The Effect of Jigsaw Technique on Improving Grammar Achievement among the Impulsive and Reflective Iranian EFL Learners

The following research studies the effect of using jigsaw technique) one of the cooperative learning techniques ( on the improving the grammar achievement of Iranian impulsive and reflective (I/R) EFL learners. The research was conducted on 60 female EFL learners (at the intermediate level) who mainly were university students. The study adopted a quasi-experimental design with two groups assigned as experimental group one (Impulsive group) and experimental group two (Reflective group). To this end, three instruments were used in the study to gather the needed data: 1) The Persian version of the Impulsivity/Reflectivity questionnaire of Barratt in 1995(BIS-11), after performing questionnaire the participants were divided to two groups: Impulsive Learners group and Reflective Learners group. 2) The Oxford Placement Test (OPT) in 2007, was used for measuring the level of the participants’ language proficiency(only grammar) and assuring homogeneity of two groups 3) The Grammar Knowledge Test that was devised by the teacher-researcher and included forty items as the pre-test and the post-test. For this reason, the reliability and validity of which had been established by her, prior to the main study to two groups. Jigsaw technique was exposed to two classes (I/R) for teaching grammar. The treatment lasted for 10 sessions, after the participants of both groups separately were evaluated on their grammatical knowledge. The data collected were analyzed through a combination of descriptive and inferential statistics. The results of statistical analysis indicated that jigsaw technique led to an enhancement on the grammar achievement of reflective learners. However, the use of jigsaw technique did not prove effective for the impulsive learners.

Keywords:

Cooperating Learning , Jigsaw Technique , Grammar Teaching , Impulsivity , Reflectivity