The Effectiveness of Cooperative Learning on the Reading Comprehension Skills in Turkish as a Foreign Language

ABSTRACT

Cooperative learning is a process through which students with various abilities, gender, nationalities and different level of social skills carry out their learning process by working in small groups and helping each other. Cooperative learning is a pedagogical use of small groups which enable students to maximize both their own and others’ learning. 

This study was carried out in order to identify the efficiency and the effects of cooperative learning techniques on the reading skills of the students who learn Turkish as a second language. A total of 40 students (20 subjects in experimental group, 20 subjects in control group), who learn Turkish as a second language at Istanbul University Language Center, participated in this study which was done in accordance with the ‘pre-test post-test control group’ model as one of the experimental research designs. In the experimental group, cooperative learning techniques were used for reading comprehension activities, while traditional teaching model was followed in the control group. The data were gathered through the ‘Reading Comprehension Skills Achievement Test’ developed by the researchers, and a number of suggestions were made to develop reading skills in teaching Turkish as a foreign language.