Comparison of Collaborative and Individual Learning in English for Vocational Education and Training

Entity: Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV)

Confidenciality: No

Education area(s): Ensenyament i Adquisició de l'Anglès com a Llengua Estrangera - Segona Llengua

Title in different languages: Comparison of Collaborative and Individual Learning in English for Vocational Education and Training

Abstract: Collaborative Learning is a widely implemented method in classroom settings. Over the past few decades, it has gained substantial attention and has become a key area of focus in educational research and practice. The research started in the 70s with two key theories: Collaborative and Cooperative Learning. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of Collaborative Learning on Vocational Education and Training (VET) in contrast to the effects of Individual Learning. The study is specifically concerned with the effects of the methodologies into the acquisition of metalinguistic knowledge, the creation of a final product, and the attitudes and opinions of the students of the methodologies. The subjects of this study were students of Marketing and Advertising and International Tarde, divided into control and experimental group. While both groups were assigned the same tasks, the experimental group worked collaboratively whereas the control group worked individually. A pretest-posttest design was employed to examine the progress of students in acquiring metalinguistic knowledge and compare the results of the groups. A writing task was assigned to compare the results of a final product, while a questionnaire was utilized to analyse the students' perspectives on both methodologies. The results of this study indicate that students who worked together collaboratively showed a greater improvement in their knowledge acquisition than those in the control group. However, there was no significant difference observed between the groups in the final product they created. Additionally, the students expressed a positive opinion towards both methodologies and did not show a preference for either one. It concludes that while both methodologies are beneficial for VET students, Collaborative Learning offers several different advantages that are important to take into consideration.

Subject: Ensenyament

Academic year: 2023-2024

Language: en

Work's public defense date: 2024-06-21

Subject areas: Philology

Student: Alonso Martínez, Raquel

Department: Estudis Anglesos i Alemanys

Creation date in repository: 2024-07-05

TFM credits: 11

Keywords: Collaborative Learning, Individual Learning, Cooperative Learning

Title in original language: Comparison of Collaborative and Individual Learning in English for Vocational Education and Training

Access Rights: info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess

Project director: Gallego Balsà, Lídia