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Vol. 42 (20) 2021 • Art. 4
Recibido/Received: 14/10/2021 • Aprobado/Approved: 19/10/2021 • Publicado/Published: 30/10/2021
DOI: 10.48082/espacios-a21v42n20p04
Cooperative learning: on the issue of national and
international application experience
Aprendizaje cooperativo: sobre la cuestión de la experiencia en aplicaciones nacionales e
internacionales
DEREVIANCHENKO, Elena A.
1
MARTYNOVA, Yulia V.
2
MESHCHERIAKOVA, Larisa V.
3
TEBENKOVA, NATALIA G.
4
Abstract
The article presents a comparative analysis of the method of collective mutual learning and the
Singapore educational technology. Organizational, methodological and technological features of
learning in replaceable pairs are considered. Examples of horizont
al and vertical methods of interaction
between students are given. An analysis of Singapore EdTech has been made which has a set of
structures that make it possible to organize the classroom in a different way. In the conclusion it is
proved that both presented methods with different intensities can be integrated into the traditional
teaching system, bringing into it a different structure of interpersonal communication of participants in
foreign language classes.
Key words: foreign language communicative competence, method of collective mutual learning,
Singapore educational technology, national educational practice
Resumen
El artículo presenta un análisis comparativo de la forma colectiva de enseñar y la tecnología educativa
de Singapur. Еstán examinadas las características organizativas, metodológicas y .tecnológicas de la
enseñanza de alumnos en parejas que cambian. Se dan ejemplos de métodos de interacción horizontal
y vertical entre los estudiantes. También se analiza la tecnología educativa de Singapur, que cuenta
con un conjunto de estructuras que permiten organizar el espacio de estudios de una manera
diferente. En conclusión, se comprueba que ambos métodos presentados pueden ser integrados
en el sistema de enseñanza tradicional con diferente intensidad, aportando una estructura
de comunicación interpersonal de los participantes en las clases de lengua extranjera.
Palabras clave: competencia comunicativa en lenguas extranjeras, forma colectiva de enseñar,
tecnología educativa de Singapur, práctica educativa nacional
1
PhD, Associate Professor. Faculty of Foreign Languages. Omsk State Pedagogical University. Russian Federation. Email: barlen@yandex.ru
2
PhD, Associate Professor. Faculty of Foreign Languages. Omsk State Pedagogical University. Russian Federation. Email: julia79zavgorodneva@gmail.com
3
PhD, Associate Professor. Faculty of Foreign Languages. Omsk State Pedagogical University. Russian Federation. Email: mescheryakovalarisa@gmail.com
4
PhD, Associate Professor. Faculty of Foreign Languages. Omsk State Pedagogical University. Russian Federation. Email: limonovanatalia@yandex.ru
ISSN-L: 0798-1015 • eISSN: 2739-0071 (En línea) - Revista Espacios – Vol. 42, Nº 20, Año 2021
DEREVIANCHENKO, Elena A. et al. «Cooperative learning: on the issue of national and international
application experience»
Pag. 34
1. Introduction
The problem of implementing a communicative approach in teaching foreign languages has not lost its relevance
for several decades both in Russian educational practice and abroad. This is evidenced by the numerous works
of researchers and practicing teachers devoted, first of all, to the issues of correct purpose setting - the definition
and taxonomic description of the expected subject results. Formulated in the everyday consciousness of
teachers, parents, students themselves, the social order “one must be able to communicate in a foreign
language” is being transformed today in the professional environment into a very detailed document, for
example, of the Council of Europe “Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning,
Teaching, Assessment” (CEFR, 2020), or in a detailed list of metasubject, subject, personal results, universal
educational actions, which is presented in the Russian federal educational standard of the basic and profile levels
in a foreign language (FSES, 2014), where the ultimate purpose of training is in the foreign language
communicative competence. Speech activity has been prepared, linguistic aspects are disclosed in detail, the
mechanisms of speech perception and speech production in a foreign language, etc., have long been considered,
but the problem of readiness to support communication in a foreign language often remains unresolved. Thus,
the main task of a foreign language teacher is to create conditions in which students will have to constantly use
a foreign language as a means of communication. In this regard, it becomes obvious that it is necessary to search
for specific tools-technologies that will allow in educational conditions to create communication situations close
to natural, to involve students in communication through the implementation of their own communicative
intentions.
