穨Review. Pdf

4.3 Effects of Cooperative Learning on High/Low Achievers 
The effects of cooperative learning on the high- and low-achievers were 
examined from four angles: (1) grades of the three monthly examinations, (2) scores 
of the oral task, (3) Ms. Lee’s observation, and (4) the student interview. 

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4.3.1 Results of Three Monthly Examinations 
According to the students’ grade reports from the previous semester, there were 
12 students whose average scores in the subject of English exceeded 90 in the 
experimental group and 13 in the control group. As defined in Chapter One, 
high-achievers were the students who scored over 90 in English. For the 
convenience of comparison, 12 high achievers in the control group were randomly 
selected to compare with the 12 high-achievers in the experimental group. There 
were nine under-achievers who scored below 40 in the experimental group and nine in 
the control group. In order to examine if cooperative learning would reduce the 
high-achievers’ academic achievements, as many teachers worried, Independent 
Samples Test were utilized to compare the scores of the three monthly examinations 
of the high- and low-achievers in both groups. The results were illustrated in Table 
4.18. 
Table 4.18 Independent Samples Test of High-Achievers’ Achievement Tests 
Monthly Exams 
High/Exp 
High/Control MD 
n 
t 
p 
1
st
95.66 
95.75 
-0.09 
12 
-.069 
.946 
2
nd
97.50 
95.83 
1.67 
12 
.974 
.341 
3
rd
86.41 
88.41 
-2 
12 
-.405 
.689 
As shown in Table 4.18, the high-achievers in the control group did not perform 
significantly better than those in the experimental group in the structure-based school 
monthly examinations (p > .05).
The scores of the three monthly examinations of the nine low-achievers in both 
groups were also computed through the Independent Samples Test to compare the 
inter-group differences. The results, as shown in Table 4.19, indicated that the 
low-achievers in the control group did not achieve significantly better than those in 
the experimental group.