The Effect of Cooperative Learning Strategies on Iranian Intermediate Students’ Writing Achievement

Abstract

The present study investigated the effect of cooperative learning strategies on Iranian intermediate students’ writing achievement. The researchers selected 83 English students in Khorasgan Islamic Azad University. The researcher assigned Oxford Placement Test by [1] test with 100 multiple choice questions as the homogeneity test and selected 60 students and divided them equally as the experimental and control groups to teach them how to write TOEFL essays in cooperative and traditional ways. Based on a pretest-posttest experimental design, the students wrote two different essays at the first and the last sessions of the study as the pretest and posttest and the results were analyzed. The findings of the writings revealed a statistically significant difference [t(58) = 15.748, p = 0.000] between experimental (M = 92.97, SD = 1.752) and control (M = 80.20, SD = 4.080) groups with writing ability. Accordingly, the data obtained from the findings indicated the experimental (cooperative) group’s better performance. Therefore, the null hypothesis was rejected by the results of the study.