When 37 7th-graders learned science in cooperative learning environments, their small-group processes were audio/video taped. The verbal behaviors that appeared in cooperative learning processes were categorized, and the relationships between verbal b...
When 37 7th-graders learned science in cooperative learning environments, their small-group processes were audio/video taped. The verbal behaviors that appeared in cooperative learning processes were categorized, and the relationships between verbal behaviors and academic achievement were investigated. Students` verbal behaviors were classified into learning behaviors and management behaviors. Learning behaviors were further coded into giving help, reading problem, and asking help. Giving help was the most frequent behavior among the categories. In studying zero-order correlation between verbal behaviors and academic achievement, giving help and reading problem were found to have positive relationships with academic achievement. Giving specific content, which is a subcategory of giving help, showed the closest correlation with academic achievement. In studying partial correlation between verbal behaviors and the improvement of academic achievement, only application subtest score, which demands higher-order thinking, was positively related with some verbal behaviors including giving specific content.