Currently, Russian and foreign schools actively use the innovative Singapore educational technology (Singapore
EdTech), which involves increasing the level of development of communicative competence and motivation of
the studied material of students through the organization of productive interaction in the systems “student –
student”, “student – teacher”. Based on the structures of interaction, the training structures of the Singapore
educational technology have a communicative orientation, suggesting a joint choice of solving certain
communication problems. (Pang, 2018)
Despite the increasing popularity of this technology, it would be advisable for modern teachers to take into
account the experience of teaching in cooperation already available in Russian practice, namely, the method of
collective mutual learning (MCML) (A. Rivin, V. Dyachenko, A. Granitskaya and others).
The purpose of this work is to identify the potentials of the technologies under consideration, as well as
opportunities for their productive combination, aimed at creating conditions favorable for communication in a
foreign language in the learning process.
2. Methodology
To achieve this purpose, we consider it appropriate to define the following theoretical and methodological
foundations of the article:
- a competence-based approach that reveals the essence of targets in modern linguodidactics and educational
practice as a set of cognitive and reflexive-activity components of foreign language communicative competence
and allows us to consider the entire educational process as a joint communicative activity of a teacher
and
students;
- a comparative approach that intensifies intercultural cross-scientific dialogue in the research community in
order to search for adequate solutions to professional pedagogical problems and allows to reveal the potential
of pedagogical borrowings for national educational practice.
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DEREVIANCHENKO, Elena A. et al. «Cooperative learning: on the issue of national and international
application experience»
Pag. 35
We will carry out a comparative analysis of the established practices - the method of collective mutual learning
(MCML) (Russian Federation) and the Singapore educational technology (Singapore EdTech) (Singapore) - on the
basis of criteria reflecting, on the one hand, the conceptual foundations, and on the other, which, in our opinion,
is more important, the field of practical application of the named didactic methods for solving problems of
teaching communication in a foreign language.
2.1. Сriterion base
The criterion base for comparative research includes
- a didactic concept;
- the specifics of building interpersonal communication in foreign language classes;
- requirements for changes in the traditional educational process.
At the same time, by the traditional educational process, we understand the existing system of teaching a foreign
language, including the traditions of didactic interaction “teacher - student - educational material”, the
established rules of interaction and everyday routines in the classroom.
To understand the specifics of interpersonal communication in a foreign language lesson, we will give specific
techniques from educational practice for the implementation of the considered teaching methods.
3. Results
Attempts to overcome the monological nature of teaching and there by modernize the classroom system have
been made for a long time, for example, in the 19th - 20th centuries: Monitorial System (Madras System, or
Lancasterian System), the Dalton plan, the brigade-laboratory training system in the Soviet Union and many
others appeared and functioned quite successfully. The disadvantages that arose during their implementation
were significant: the lack of a systematic presentation of educational information, the diminution of the role of
the teacher against the background of an overestimation of the educational capabilities of students, the
recognition of the method of independent work as universal and, as a consequence, the appearance of a low
level of student learning. Therefore, after a short-term popularity, these innovations left the mass educational
practice.
3.1. The method of collective mutual learning (MCML)
The method of collective mutual learning (MCML) of A. Rivin, outwardly very similar to the brigade or
Lancasterian System, became in the 20-30s of the twentieth century a successful option for overcoming those
shortcomings: the students worked in pairs and very rarely, no more than 20% of the total time, in groups. Study
pairs are not constant participants in communication, but are constantly changing, turning into pairs of a shift
composition – replaceable pairs. When working in replaceable pairs, tasks are divided into all members of the
microgroup, each interviews each, each responds to each - this is how a situation of collective interaction of all
participants in the work arises. We emphasize that the main unit of interaction is precisely couples formed from
children of different ages and different levels of training in the subject, thus, educational and self-educational
groups are formed within the school.
A. Rivin acted as a practicing researcher, trying to make the student more productive and at the same time relieve
the teacher. At the same time, he proceeded not from some already known theory, but from his own experience.
