the degree of their applying CL in learning English;
therefore, it‟s expected that this study can help the teachers know what perceptions of
their high school students are in both active and passive aspects to adjust and to make CL
pedagogically effective in high school context, especially in such dynamic subject like
English. It helps reflect how high school students perform CL in class and beyond class
time. In addition, the teacher trainers can also use this study as a reference. They might
reflect on how to train future high school teachers regarding teaching methodology, i.e.
how to use CL effectively in high school classroom.

1.5. Research Organization
This study consists of five chapters:
Chapter 1, Introduction, presents the rationale for carrying out the study, the aim(s) of
the research and the research questions, the research hypothesis, the research significance
and the research organization.
Chapter 2, Literature review, provides a theoretical framework for the study concluding
the definition of collaborative learning and the importance of CL in studying English.
Besides, some common perceptions of students about CL are also mentioned. Then, the
frequency that students apply CL in learning English will be presented at the end of this

chapter.
Chapter 3, Research Methodology, describes the methodology used in the research
including research design, participants, and procedures.

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Chapter 4, Results and Discussions, reports the research results, discusses and presents
the findings of the research.
Chapter 5, Implication, Limitations, Recommendations and Conclusion, first
provides the study summary. Then, some limitations and implications of this research
will be presented and discussed. The last, recommendations will provide the directions
for further research.

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Nguyen Viet Hong high school Students' Perceptions about CL in ESL

Chapter II

LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter consists of 4 parts. The first part introduces (1) an introduction to CL, including
the definition of collaborative learning, the collaborative learning versus the cooperative
learning, the benefits of collaborative learning and the importance of collaborative learning in
studying English. The second part reviews (2) some students‟ perceptions about collaborative
learning in EFL such as students‟ perceptions about academic benefits, students‟ perception
about social benefits, students‟ perception about generic benefits, and students‟ perception

about negative aspects of CL. The next part will focus on (3) the frequency that students
apply CL in Asian classroom practice and in Vietnamese classroom practice in EFL. The last
part will provide (4) justifications of the present study.

2.1. An introduction to Collaborative Learning
2.1.1. Definition of Collaborative Learning
Collaborative leaning has been widely researched and advocated throughout many
professional literatures. It is a learning method in which two or more people come in a
group to learn something together to “accomplish a specific goal or develop an end
product which is usually specific” (Panitz, 1996). According to Panitz, it looks like a set
of process in which the learners are responsible for their actions and their learning, and
respect the abilities and contributions each others. It is also defined as “an instruction
method in which students at various performance levels work together in small groups
toward a common goal” (Gokhale, 1995). Therefore, in educational context, CL
“enhances active participation through content creation, increases students' engagement
with course content, and enriches the learning process” (Parker & Chao, 2007).
Besides, students can also improve their final course grades by learning activities
used via collaborative tools (Ravid, Kalman, & Rafaeli, 2008). In CL environment, the
learners can also use information technology and practice within the learning web sites
where sharing knowledge is the primary goal (Lin, Sajjapanroj & Bonk, 2008).
In this paper, CL is referred to a learning method in which two or more people come
in a pair or a group to learn something together toward a common goal. Its process

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Nguyen Viet Hong high school Students' Perceptions about CL in ESL

creates an easier solving-problem which members of the group could not achieve alone.
Students may work face to face and in or out of the classroom. Therefore, they could use

