tandfonline.com – CIRC and STAD in Iranian context: Through the five elements to cooperative learning of lexical collocations

Abstract

Cooperative learning is an approach of teaching and learning that roots in communicative language teaching (CLT). There are five elements that build up the essence of this approach and its methods, namely, positive interdependence, individual accountability, face to face interaction, interpersonal skills, and group processing. Inspired by the gap in the literature, using a mixed-method design, this study attempted to investigate how these elements are at play in the context of Iran, which is relatively individualistic and competitive with regard to the learning culture. In the quantitative phase of the study, the comparative investigation on the impact of Student Teams-Achievement Division (STAD) and Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition (CIRC) showed CIRC worked significantly better in improving EFL learners’ lexical collocation knowledge. This was followed by the qualitative phase, in which the participants’ perceptions about the process were explored through a directed interview and the strong and weak points of each method were identified. Delving into the answers, the researchers concluded that while the five elements are needed, they are not sufficient to make decisions about the effectiveness of a CL method and the importance of each element may differ in the context of Iran. It was suggested that personal characteristics and learning culture of the target context should be considered when deciding what method to use. The results of this study can be used both by those involved in the process of teaching and learning and as a reference for conducting further researches to shed more light on the matter in hand.