Cooperative Learning Strategy: Its Effects on Enhancing the Vocabulary and Reading Compression Skills of MSU-ILS Grade Six Pupils

Abstract

The research conducted was quasi-experimental in nature. It was undertaken in order to determine the effects of cooperative learning strategy in enhancing the vocabulary and reading comprehension skills among the Grade Six pupils of MSU-ILS, A.Y. 2011-2012. Specifically, it sought to find out  the profile of the respondents in terms of age, gender, parents’ occupation, and parents’ monthly income; the significant difference between the pretest and the posttest mean scores of the control   group in vocabulary and reading comprehension skills; the significant difference between the pretest and the posttest mean scores of the experimental group in vocabulary and reading comprehension skills; and the significant difference between the mean gain scores of the respondents of both groups in vocabulary and reading comprehension skills. This research involved seventy-five (75) Grade Six pupils of Mindanao State University-Integrated Laboratory School (MSU-ILS). One group consisting of 37 pupils was identified as the experimental group.  This study was analyzed by the SPSS (Statistical Program for Social Sciences) The data were treated using one-way ANOVA (Analysis of Variance).  The study revealed the following findings: 1) majority of the respondents were aged 13 years old; 2) majority of the respondents are females and few of them are males for both the experimental and the control groups. 3) majority of the parents of the respondents were employees or faculty members; and 4) most of the parents of the respondents were receiving an average level of income (10001-20000). Moreover, the study has a significant difference between the pretest and the posttest mean scores of the experimental group in vocabulary and reading comprehension skills. Statistically, there is also a significant difference between the pretest and posttest mean scores of the control group in vocabulary and reading comprehension skills. Finally, the two groups have the same variance. It means that on the average, the mean gain scores of pupils in both the control and experimental groups are the same. Based on the findings, cooperative learning strategy is effective in teaching vocabulary and reading comprehension skills to the learners, traditional learning strategy is also effective in teaching vocabulary and reading comprehension skills to the learners or effective learning, whichever teaching strategy is used by the teacher the learners need to be participative in high order thinking exercises, such as analysis, synthesis, and evaluation and the cooperative learning strategy and traditional strategy are both effective. There is no single “best” learning strategy to teach vocabulary and comprehension skills to learners and whatever learning strategy is used in the classroom, there is a need to take into account the learners’ current knowledge so that they can work within their zone of proximal development and thus progress will be implied in this study.