information technology to enable group discussion, or to complete collaborative tasks.
2.1.2 The Collaborative Learning versus the Cooperative Learning
Cooperative learning represents the most carefully structured end of the
collaborative learning continuum. It is defined as “a system of concrete teaching and
learning techniques, rather than an approach, in which students are active agents in the
process of learning through small group structures so that students work together to
maximize their own and each other‟s learning” (Liang, 2002). Cooperative efforts may be
expected to be more productive than competitive and individualistic efforts (Johnson &
Johnson, 1994). According to the authors, there are five characteristics that feature
cooperative learning: positive interdependence, face-to-face interaction, individual
accountability, interpersonal and small group skills, and group processing.
Collaboration and cooperation are two various term but sometimes they are used
interchangeably. According to Panitz (1996), “collaboration is a philosophy of interaction
and personal lifestyle whereas cooperation is a structure of interaction designed to
facilitate the accomplishment of an end product or goal”. They have same features as
both use groups, both assign specific tasks and both have the groups share and compare
their procedures and conclusions in plenary class sessions. Besides, “both terms share a
sense of the social nature of learning, and emphasize a social approach to the
development of learning skills, work skills and life skills” (Ingleton et al., 2000).
Otherwise, because of the difference of two terms‟ definitions, there are differences
between collaborative learning and cooperative learning. Rockwood (1995), cited in
Panitz (1996), describes the differences between these methodologies are that
“cooperative learning is the methodology of choice for foundational knowledge (i.e.,
traditional knowledge) while collaborative learning is connected to the social
constructionist's view that knowledge is a social construct”. In addition, he also
distinguishes these approaches by the instructor's role. In cooperative learning, the
instructor is the authority center, with group tasks usually more closed-ended and often
having specific answers. In contrast, the instructor reduces or quits his or her authority

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Nguyen Viet Hong high school Students' Perceptions about CL in ESL

and gives the power to the small groups who are often given more open-ended, complex
tasks by using collaborative learning.
In short, the terms “collaborative learning” and “cooperative learning” are often
used interchangeably because they are the same in some features, such as both using
groups, both assigning specific tasks and both having the groups share and comparing
their procedures and conclusions in plenary class sessions. On the other hand, they also
have distinguished characteristic. Cooperative learning tends to be undertaken face to
face and highly structured by the instructor whereas collaborative learning assigns
responsibility primarily to the students.
This study mainly focuses on pair work and group work. Thus, there are some parts
of “collaborative learning” studies and “cooperative learning” studies can be used
interchangeably.
2.1.3. The Benefits of Collaborative Learning
According to Hill (1982), cited in Nation (1989), the cooperating activities have
effects on improving the social relationships between learners despite different ethnic
backgrounds, especially when they and native speakers cooperate to practice. Working in
groups, the students are encouraged to take an active part in the group, have group
responsibility, and combine their efforts to finish the whole work. When they are in a
group, students are more likely to take learning responsibility than when they are working
individually. They will determine if they had enough information to answer the question
and to complete the duty which groups divided (Panitz, 1996). On the other hand, by
sharing and interacting together, they can exchange knowledge and learn from other‟s
scholarship, skills and experiences (Gokhale, 1995). In addition, he stated that
collaborative learning is a not just a technique used in classroom, it is a “personal
philosophy”. He explained that in CL, it required a dealing way to members who come
and contribute to the group. Their abilities and contributions can be respected and

highlighted. Therefore, they also have authority sharing and responsibility acceptance
among group members for the group‟s actions. Otherwise, CL “increases students‟
motivation, helps them develop a positive image of self and others and also helps in the
development of other important social skills, such as sharing ideas with their team

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Nguyen Viet Hong high school Students' Perceptions about CL in ESL

members, learning to respect them and more” (Duzzy, 2002). Moreover, students can
make up their minds and have an overview about the fact or topic while discussing thanks
to variety experiences, viewpoints, ideas, knowledge, etc. of members in a group. Thus,
they can solve a problem more quickly, accurately and plentifully (Hadler, 2005).
Besides, it provides aid to the teachers in managing the classroom and in their teaching.
With group work, the teachers can reduce the amount of time taken in doing assignment
of students and save time to broaden more knowledge outside the lesson (Davies, 2009).
On the other hand, teachers can also help and motivate various kinds of students by put
them into active atmosphere where new ideas can be raised and assimilated (Brooks and
Ammons, 2003). In general, collaborative learning brings benefits not only to the
students but also to the teachers. It makes learning and teaching progress more
effectively.
In sum, there are three main benefits of CL. They are (1) academic benefit, (2)
social benefits, and (3) generic skills. All these benefits help the teaching and learning
process become effectively.
2.1.4. The Importance of Collaborative Learning in Studying English
In the educational system today, many modern teaching methods are replacing the
traditional teaching methods. They are becoming popular methods in high schools and
being improved to more and more complete. Among many educational methods are used,
CL is especially useful in Foreign Language and ESL courses where interactions

involving use of the language through speaking are important (Liang, Mohan and Early,
1998). It became very popular in the early 1980s and has matured and evolved since. The
use of CL is that it makes the learning process more lively and successful (Brown, 2008).
Besides, according to Holt, Chips & Wallace (1991), CL is now widely recognized
as “one of the most promising practices in the educational field” thanks to its benefits.
The students benefit both socially and academically if CL is implemented in the
classroom (Seng, 2006). According to Seng, CL can enhance achievement in English
language acquisition in a class, and “help maximize the performance of the students in
acquiring the English language as well as interpersonal skills needed for success in
school and society”.