Personal experience and all previous practice convinced the teacher that the student quickly and qualitatively
assimilates only new information which immediately after receiving has been applied in practice or transfered
ISSN-L: 0798-1015 • eISSN: 2739-0071 (En línea) - Revista Espacios – Vol. 42, Nº 20, Año 2021
DEREVIANCHENKO, Elena A. et al. «Cooperative learning: on the issue of national and international
application experience»
Pag. 36
to others. The student applies and explaines the new material to others until he or she masters new knowledge
or skill to perfection. (Zakharov, K, 2017)
The didactic concept of collective learning activity in the Soviet Union and in modern Russia is based on the ideas
of L. Vygotsky, who believed that mental functions: voluntary attention, thinking, logical memory, will, etc., are
formed initially in the collectively distributed joint activity of people, and only then these functions turn into
functions of individual activity. In his opinion, thinking is born only from demand - an external impulse triggers
internal processes. Proceeding from this, L. Vygotsky formulated the concept of the child's mental development
through the social (collective) to the individual, which proves that the formation of such mental functions and
qualities of the child's personality as thinking, attention, will, memory and others is impossible only through his
individual activity , joint collective activity of the child with his peers and with adult teachers is also necessary.
Moreover, joint activities should precede individual ones. Thus, the environment in which the child finds himself
in the process of educational collective work is really favorable for the all-round development of the personality.
(Vygotsky, L, 2005)
Considering the organizational, methodological and technological features of MCML in replaceable pairs, we
note that the implementation of this method of teaching is based on learning technologies in cooperation, which
can be conditionally divided by the way of interaction of participants into horizontal and vertical.
Building interaction in the “horizontal plane” presupposes mutual learning of students with approximately the
same level of formation of educational and communicative competencies. As an example, we will cite the basic
for MCML method of A. Rivin “Paragraph-by-paragraph study of the text” (Dyachenko, V, 1991), which we used
to develop students' communicative reading skills with full and selective understanding, as well as to develop
speaking skills, for example, on the material of the topic “Environmental Protection”. For its implementation, the
class is offered several subtopics within the framework of a general problem (“Water and air pollution”,
“Changing the forest ecosystem”, “Human industrial activity as a factor of environmental pollution”, “Human
agrarian activity as a factor of soil depletion and desertification”, etc. ), which are studied in the classroom at the
same time, as a basis, students are offered the texts of popular science articles, each no more than one page in
length. It is necessary to prepare several (3-5) articles for one subtopic. Students are given the task: “Read the
article on your subtopic, formulate its main idea, highlight the necessary secondary details, prepare a paragraph-
by-paragraph retelling of the material for your friend.” During the lesson, new pairs are constantly formed,
working on different or identical, depending on the task set by the teacher, texts in which the students retell the
material to each other, answer the questions of a friend on each fragment of the text. To avoid disruption in
pairing, students working on the same article are given the same color coding, for example. To work out a large
number of subtopics for each student, a “route sheet” is drawn up with color-coded partners with whom he or
she must work. At the end of the subtopics, students gather in small groups to talk over the ideas they have
typed and formulate the content for one subtopic, which is later presented in the class.
The organization of vertical mutual learning is possible among schoolchildren with different levels of training,
when one student is ahead of the other on a specific, for example, grammatical topic. Then student 1 becomes
a teacher in relation to student 2, and he, in turn, being ahead of student 3, turns into a teacher for him. The
whole class builds a vertical hierarchy - a “ladder”, where everyone simultaneously acts as both a teacher and a
student. “Teachers” introduce “students” to the grammatical rule, check the exercises performed, comment on
mistakes. All together are preparing for the current or intermediate control (exam), which allows you to identify
the effectiveness of the built interaction. Such interaction contributes to the organization of productive
independent work of schoolchildren, aimed primarily at eliminating gaps and errors in the use of language
material.
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DEREVIANCHENKO, Elena A. et al. «Cooperative learning: on the issue of national and international
application experience»
Pag. 37
The examples given do not exhaust all the modifications of work in replaceable pairs, there can be found and
actively practiced the following options: the technology of interchange of tasks according to M. Mkrtchyan, the
technology of teaching reading according to M. Bulanovskaya, the Murmansk technology, V. Dyachenko's
technologys, “Rivin's reverse method”, Rivin - Bazhenov's technology, the technology of students' work on
questionnaires, etc. All of them can serve as the basis for rebuilding the traditional - monologue - teaching system
and transforming it into a truly communicative one. Such researchers and educational practitioners as A.
Granitskaya, V. Dyachenko convincingly and technologically demonstrated in their works the transition from
group interaction to collective learning interaction. (Dyachenko, V, 1991)
Summarizing what has been said, we emphasize that mutual learning in replaceable pairs, without doubt, can
serve as the basis for the implementation of a competence-based approach in foreign language classes, according
to which the formation and development of a foreign language communicative competence of students is
provided only by their inclusion in speech activity. A student, participating in the work of replaceable pairs,
becomes a subject of activity - an equal speech partner, and not its object, and the fulfillment of any educational
task naturally turns into a communication process.
