Students' perceptions of their Jigsaw II experience and its effect on reading comprehension

النوع : Mémoire

The present study investigated the effect of a cooperative learning (CL) technique. Jigsaw II. on the reading achievement of EFL university students. Moreover, the study surveyed students* perceptions of the effectiveness and enjoyableness of Jigsaw II. Forty-eight students (n=48) enrolled in two intact EFL university classes participated in the study. One intact class was randomly assigned for the experimental condition and another for the control condition. The participants took a pretest prior to receiving the treatment. Three t-tests indicated no significant differences between the control and experimental groups on literal, higher order, and overall comprehension. The treatment consisted of reading instruction according to the dynamics of the Jigsaw II cooperative strategy whereas the control group followed a whole class instructional approach. After a period often sessions, all the participants took a posttest and those of the experimental group completed a semantic differential scale that assessed their perceptions of enjoyableness and effectiveness of Jigsaw II. Descriptive statistics were computed, and three t-tests were run to address the first question raised in the study. The results indicated that there is no statistically significant difference between the treatment conditions (Jigsaw II and whole class instruction) on the literal and the overall reading comprehension. However, there was a significant difference between the treatment conditions on higher order comprehension. Furthermore, the responses on the semantic differential scale were tallied and the percentages were computed to address the second question. The results indicated that the learners were generally positive about their experience and willing to recommend the use of Jigsaw II in other classes. Finally, the results were discussed in light of previous research findings, and recommendations for further research were made.