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Nguyen Viet Hong high school Students' Perceptions about CL in ESL

2.2. Some Students’ Perceptions about Collaborative Learning in EFL
According to Brown (2008), there are some students‟ perceptions about
collaborative learning such as helping them more understanding; fostering exchange of
knowledge, information and experience; focusing on collective effort and gave learners
greater responsibility for their learning; enhancing communication skills; giving a relaxed
atmosphere; actively participating; making new friends. Some positive opinions are also
reported that CL should be encouraged and continued; it is fun; it is not a waste of time
explaining things to others, etc. In general, he divides students‟ perceptions about CL in
EFL into 4 groups. They are (1) academic benefits, (2) social benefits, (3) generic
benefits, and (4) negative aspects of CL.
2.2.1. Students’ Perceptions about Academic Benefits of Collaborative Learning
In the English for Academic Purposes (EAP) classroom, CL is an effective and
popular instructional method (Brown, 2008). Most of ideas in his study showed that CL
helps students understand more the materials and stimulate their thinking process. By

sharing and interacting together, they can exchange knowledge and learn from other‟s
scholarship, skills and experiences (Gokhale, 1995). Besides, when working together,
students can not only share experiences outsides one‟s own range of experience (Ge,
Yamashiro & Lee, 2000) but also receive useful feedback from friends (Brown, 2008).
Because there are more exchanges among students in groups, they can receive more
feedback about their ideas and responses. It is a good chance to allow learners to help
weaker learners in the group and help them improve their performance in learning.
Moreover, when working in pair and in group, learners actively participate in the learning
process.
2.2.2. Students’ Perceptions about Social Benefits of Collaborative Learning
Despite of perceptions about academic benefits, perceptions about social benefits
are shown in related studies. According to Gokhale (1995), CL brings to learners a
relaxed atmosphere. Through interaction, they can understand each other and make the
atmosphere become better. Furthermore, they think that working in pair and in group
improved their soft skills, such as self-confidence and communication. Because they had

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Nguyen Viet Hong high school Students' Perceptions about CL in ESL

to work, talk together, give reasons for their judgments and reflect other ideas. Some
opinions of students in Brown‟s research commented that CL should be encouraged and
also showed that working in pair and in group was fun. They can make new friends
thanks to pair work and group work.
2.2.3. Students’ Perceptions about Generic Skills of Collaborative Learning
According to Johnson and Johnson (1986), there is persuasive evidence that CL
enhances critical thinking of students. The participants in his study highly agreed that CL
stimulated their thinking. Therefore, the CL becomes more beneficial because it enhances
critical-thinking and problem-solving skills. When questions are raised, there is variety of

response. The students can help group create a solving-problem way. Thus, the results
will be more complete and comprehensive. A response of student in research of Brown
(2008) responded interview question that CL helped her critical thinking and oral
presentation skills as well as interpersonal skills although there are some conflicts within
the group.
In addition, some students agreed that when doing group work or pair work, they
focus on collective efforts rather than individual efforts. They reduced the confusion
related to problem-solving by sharing responsibility (Gokhale, 1995). Therefore, they can
solve problems easily thanks to working in pairs and in groups. They also can share their
ideas or knowledge and learn new things from others (Brown, 2008). Besides, some
participants claimed that CL gave them a greater responsibility, enhanced their
communication skills through interacting with others, and fostered team spirit.
2.2.4. Students’ Perceptions about Negative Aspects of Collaborative Learning
Besides perceptions of the advantages of CL, there are also some negative aspects of
CL that need to discuss. Class size and noise are the first obstacles that both teachers and
students claim when implementing CL. In addition, Pham (2011) argued that curriculum
coverage is also one of barrier perceptions which strongly focus on the amount of
studying but not on the quality of studying. According to Biggs (1995), cited in (Pham,
2011), the curricula in Asian schools, including Vietnam schools, are designed in a
particular format that “any topic as important as every other topic, so that everything is

