Cooperative Learning and Communicative Competence

Communication is the process of making meaning through interactions between people. Teachers play a critical role in promoting interactions among students and engaging them in the learning process. Cooperative small-group learning is widely accepted as a way in which teachers can promote this interaction to benefit all students. Cooperative learning refers to the instructional use of small groups in which students work together to accomplish meaningful study tasks. In a cooperative learning approach, students and teachers are in a state of dynamic interaction in the classroom. When students interact in cooperative groups, they learn to give and receive information, develop new understandings and perspectives, and communicate in a socially acceptable manner. Pair and small group activities that involve interactions between learners are often used in second or foreign language classrooms for both theoretical and pedagogical reasons.