Twenty-sixth International Conference on Learning

Abstract

The paradigmatic shift from teacher-centred to learner-centred approaches to teaching has been appreciated over the past decades. To effectively ensure this change, teachers need to be trained to understand and apply approaches that enforce learner-centeredness in their classrooms. To explore the training high school English teachers in South Africa and Ghana received in the use of the cooperative learning approach and establish how they apply it, this qualitative study was necessitated. The study findings indicated that teachers from both countries had received training either formally or through self-study. Based on their orientation the Ghanaian teachers mostly referred to the approach as group learning while their South African counterparts referred to it as the cooperative learning approach. It was also clear that some teachers applied the approach though they did not make deliberate plans and preparations for it. In spite of that, it was evident that teachers from both countries were not applying the approach based on its five principles. It is in this light that the researchers aimed at a proposed constructive alignment framework for the use of cooperative learning in the English classroom. The proposed framework will be used as a futuristic empowerment initiative for teacher education training in both countries.