10


Nguyen Viet Hong high school Students' Perceptions about CL in ESL

taught and the student is grossly overloaded” (p.41). She claimed that because of only
having enough time to run through all materials but not enough time to investigate
students‟ understanding or touch on any topics outside the curriculum, CL become less
effective and less concerned. Furthermore, according to Hadler (2005), most members

working in a group seem to perceive the competition unconsciously. The group members
are often disagree with the others or tend to defend their own ideas and ignore what
others are suggesting. Instead of braining storm and seeking solutions for the problem,
they try to reject ideas each other and make the group‟s atmosphere become strain. This
behavior creates an incompatibility with effective problem solving and may upset the
activity. Moreover, there are also cases in which some students who do not want to
perform but reap the benefits from other group members (Davies 2009). These elements
seat in group without contribution get the benefits from joint efforts of other members.
Gradually, they will be passive and work more badly.
In brief, students perceive about CL‟s benefits in 3 aspects such as (1) academic
benefits, (2) social benefits and (3) generic skills. Moreover, they also commented some
(4) negative aspects of CL that they perceived through their learning process.

2.3. The Frequency that Students Apply CL in EFL
2.3.1. CL in Asian Classroom Practice in EFL
Asian classrooms have been typified as teacher-centred by both Western and Asian
researchers. According to Leung (2001), cited in Clarke and Seah (2005), the students in
CL classrooms are highly successful in international studies of student achievement.
However, Asian schools are based on individual performance and assessment, promoting
such collective cognitive responsibility has been “a challenging task that necessitates
gradual scaffolding toward a long-term trajectory” (So, Tan and Tay, 2012). Therefore,
“Asians prefer to try to find a general compromise solution to which the whole group can
agree, rather than voice an individual opinion which they would consider to be
unnecessarily decisive” (Luu, 2010). As a result, the Asian classroom is difficult to be
arranged and it is hard to maintain a discussion, and a confrontational exchange of ideas,
such as a debate. In addition, the traditional Asian classroom had looked down the
importance of CL because of wasting precious curriculum time (So, Tan and Tay, 2012).

11

Nguyen Viet Hong high school Students' Perceptions about CL in ESL

According to the authors, it may reflect “a pervasive belief and real concern among
teachers that the same content could have been delivered via rote learning, or „drill and
practice‟ modes”.
2.3.2. CL in Vietnamese Classroom Practice in EFL
CL has been widely accepted and used in international English language classes for
years, but in Vietnam, “this approach seems to be a fairly new issue and yet to be applied
nationwide” (Nguyen, 2010). According to her, collaborative activities are effective in
helping students to change their attitudes, as well as pair or group work, and enhance
their participation in lessons.
According to the study of Pham (2011), responses students in her questionnaire
revealed that CL has been widely used in Vietnamese classes. Eighty percent of teachers
and seventy percent of the students said that CL, including pair work and group work, has
been used in their classroom. Impressively, no student responded that their classes
“never” used CL. For the question related to formats of CL, the responses showed that
the teachers did not follow any specific procedures when they implemented CL.
Responses also showed that 100% of the teachers explained that they had to implement
CL to “get rid of the teacher-centered approach and employ student-centered approaches
such as team discussions and seminars” although they had “no choice”. Similarly, there is
100% of the students confirmed that their classes often had group activities such as doing
group exercises and presenting team products.

2.4. Justifications of the present study
As many Asian countries since the early 1990s, Vietnam has adjusted and carried
out a series of educational reforms to adopt CL as priority pedagogy to replace the
traditional teaching approach (Pham, 2011). Since these reforms were applied,
Vietnamese teachers and students tend to familiarize with Western teaching and learning
approaches such as pair work, group-work, seminar presentations, team activities and

especially CL. However, there are very few studies have investigated what Vietnamese
students think about practices imported from the West like CL; and how the frequency is
applied in Vietnamese classroom.

