University of Nevada, Reno Quiet Students' Experiences with Collaborative Learning at the Postsecondary Level A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Education by Ann Medaille Dr. Janet Usinger/Dissertation Advisor May, 2018 Copyright by Ann Medaille 2018 All Rights Reserved THE GRADUATE SCHOOL We recommend that the dissertation prepared under our supervision by ANN MEDAILLE entitled Quiet Students' Experiences with Collaborative Learning at the Postsecondary Level be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Janet Usinger, Ph., Advisor Jafeth Sanchez, Ph., Committee Member Bill Thornton, Ph., Committee Member Mary Sedgwick, Ed., Committee Member Brett Van Hoesen, Ph., Graduate School Representative David W., Dean, Graduate School May, 2018 i Abstract Collaborative learning, in which small groups of two or more students are used to achieve common learning outcomes, has become an increasingly popular pedagogical strategy in postsecondary classes in the United States. Despite numerous studies reporting the benefits of collaboration for learning, many students have reported difficulties with it. At the same time, students who have quiet personalities are sometimes misunderstood in the college classroom, with their quietness often interpreted as a lack of engagement in their courses.
This phenomenological study sought to understand the collaborative learning experiences of self-identified quiet undergraduate college students through an analysis of their first-hand accounts of their experiences, in which they described their thoughts, feelings, and perceptions regarding their own learning. This study followed 10 upper-division college students over the course of a single semester, collecting data about their experiences through the use of three interview sessions and brief written reflections. Analysis revealed that quiet students' experiences of collaborative learning were greatly influenced by the larger academic context in which these interactions occurred, demonstrating four themes regarding their overall participation in classes: (a) quiet students made distinct choices about how to navigate through a social academic environment, (b) they experienced difficulties in meeting their instructors' expectations for speaking aloud in classes, (c) they struggled with tensions between perceptions of unengagement and feelings of engagement, and (d) their learning experiences exhibited particular characteristics. This academic context consequently influenced how they participated in collaborations with other students.
Four themes regarding their experiences of collaborative learning were revealed: (a) quiet students often engaged in a ii performance of sociality that could be anxiety inducing, (b) they experienced tensions between speaking and silence when communicating in groups, (c) they experienced negative emotions in groups that often interfered with their learning, and (d) they learned with others in specific types of collaborative scenarios. Quiet students' experiences indicated that they valued preparation, reflection, control, and independent thought and discovery, and they perceived that these values often were not reinforced in their learning environments and in collaborative learning situations. Quiet students' experiences also suggest ways that classroom participation in general and collaborative learning situations in particular can be reconsidered and redesigned to enhance the learning experiences for these students. iii Table of Contents Abstract.
i Table of Contents. iii List of Tables. 1 Statement of the Problem. 7 Purpose of the Study.
10 Significance of the Study. 12 Chapter II: Literature Review. 16 Theoretical Approaches to Collaborative Learning. 17 Collaborative Learning Research in Postsecondary Settings.
28 Collaborative Learning and Personality. 40 Solitary and Cooperative Learners. 42 Introverted and Extraverted Students. 44 Quiet and Talkative Students.
58 Chapter III: Methodology. 78 Chapter IV: Quiet Students' Participation in Classes. 79 iv Navigating through a Social Academic Environment. 82 Difficulties of Meeting Expectations for Speaking Aloud.
90 Perceptions of Engagement and Unengagement. 97 Learning Characteristics of Quiet Students. 106 Chapter V: Quiet Students' Participation in Collaborative Learning. 109 Tensions between Speaking and Silence.
116 Negative Emotions Interfere with Learning. 125 Learning with Others as a Quiet Person. 141 Chapter VI: Discussion and Conclusion. 143 Implications for Practice.
155 Redefining Class Participation. 156 Rethinking Collaborative Learning Activities. 160 Recommendations for Future Research. 171 Appendix A: First Interview Questions.
191 Appendix B: Second Interview Questions. 194 Appendix C: Third Interview Questions. 196 Appendix D: Personal Report of Communication Apprehension. 198 Appendix E: Personal Report of Communication Apprehension Scoring.
200 Appendix F: Recruitment Script. 201 Appendix G: Student Contact Information for Interested Students. 203 Appendix H: Student Data Sheet for Recruited Students. 204 Appendix I: Consent Form.
205 v List of Tables Table 1 .72 1 Chapter I: Introduction Collaborative learning (CL), or the use of small groups of two or more students to achieve common learning outcomes, has become increasingly prevalent in recent decades in a variety of educational settings (Barkley, Major, & Cross, 2013). Collaborative learning became popular in the United States in K-12 classrooms in the 1980s and soon spread to higher education (Johnson & Johnson, 2005, 2009). Today CL is routinely used across all levels and disciplines, from kindergarten to graduate school and from the humanities to the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields (Barkley et al. Hundreds of studies conducted at the postsecondary level have shown that CL is effective not only for teaching discipline- specific content but also for cultivating skills and dispositions that are applicable across a variety of settings; these include teamwork, critical thinking, problem solving, learning transfer abilities, positive attitudes toward learning, and appreciation for diverse points of view (Cabrera et al., 2002; Johnson & Johnson, 2005; Johnson, Johnson, & Smith, 2007; Pai, Sears, & Maeda, 2015; Roberts, 2005; Sellitto, 2011; Springer, Stanne, & Donovan, 1999).
