Submitted by Shalini Kathuria
Cooperative Language learning
Cooperative Language Learning (CLL) is part of a more general instructional approach also known as
Collaborative learning (CL). It has been defined as follows:
Cooperative learning is group learning activity organized so that learning is dependent on the socially
structured exchange of information between learners in groups and in which each learner is held
accountable for his or her own learning and is motivated to increase the learning of others. (Olsen and
Kagan, 1992)
The early twentieth century U.S. educator John Dewey is usually credited with promoting the idea of
building cooperation in learning into regular classrooms on a regular and systematic basis. It was more
generally promoted and developed in the United States in the 1960s and 1970s as a response to the forced
integration of public schools and has been substantially refined and developed since then. Educators were
concerned that traditional models of classroom were teacher fronted, fostered competition and favored
majority students. They feared that minority students might fall behind higher achieving students in this
kind of learning environment.
In second language teaching, CLL has been embraced as a way of promoting communicative interaction
in the classroom and is seen as an extension of Communicative Language Teaching. It is viewed as a
learner- centered approach to teaching held to offer advantages over teacher fronted classroom methods.
In language teaching its goals are:

To provide opportunities for naturalistic second language acquisition through the use of
interactive pair and group activities.

To provide teachers with a methodology to enable them to achieve this goal and one that can be
applied in a variety of curriculum settings ( e.g., content based, foreign language classrooms,
mainstreaming)
Submitted by Shalini Kathuria

Cooperative Language learning
To enable focused attention to particular lexical items, language structures, and communicative
functions through the use of interactive tasks

To provide opportunities for learners to develop successful learning and communicative strategies

To enhance learner motivation and reduce learner stress and to create a positive affective
classroom climate.
CLL approach is founded on certain basic premises about the interactive and cooperative nature of
language and language learning and builds on these premises in several ways.
Premise 1 mirrors the title of the book on child language titled, Born to Talk (Weeks 1979). The author
holds (along with many others) that “all normal children growing in a normal environment learn to talk.”
Premise 2 is that most talk/speech is organized in conversations.
Premise 3 is that conversation operates according to certain agreed upon set of cooperative rules or
maxims.
Premise 4 is that one learns how these cooperative maxims are realized in one’s native language through
casual, everyday conversational interaction.
Premise 5 is one learns how these maxims are realized in a second language through participation in
cooperatively structured interactional activities.
(Richards, J., and Rodgers, T. (2001) Approaches and Methods in language teaching. Cambridge: CUP)
CLL advocates draw heavily on the theoretical works of developmental Psychologists Jean Piaget (e.g.,
1965) and Lev Vygotsky (e.g., 1962) both of whom stress the central role of social interaction in learning.
What children can do together today, they can do alone tomorrow.
~ Lev Vygotsky, 1962
Submitted by Shalini Kathuria
Cooperative Language learning
The primary role of the learner is as a member of the group who must work collaboratively on tasks with
other members. Learners are also directors of their own learning. They are taught to plan, monitor and
evaluate their own learning which is viewed as a compilation of lifelong learning skills. The role of the
teacher is that of a facilitator of learning. The instructional materials also play an important part in
creating opportunities for the students to work cooperatively. Some materials may be specially designed
for CLL.
Three step interview, Roundtable, Think- pair- share, solve-pair-share and numbered heads are some
examples of CLL activities’ structures. (Olsen and Kagan).
Since CLL approach is designed to foster cooperation rather than competition, to develop critical thinking
skills, and to develop communicative competence through socially structured interaction activities, these
can be regarded as the overall objectives of CLL. Since activities from a wide variety of curriculum
orientations can be taught via CLL, it does not assume any particular form of language syllabus.
Unlike most language teaching proposals CLL has been extensively researched and evaluated and
research findings have been supportive (Slavin 1995; Baloche1998), although little of this research was
conducted in L2 classrooms. CLL is not without its critics, however. Some have questioned its use with
learners with different proficiency levels suggesting that some students may obtain more benefit from it
than other students.
References
Richards, J., and Rodgers, T. (2001) Approaches and Methods in language teaching. Cambridge: CUP
Teflepedia The wiki of English Teaching, http://teflpedia.com/Cooperative_Learning (June 12, 2011)
Instructional strategies online http://olc.spsd.sk.ca/de/pd/instr/strats/think/index.html (June 12, 2011)
Submitted by Shalini Kathuria
Cooperative Language learning
Cooperative Language learning Mini-lesson
School Setting and Target Students:


Grade Preschool, General Education
ESL inclusion-7 students, both developing
Objectives:

Students will be able to identify the main characters in the story.

Students will be able to describe the setting of the story.

Student will be able to arrange the story cards in the correct sequence.
Instructional Strategies: The teacher will use the Numbered Heads Together structure of cooperative
learning.
Instructional Materials: A story book, Story Grammar mediator card, Flannel board, Story Grammar
pieces, Story grammar analysis card, response board.
Learning Activities: The class is divided into small groups with a maximum of nine in a group. Each
teacher takes a group and further subdivides them into groups of four/five. The groups are strategically
designed in view of the desired outcome.
The teacher will number students off from 1 to 4 within their teams and make two teams. The teacher
shows the children the Story Grammar mediator card and orients the children; ‘This helps us remember to
pay attention to the Story Grammar.’ Then the teacher will read and the children will listen to the story
without stopping. The teacher asks “Who are the characters?”
Students in teams put their heads together to discuss the answer. They must make sure everyone on the
team knows the answer. The teacher randomly calls a number from 1 to 4 (use a spinner, draw popsicle
sticks out of a cup etc.) On each team, the student whose number was called draws/ writes the answer on
the team response board. They may not receive any help from their team at this point. They need to pay
Submitted by Shalini Kathuria
Cooperative Language learning
attention during the discussion. They place the response board face down when ready. When all teams are
ready, the teacher will have the designated student stand and hold up their response board to show their
answer. Check each team's answer for accuracy. Repeat with additional questions like “What is the
setting? Where does the story happen?”
As an extension to the activity the teacher will give the story grammar pieces and a flannel board to each
group and asks them to arrange the events of the story in order. The students work together and arrange
the story grammar pieces in order. When both teams are ready, have the designated student stand and
show their flannel board to show their answer. The teacher will ask the student the question, “Then what
happened?” and the student will describe in return while pointing to the pieces.
Evaluation procedures: Teachers will elicit answers from the students and record them verbatim.
Teachers will observe students while they are working in their groups and record their answers to “Then
what happened?”