12


Nguyen Viet Hong high school Students' Perceptions about CL in ESL

In addition, researchers in the past studied on CL, they mainly focused on the
students at college or university. Although CL was applied for years, I only found some
studies which investigated high school students with CL. The high school teachers should
know what perceptions of their high school students are in both active and passive
aspects to adjust and make this method more and more effective in high school
classrooms, especially in such a dynamic subject like English.

13


Nguyen Viet Hong high school Students' Perceptions about CL in ESL

Chapter III

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This chapter will present the methodology of the research including (1) the research design,
(2) the participants, (3) the research instrument, and (4) the data collection procedures.

3.1. Research design
This research is a descriptive-survey. It focuses at the present condition to find new truth
and “is valuable in providing facts on which scientific judgments may be based” (PallerCalorin and Calmorin, 2001). Its data were collected through the use of questionnaire to

explore Nguyen Viet Hong high school students‟ perceptions about collaborative learning
and the frequency that they apply CL in learning English.

3.2. Participants
Participants included 210 students at Nguyen Viet Hong high school. There are 3 grades
of students, including grade 10, grade 11 and grade 12. All student participants completed
a questionnaire on their experiences of all CL that they have practiced in studying
English.

3.3. Instrument
Quantitative data for this study was collected through a questionnaire survey. All the
items in the questionnaire were designed based on Likert scale. The questionnaires
deliver to the participants includes 32-questionnaire items translated into Vietnamese to
ensure that they could understand all items and completed the questionnaires correctly.
Those items are based on questionnaires used in existing studies that studied similar
research issues (Pham, 2011; Brown, 2008) to ensure the validity of research tool. On the
other hand, these questionnaire items are adapted to appropriate for the purpose of the
present research.
The questionnaire consisted of two parts. The opening of the questionnaire is
participant‟s personal information. It includes age, class, and gender.

14


Nguyen Viet Hong high school Students' Perceptions about CL in ESL

The next two parts are included 31 items that related to students‟ perceptions about CL
and the frequency that they apply CL in learning English. These items are categorized
into 6 clusters as described in following table.
Table 3.1: Taxonomy on high school students’ perceptions about CL

and the frequency applying CL in learning English
Part

II

Cluster

Items

Cluster 1: Students‟ perceptions about academic
benefits

1, 2, 6, 7, 10, 12, and
13

Cluster 2: Students‟ perceptions about social benefits

5, 14, and 15

Cluster 3: Students‟ perceptions about generic skills

3, 4, 8, 9, 11 and 16

Cluster 4: Students‟ perceptions about negative aspects

17, 18, 19, and 20

Cluster 5: Frequency of applying CL in learning

21, 22, 23, 24, 25,

English in class times

and 28

Cluster 6: Frequency of applying CL in learning
English beyond class times

26, 27, 29, 30, and 31

III

The first part of the questionnaire contains 20 items structured as statements. They were
designed based on a Likert scale response using a four-point scale of “strongly agree”,
“agree”, “disagree”, and “strongly disagree”. The participants have to put a tick () in the
columns that refer to their perceptions about CL. This part is based on the existing
questionnaire items from Pham‟s (2011) and Brown‟s (2008) which studied about the
perceptions of CL.
The second part of the questionnaire includes 11 items about how frequent the
participants apply CL in studying English. Some items are adapted from Pham‟s study

15


Nguyen Viet Hong high school Students' Perceptions about CL in ESL

(2011) (see also appendix 1). They are structured in the form of using a five-point scale
of “always”, “usually”, “sometime”, “rarely”, and “never”.
Data obtained from the questionnaire was analyzed using percentages and presented in
tables and charts. Data were analyzed using SPSS 16.0. Simple calculations (percentage

of CL categories), beside the mean score of each CL cluster, were also employed to better
compare the percentage of this study and the past studies of Brown (2008) and Pham
(2011).