In the aspect of interpersonal communication, each student is aware of himself as a significant person, since he
was entrusted to teach and control his friends. Thus, in addition to the actual subject results, the teacher of a
foreign language contributes to the implementation of the educational aspect of his studies aimed at the
development of the student's personality: the building of a creative attitude to communication and the
development of soft-skills, the readiness for self-management and, ultimately, the development of self-
awareness and creation prerequisites for the development of a mature personality.
Promoting interpersonal communication, developing the student's personality through his interaction with
peers, teaching teamwork skills - the ideas of cooperative learning laid down by the authors in the innovative
Singapore educational technology, undoubtedly echoes the concept of a collective learning method we have
considered, but they cannot be identified.
3.2. The Singapore educational technology (Singapore EdTech)
The Singapore educational technology (Singapore EdTech), which is familiar today to almost every teacher in the
world, is based on the ideas of cooperative learning, practical training, the concept of the advanced role of
learning in personality development (zones of proximal development according to L. Vygotsky (Vygotsky, L,
2005), which arose at the beginning of the last century, and became widespread and thanks to such philosophers
and psychologists as D. Dewey, K. Levin, M. Doitsch, J. Piaget, L. Vygotsky.
The concept of this type of education, in contrast to the method of collective mutual learning, provides for the
combination of various forms of organizing the educational and cognitive activity of students: from individual to
group, but does not rebuild the entire educational process into a new system of interaction, remaining within
the framework of the traditional school. The communicative orientation and novelty of classes is achieved by the
constantly changing composition of pairs and groups, and clear instructions for interaction with various partners
(partner in the face, shoulder partner, etc.) optimize the use of time in the lesson and intensify the entire process
of learning a foreign language.
Undoubtedly, an attractive advantage of Singapore technology is an impressive set of structures that allow a
teacher to organize the class space differently, restructure communication, giving priority to learners, their
experience, opinions and assessments, include game moments in the outline of the lesson, ensure the
assimilation of the material with the help of visual supports. Understanding the essence of the new interaction,
ISSN-L: 0798-1015 • eISSN: 2739-0071 (En línea) - Revista Espacios – Vol. 42, Nº 20, Año 2021
DEREVIANCHENKO, Elena A. et al. «Cooperative learning: on the issue of national and international
application experience»
Pag. 38
as well as accepting the complexity of the structures, we will try to single out their groups depending on the main
task solved at one time or another in a foreign language lesson. (Pang, 2018)
One group should include educational structures aimed at increasing the level of educational motivation, for
example, “Team Cheer”: a short, emotionally positive exercise that can be used both at the beginning of the
lesson and in the middle of it for the purpose of motivation students for productive activities in the lesson, to
encourage or express gratitude. “Team Cheer” is an excellent basis not only for organizing and conducting speech
and phonetic exercises, but also for enriching the dictionary with colloquial phrases, for example, even a simple
greeting can be made less formal and formal:
“Long time no see! It’s been ages (since I’ve seen you)!”
turning into a friendly gesture:
“Where have you been hiding? Top of the morning to you!”
filling the meeting with humor:
“Hello, stranger!” “Look who it is! Look what the cat dragged in!”
Interaction with the teacher is determined not only spatially: the entire lesson is not held at the blackboard, and
desks can be freely rearranged, but also with the help of special signals that serve to implement feedback and
stimulate students' reflection. This group of structures includes, for example, “High Five” - the teacher raises his
hand, calling for silence or attracting the attention of students in order to switch them to a new step or task.
Learning structures aimed at realizing “student-student” interaction are necessary for the development of
cooperation and communication, for example, our students are very fond of the “Blind Sequencing” technique,
the essence of which is to jointly assemble a single puzzle (picture) on the topic of the lesson. Pupils do not stay
silent, they constantly communicate with each other: dividing the fragments of the picture equally, the children
alternately describe what is depicted on their piece, without showing it to the others. This is how schoolchildren
determine the correct, in their opinion, arrangement of elements, laying them face down. After agreeing on the
location, the students turn the pieces over and, if the puzzle is complete, congratulate each other on the team
victory, and if not, correct their mistakes. The main rule in this exercise that the children must learn is to listen
to each other without interruption.
