Features of group cohesion in cooperative base groups in an ESL Class
The first objective of this study was to investigate if there was cohesiveness in the relationships among base group members, and if there was, to identify descriptive-interpretive features of group cohesion. The identified features contribute significantly to theory building on group cohesion. T...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English English |
| Published: |
1998
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/9047/1/FPP_1998_55_A.pdf |
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| Summary: | The first objective of this study was to investigate if there was cohesiveness in
the relationships among base group members, and if there was, to identify
descriptive-interpretive features of group cohesion. The identified features
contribute significantly to theory building on group cohesion. The second objective
was to formulate an organising scheme which classifies the descriptive-interpretive
features of group cohesion into different categories and sub-categories. This is a
helpful framework for future qualitative data analysis on group cohesion.
This heuristic research was worked into a regular ESL class for one semester.
The researcher was also the class teacher. Seventeen first semester UPM
undergraduates enrolled in a level three English proficiency course were the subjects of the study. The students were divided into four heterogeneous base
groups.
The main instrument for data collection was the students' journals containing
their written observations of their base groups. The journal entries were analysed
inductively to identify descriptive-interpretive features of group cohesion, and to
formulate an organising scheme. The organising scheme was validated and revised
a couple of times before it arrived at its final form. The reliability of the
formulated scheme and interpretation of the cohesive features was established by
computing the degree of correspondence between the raters' categorisations with the
researcher's; the reliability was found to be at .87 and .91 respectively. The
questionnaire was used as a secondary instrument to verify the cohesive features
identified from the journals. |
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