A study of students' perceptions toward cooperative learning in English language classrooms

This study is entitled “A Study of Students' Perceptions toward Cooperative Learning in English Language Classrooms”. The purposes of this study were to examine the perception of students in SMTE and Regular Program Program toward Cooperative Learning for studying in an English language classroom and to compare the difference of perception toward Cooperative Learning for studying in an English language classroom between students in SMTE Program and students in Regular Program. The participants of this study were students in Mattayom 2 in the second semester of academic year 2020 at a public school in Nakhon Ratchasima province. They were selected by using purposive sampling method for the reason that in one classroom was SMTE Program (30 students) and in the other classroom was Regular Program (30 students), the total participants were 60. The instruments used in this study were a questionnaire to investigate the perception of students in SMTE and Regular Program toward Cooperative Learning in their English Language Classroom launched three periods per week. They were taught with the same content over seventeen weeks for 50 minutes per period. The data was analyzed by using mean, standard deviation (SD), percentage and t-test. The open – ended questions were analyzed based on the themes of the answers from the students. Cooperative Learning is very advantageous and profitable to students in the English subject, according to the findings of the study. The study demonstrated students' positive attitudes toward Cooperative Learning and their satisfaction with this technique for teaching and studying English in Thai secondary schools.