THE COLLABORATIVE LANGUAGE LEARNING (CLL) APPROACH: PROCESS AND EFFECTS IN PAKISTANI ESL CONTEXT

Abstract

In the context of Pakistan, the public-school level learners usually do not communicate effectively and confidently in English even though they learn English language from their early stage of academic life. It has been observed that they have little command on English especially in speaking skills. Keeping in mind the effectiveness of collaborative language learning approach, this study seeks to implement CLL strategies in classroom. The aim of this research is to check whether this social constructed approach is beneficial for Pakistani students in effectively enhancing their speaking skills. Another purpose is to examine how this approach can be helpful in learning oral skills of English language in Pakistani environment. To achieve the purpose of this study, a quasi-experimental study was employed using pre-test and post-test to determine the language competence of the learners. This experimental study consists of three phases: pretest, intervention and posttest. The pretest was held at the beginning to check the existing language knowledge of the learners based on traditional method. Then experimental phase was conducted. Further, at the end of the study, the posttest was administered to assess if the CLL approach supported the learners’ communicative proficiency in English. The findings revealed that the participants of experimental group in Group discussion activity (M=7.025, SD=.5955) performed better than the control group (M=5.915, SD=.6862). Similarly, in Picture description activity the experimental group (M=7.165, SD=.7625) performed better than the control group (M=6.400, SD=.8367). However, this research suggest that the teachers should improve their teaching methodology while teaching English and provide learners collaborative environment in the classrooms. This study is expected to be helpful for the ESL teachers, students and future researchers.