3.4. Research procedures
Before delivering the questionnaire survey, a Vietnamese version of it was translated.
Next, the Vietnamese version was checked the meaning and the wording by one English
student and one teacher who teaches English in the English Department, CTU.
The Vietnamese version of the questionnaire was administered to 210 students at Nguyen
Viet Hong high school. It took them approximately from 15 to 20 minutes to complete
the questionnaire in their break-time. Before receiving and completing the questionnaires,
they were told the purpose of the study as well as the questionnaire, the instruction to
respond the questionnaire. Therefore, they were re-instructed if there were any students
do not understand how to respond. In addition, some items were explained when the
students were confused theirs meaning.
Next, the data collected from questionnaire were subjected to SPSS program, version
16.0, so as to find out (1) the perception of students about CL, and (2) the frequency that
students apply CL in learning English.
The reliability analysis of the questionnaire through the SPSS program produced an alpha
of α = .688. This result implied that the questionnaires were fairly reliable to conduct.
However, the item 20 was deleted to increase the questionnaire‟s reliability analysis, α =
.714. Thus, the questionnaire was just 31 items totally. Correlation between high school
students‟ perceptions about CL and the frequency applying CL in learning English was
not done because of the unequal point scale of them.

16


Nguyen Viet Hong high school Students' Perceptions about CL in ESL

Chapter 4

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
The research methodology of the study was presented in the previous chapter. This chapter
reports the results of the study, and then followed by discussions on the results.

4.1. Normal distribution of data
It is important to assure that the collected data of the study are normally distributed.
Thus, the statistics of skewness and kurtosis of each question were checked. They are
displayed in two following tables.
Table 4.1a: Descriptive statistics on high school students’
perceptions about CL (N=210)
Mode

Median

Mean

ITEM1

3.00

3.00

3.1779

.56645

-.151

.636

ITEM2

3.00

3.00

3.4095

.54808

-.339

.222

ITEM3

3.00

3.00

3.1208

.55730

-.129

.870

ITEM4

2.00

3.00

2.5680

.80410

.146

-.521

ITEM5

3.00

3.00

3.0335

.66782

-.331

.218

ITEM6

3.00

3.00

3.2714

.57678

-.398

1.152

ITEM7

3.00

3.00

3.0192

.65173

-.442

.753

ITEM8

3.00

3.00

2.9279

.72870

-.342

-.015

ITEM9

3.00

3.00

3.1866

.58721

-.204

.374

ITEM10

3.00

3.00

3.3810

.55992

-.344

.241

ITEM11

3.00

3.00

3.1770

.69493

-.514

.119

ITEM12

3.00

3.00

3.1000

.62980

-.543

1.314

ITEM13

3.00

3.00

3.0096

.62780

-.478

1.126

17

SD Skewness Kurtosis


Nguyen Viet Hong high school Students' Perceptions about CL in ESL

ITEM14

3.00

3.00

3.1875

.58022

-.189

.454

ITEM15

3.00

3.00

3.1208

.57446

-.155

.623

ITEM16

3.00

3.00

3.3381

.55766

-.085

-.712

ITEM17

2.00

2.00

2.0190

.66319

.277

.177

ITEM18

2.00

2.00

2.1914

.66631

.058

-.214

ITEM19

1.00

2.00

1.5905

.63691

.946

1.374

ITEM21

2.00

2.00

1.9000

.87194

.764

-.067

Table 4.1b: Descriptive statistics on frequency
of applying CL in learning English (N=210)

Mode Median

Mean

S.D Skewness Kurtosis

ITEM22

2.00

2.00

2.12

.64897

.198

.125

ITEM23

2.00

2.00

2.08

.66930

.679

1.807

ITEM24

2.00

2.00

2.05

.83067

.774

.371

ITEM25

2.00

2.50

2.63

1.24818

.355

-.848

ITEM26

3.00

3.00

3.13

1.15936

-.059

-.837

ITEM27

4.00

4.00

3.58

1.08298

-.610

-.164

ITEM28

4.00

4.00

3.76

.97797

-.440

-.633

ITEM29

3.00

3.00

3.34

1.15563

-.155

-.882

ITEM30

3.00

3.00

3.16

1.09554

-.107

-.666

ITEM31

3.00

3.00

3.34

1.07237

-.227

-.476

ITEM32

3.00

3.00

3.18

1.12493

-.088

-.720

18