Collaborative learning is championed as a student-centered active learning practice that de-emphasizes the "sage on the stage" model of teaching, through which instructors transmit knowledge to students primarily through lectures (King, 1993, p. Collaborative learning emphasizes the importance of engaging students in the learning process through active participation in a shared activity rather than passive listening to a instructor's lecture. Not only do advocates of CL propose it as a powerful way to increase student engagement in the learning process, but they also observe that CL has a strong 2 theoretical foundation in social constructivist pedagogy (Barkley et al., 2013; O’Donnell & Hmelo-Silver, 2013; Roberts, 2005; Stacey, 2005). Constructivist learning theory describes how students learn not by acquiring existing knowledge but by actively constructing knowledge through the process of interpreting ideas and events encountered through interaction with the environment, and by incorporating new ideas into prior understandings (King, 1993; O’Donnell & Hmelo-Silver, 2013; Stacey, 2005).
To constructivist learning theory, social constructivism adds the notion that knowledge is culturally dependent and learning is inherently social. Students learn through interactions with others in which they create meaning and knowledge together (Barkley et al., 2013; Hmelo-Silver, 2009; Stacey, 2005). Social constructivism provides a theoretical basis for CL because, when working together in a group, students bring different sets of experiences which they can draw upon to help each other learn and grow (Barkley et al., 2013; DeCosta, Clifton, & Roen, 2010; John-Steiner & Mahn, 1996; Webb, 2013). Despite a strong theoretical and research basis, CL has been criticized for being too broadly applied to all learning situations and all learner types (Hopper, 2003).
Students repeatedly complain about group assignments, and many have strongly negative experiences with CL (Forrest & Miller, 2003; Gillespie, Rosamond, & Thomas, 2006; Sweeney, Weaven, & Herington, 2008). Collaborative learning may not be the most appropriate choice for all types of learning tasks, and group composition and circumstances often prevent students from learning as much as they could when working in CL situations (Hopper, 2003; Levine, Resnick, & Higgins, 1993). In addition, an over- emphasis on CL may disadvantage certain types of students, particularly those with more quiet or introverted personalities (Walker, 2007). 3 The plight of quiet students in school settings has received recent attention in the popular press, partly in response to the success of Cain's (2012) bestseller Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking.
Cain argued that schools and other social institutions in the United States increasingly promote and reward extraverted behaviors. Schools often cater to the needs of extraverts at the expense of introverts, and quiet learning is increasingly de-valued. Cain explained that part of the roots of this practice is the increasingly accepted belief that extraverted behaviors are critical for success in society and business, often to the detriment of other qualities. She reported how this is reflected in schools through the comment of a fifth-grade teacher, who said that "This [CL] style of teaching reflects the business community.
where people's respect for others is based on their verbal abilities, not their originality or insight" (Cain, 2012, p. A few other writers in the popular press have followed upon Cain's critique, noting the pervasive misunderstanding that exists about both the meaning of introversion and the value of solitary thought for learning. In The Atlantic's "When Schools Overlook Introverts," Godsey (2015) critiqued postsecondary educators who have described the need for CL as a technique to be used for getting students to step "out of their comfort zones” by teaching students to self-advocate and forcing students to avoid passive behaviors (n. In the Times Higher Education's "No Place for Introverts in the Academy," MacFarlane (2014) criticized this academic trend toward constant interaction, stating that "university students are no longer allowed to be shy.
Students must ask questions, express opinions, lead oral presentations and participate enthusiastically in community projects. To collaborate is sacrosanct" (n. With such an intense and urgent 4 emphasis placed on CL in schools at all levels, the needs of quiet students may be ignored. MacFarlane (2014) observed that "'Respecting diversity' is a rhetorical boast in the higher education sector but, in reality, there is a collective failure to respect the fact that not all students have the same personality traits" (n.
For instructors who value CL and see it as an important aspect of their pedagogy, silence in the classroom may be somewhat unsettling. Dialogue is an important part of the interactive, problem-posing approach to education advocated by Brazilian educator Paulo Freire (2000). In his Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Freire explained that dialogue is a means through which students learn to critically analyze their social and economic situations, question authority, evaluate long-held assumptions, recognize transformative possibilities, and help each other learn. Dialogue is also an essential component of CL, not just because it is a method for enabling students to work together, but because CL is premised on the notion that students learn through talk (Stacey, 2005).
Thus, quiet students may be a source of unease for teachers who value CL and who believe in the importance of dialogue for learning. In a study of quiet behaviors in a college composition classroom, Reda (2009) acknowledged that teachers may not know how to deal with their quiet students: Those quiet students constitute a central classroom tension for many teachers— those who have a theoretical grounding in dialogic and collaborative learning; those who value it on a practical or experiential level; and those who construct themselves as simply wanting to hear the voices of their students. 5) Janet Collins (1996), a teacher who conducted a study of quiet middle school students, stated that she found quiet students to be particularly problematic because of her belief 5 that conversation is essential for learning: "I knew talk was central to children's cognitive and emotional development and that children developed their perceptions of themselves and their world through talk" (p. This tension may lead teachers to characterize— perhaps unconsciously—their quiet students in a negative light (Reda, 2009).
Teachers who value social interaction and discussion may do so at the expense of students who learn best through quiet, solitude, and order because it is at odds with their fundamental beliefs about learning (Hopper, 2003). Teachers may view a quiet class as unsuccessful and their quiet students as failures.