Formative Value of an Active Learning Strategy: Technology Based Think-Pair-Share in an EFL Writing Classroom

Abstract

Think-Pair-Share (TPS) activities in classrooms provide an opportunity for students to revise, practice and reproducepreviously learned knowledge. Teachers also benefit from this active learning strategy by exploiting new learningmaterials, saving time by minimizing presentations and using it as a formative assessment tool. This article exploreshow a teacher can employ the strategy to both promote active learning and conduct formative assessment in atime-efficient way. To do this, a TPS activity was designed on an online platform along with an assessment rubric forstudent products. In 60 minutes, students thought individually on the topic provided, discussed and collaborated ingroups and finally wrote down their paragraphs on the online tool. Each group shared paragraphs simultaneously.The teacher examined the paragraphs in terms of the predefined learning outcomes and determined the points to berevised. The students answered an open-ended online questionnaire a day later and the qualitative data were analyzedthrough a coding system. The assessment results successfully showed the learning points to be revisited and theresults of the questionnaire supported the assessments of the teacher. The majority of the students revealed that theywere satisfied and willing to do the activity again in the future.