The solution of tasks for the development of critical thinking and linguistic awareness of students is possible with
the help of a special group of structures that aim students to the analysis of information presented in a written
or sounding text (video materials, audio recordings), to compare different points of view on problems, to search
for false and true information based on life experience. Thus, the method “Anticipation - Reaction Guide”
enriches the life experience of children, teaches schoolchildren to compare points of view on the topic under
study before and after performing the stimulus exercise. A text for such an assignment can be a provocative
quote from the work of a famous scientist, politician, writer, etc., forcing students to think about what is
important for them, for the team, for society as a whole: “Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It
fulfills the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things” (by Winston
Churchill). Students collect their opinions before working with a quote, then after, in the conclusion, they discuss
how much their points of view have changed, what was the reason.
Structures that ensure the implementation of one of the main tasks of the school - to teach to learn - the
structures of interaction “student - educational material” are similar in their preparation and implementation to
the methods and technologies of the method of collective mutual learning in Russia, there are also provided
routes and various kinds of designations for organizing interaction within the class, for example, the “Quiz-Quiz-
Trade”-technique can become the basis for peer learning and peer review using handouts - cards with related
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DEREVIANCHENKO, Elena A. et al. «Cooperative learning: on the issue of national and international
application experience»
Pag. 39
questions. Schoolchildren, freely moving around the class, form pairs, ask and answer each other questions on
the topic, react to the student's answer by praising or correcting his answer in case of mistakes.
Emotional positive response is a cornerstone in the implementation of whole Singapore education technology.
Of course, when working in replaceable pairs in Russia, it is also important to maintain a favorable psychological
climate, respectfully treating the partner, but the idea of PIES, in our opinion, can become an excellent basis for
the development of a comfortable environment for each individual not only in the school space, but also society
as a whole. Its basic principles: Positive interdependence, Individual participation, Equal responsibility,
Simultaneous interaction, reflect the attitudes that regulate communication at all levels and in all spheres of
activity of a modern society based on democratic values.
4. Conclusions
A comparative analysis of the main characteristics of the educational technologies we have considered is
presented in the table.
Table 1
MCML versus Singapore EdTech: Main characteristics
Criteria
Indicators
MCML
Singapore EdTech
didactic concept
learning vector
from collective to individual
from individual to collective
student position
active
active
didactic tasks
developing of foreign
language communicative
competence focusing on
the integrity of all linguistic
and speech components;
supporting motivation for
communication;
building the skills to learn
developing of foreign
language communicative
competence focusing on
the integrity of all linguistic
and speech components;
supporting motivation for
communication;
building the skills to learn;
developing critical thinking
and language awarness
specifics of building
interpersonal
communication in foreign
language classes
student roles
student / teacher
communication partner
student / teacher
communication partner
way of students interaction
horizontal interaction (with
the same level of training);
vertical interaction (at
different levels of training)
constant change of activity:
individual, group,
collective; сhanging the
organization of the
interaction space
psychological environment
emotionally positive
critical
emotionally positive
critical
requirements for changes
in the traditional
educational process
restructuring of the
traditional system
is required
is not required
Source: made by authors
A comparative analysis of the named teaching methods showed that both of them with different intensities can
be integrated into the traditional teaching system: the MCML deeply affects the basic didactic relationship of
“teacher-student-educational material”, and the Singapore EdTech is more adaptable to the traditional system.
The both are building interpersonal communication of participants in foreign language classes: turning them into
genuine communicants, contributing to the accumulation of communicative experience and the development of
soft skills.
ISSN-L: 0798-1015 • eISSN: 2739-0071 (En línea) - Revista Espacios – Vol. 42, Nº 20, Año 2021
DEREVIANCHENKO, Elena A. et al. «Cooperative learning: on the issue of national and international
application experience»
Pag. 40
In conclusion, we would like to emphasize that the method of collective mutual learning described by us and the
innovative Singapore educational technology undoubtedly have much in common and are productive for the
development of foreign language communicative competence. Their combination within the framework of one
educational process is possible, and the choice of a suitable tool, first of all, depends on the purpose set by the
teacher and students, in our case – “to speak a foreign language”.
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Zakharov K.P., Gulk E.B. (2017) The stages of the formation of the method co-dialogue with Alexander G. Rivin.
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