The Effect of Using the Peer Learning Strategy in Learning English on the Achievement of Intermediate School Students from their Teachers’ Point of View

Journal for Educators, Teachers and Trainers JETT, Vol. 14 (3); ISSN: 1989-9572 399 ISSN 1989 – 9572 DOI: 10.47750/jett.2023.14.03.049 The Effect of Using the Peer Learning Strategy in Learning English on the Achievement of Intermediate School Students from their Teachers’ Point of View Latifah Abdullah Alharbi1* Journal for Educators,Teachers and Trainers, Vol. 14 (3) https://jett.labosfor.com/ Date of reception:12 Feb 2023 Date of revision: 07 Mar 2023 Date of acceptance: 23 Apr 2023 Latifah Abdullah Alharbi (2023). The Effect of Using the Peer Learning Strategy in Learning English on the Achievement of Intermediate School Students from their Teachers’ Point of View.Journal for Educators, Teachers and Trainers,Vol. 14(3). 399-410. 1Associate Professor of Curriculum and Instruction in Education Collage , Qassim University Journal for Educators, Teachers and Trainers, Vol. 14 (3) ISSN 1989 – 9572 https://jett.labosfor.com/ Journal for Educators, Teachers and Trainers JETT, Vol. 14 (3); ISSN: 1989-9572 400 The Effect of Using the Peer Learning Strategy in Learning English on the Achievement of Intermediate School Students from their Teachers’ Point of View Latifah Abdullah Alharbi1* 1Associate Professor of Curriculum and Instruction in Education Collage , Qassim University *Corresponding Author Email:14[email protected].sa АBSTRACT The current study aims to identify the effect of using the peer education strategyin learning English on the achievement of intermediate school students from their teachers’ point of view .To achieve the aim of the study, the researcher used the descriptive approach, which is concerned with describing the phenomenon under study, using a questionnaire as a tool for data collection by distributing it to a sample of (60) English language teachers in Qassim region in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.The study revealed a high-level effect of using the peer learning strategy on the achievement of intermediate school students, and a high level of English language teachers' support for the effectiveness of using the peer education strategy in teaching English, and there are statistically significant differences in the opinion of teachers about the effectiveness of using peer learning strategy in learning English due to the gender variable in favor of females, which indicates that female teachers are more aware and understanding the effectiveness of using the peer learning strategy in teaching English. Also, the study found out that there are no statistically significant differences in the effect of using peer education in the education of intermediate school students due to the variables of gender, academic position, educational qualification, and number of years of work. The researcher recommended the need to use modern methods in the field of education in order to increase students' levels and improve their abilities and skills, and paying attention to providing programs and training courses that contribute to improving teachers' performance levels and raising their ability to use modern teaching methods. Keywords: Peer Learning, Strategy, Intermediate School, Learning English. INTRODUCTION Education, as reflected in its goals, is the attempt to change human behavior through the process of learning. As a social institution, education seeks to bring about behavioral changes that are considered worthwhile and desirable in society. Education is the reason by which man superiors all other creatures because it shapes individuals to fit into the social system and sets limits according to the cultural patterns of their time. The purpose of education is likely to be achieved when the teacher takes responsibility for imparting knowledge to the best of his ability. Hence, if education helps someone learn something, learning is more than just providing information, ideas or memorizing facts. It also includes guiding students' learning through activities such as analysis, inquiry, examination, and discovery which leads to reflective thinking and skill development. Learning imposes education and teachers are professionally trained and prepared for the profession (Rizve, 2012). The opinions of Carroll (1989) and Bloom (1968) established the learning mastery strategy, which is based on the individualization of learning by taking into account the phenomenon of individual differences for students, which affects the form of the elements of the educational process by diversifying curricula, means, goals, evaluation, learning time and teacher to suit the different abilities and characteristics of students of the same age. The educational stage, in which education is transformed from general education to special education (Wessel, 2015). The strategy of individualizing education is also linked to the reality of group education practices and individualized education procedures in one framework, where the teacher does the teaching process, and then individualization procedures are taken as a post-treatment. However, individualized education is distinguished from group education for three reasons have been defined by Núñez-Andrés et al. (2021): The first reason is that the collective educational system wastes a considerable amount of human wealth because it wastes many talented, gifted, and capable people in various fields of knowledge, and what is learned from Journal for Educators, Teachers and Trainers JETT, Vol. 14 (3); ISSN: 1989-9572 401 them is only the least of what we should get. The difficulty of this education and its inappropriateness pushes them to escape to work in a craft or a profession. They preferred to be illiterate in an era in which they need an amount of culture and knowledge. Students in this collective education are like interconnected racers, in which the strong try to pull the weak forward, but in vain, so all of them fall, as the weak pull back the stronger. And this is why they shall never be at their full capacity. And both the strong and the weak are lost. The second reason is that every individual has the right to education as his right to life. and that all individuals are capable of learning, or at least a certain type of learning. Also, with perseverance and training, those who lack some abilities can learn and achieve from the results that others achieve. The third reason is related to the application capabilities that have become available to us in a better way than before, which include the multiplicity of goals and enable us to classify and analyze them. In addition, we can develop curricula of different levels and qualities, provide textbooks, and multiply the means of learning and evaluation (Kodabux & Hoolash, 2015). In spite of the advantages of individualized learning, the most important of which is that it establishes the concept of learning for mastery, its application faces several difficulties. the most important of which is the provision of the enormous human and material capabilities necessary to individualize and multiply the elements of the process of Peer education. RESEARCH PROBLEM The researcher noticed that a few intermediate School students achieved high scores in the English language, based on basics of learning, learning theories and the psychology of learning for mastery and based on many related studies as (Alrabai, 2016), (Alshammari, 2022), and (Al-Nasser, 2015). The researcher assumed a number of factors that lead to this problem: The time available for their learning, as the teacher usually moves his learning to students from one subject to another at a specific time, in which all learners may not be given opportunities to master each subject or allow sufficient time for each learner to master the subject of the lesson, and then slow learners may show low performance on academic achievement tests, while the performance of learners with high ability to learn shows better levels on these tests (Shaheen, 2010). The learning method for these students depends on group education, in which the density of the number of students in one group reaches between (35) and (45) students, which is a large number for learning English, as it is generally preferred that the groups be of small numbers. The researcher resorted to the learning strategies to treat this problem. The peer education strategy was chosen, and the researcher assumed that it would help solve the research problem because of its characteristics, including: The steps of the peer education strategy are appropriate in achieving the advantages of the psychology of learning for mastery of the different subjects, as it is one of the patterns of individual education, which is concerned with the individual differences between students. The most important of which are the differences in the time factor that it takes for each student to reach mastery of the skill required of him. While the peer learning strategy allows the student the necessary time to reach the specified level of proficiency. Many countries have adopted the strategy of pairing education. For example, it became more common in the United Kingdom and Australia (Corral, 2018). Helping students who have reached the stage of proficiency by forming small groups to help their colleagues who have not reached this level. “The importance of peer education is evident in bringing about effective learning in schools that include large numbers of students”. ( Shaheen, 2010). The results of related research and studies, which were dealt with in the current research, and its results confirmed the effectiveness of the peer learning strategy in developing the skills of a variety of practical and theoretical courses, especially learning the English language which is the focus of the research, in addition to its effectiveness in increasing students' motivation, enthusiasm, and social interaction as (Tang et al., 2021). It is clear from the previous presentation that the research problem is that a large number of intermediate School students do not obtain high grades in the subject of the English language. In view of the educational strategies, the researcher suggested using the peer education strategy to treat this problem and measure the impact of applying that strategy by answering the following question: What is the effect of using the peer education strategy in learning English on the achievement of intermediate School students from the point of view of their teachers? Research aims 1. To identify the effect of using the peer education strategy in learning English on intermediate school students 2. To identify English teachers' opinion on the effectiveness of using the peer education strategy in learning English to intermediate School students. Journal for Educators, Teachers and Trainers JETT, Vol. 14 (3); ISSN: 1989-9572 402 Research importance 1. Learning till mastery is one of the most important educational goals. Therefore, the current research studies the possibility and limits of its application in learning English to intermediate School students. 2. The research practically applies the culture of cooperation and helping students to each other in the educational process and monitors the effectiveness of this application on the research sample. Cooperation, especially in the field of teaching and learning, is one of the desired social and moral values to achieve the goals of society in general and educational goals in particular. 3. The results and recommendations of the research can be used in planning curricula, educational goals, and learning strategies for intermediate school students, which must take into account the principle of the generality of individual differences, especially the differences in the time required to learn the targeted skills, which contributes to the consolidation of the principle of equality and equal opportunities and also takes into account the problem of the increasing number of students, which is one of the intractable problems in education. 4. To the extent of the researcher's knowledge, there are few studies that examined the possibility of applying peer learning strategy in learning English to intermediate school students. Research limits ➢ Human Limits: English language teachers in intermediate schools. ➢ Spatial boundaries: All English language teachers in the intermediate stage in Qassim region, KSA. ➢ Time limits: the first term of the academic year 2022-2023. Theoretical framework It includes peer learning strategy: (concept - importance - types - influencing factors - steps to apply) 1. The concept of education strategy In the field of educational psychology, it means those recurring processes that are suitable for use with a number of different tasks to achieve the desired educational goals (cognitive, emotional, skillful, social, moral, etc.) short or long. it means the educational processes in terms of behavioral patterns emanating from the English language teacher, the task presentation system (such as printed materials, films, programmed education, or electronic learning), or the organizational structures of the learning situation (such as direct supervision by the English teacher or the school management) (Andrews & Manning, 2016). 2. The concept of peer education it is defined as a kind of participatory learning in which groups of students of the same age teach each other a special education. It is designed by English language teachers to achieve social, academic, and emotional goals. Therefore, it is considered one of the most effective strategies because it helps students to learn and influences classmates more than the teacher separation in the academic and behavioral field (Sukrajh, 2018). 3. The importance of peer learning The reasons for the importance of peer learning as (Corral, 2018) refers are due to: - It helps the English language teacher of classes with large numbers of students and those with different achievement levels to achieve learning goals. - It reduces the burden on the English language teachers and helps them direct their activities to interact with students, and take care of them. - It makes the learning activities centered around the learners instead of around the teacher so that the learners become more positive in the active participation in the subject of learning. - The method of peer education is useful in directing the individual attention of the peer by providing him with better opportunities to learn according to his ability and speed in performing the tasks that he performs. - It is very useful with students with low levels of ambition and whose self-confidence is low because they develop the conviction that if their peers are able to learn, then they are also easy to learn. - It improves the emotional education of strikers to build their confidence and social skills. - It promotes the work of peers together and train them on teamwork and cooperative learning, which is one of the social necessities for exchanging knowledge and skills among peer students. - Education among peers tends to promote dialogues that are relatively low, which encourages solving common problems among peers. Journal for Educators, Teachers and Trainers JETT, Vol. 14 (3); ISSN: 1989-9572 403 - Learning from peers contributes significantly to student achievement through regular practices, in which the peer imitates a peer in the classroom in a spontaneous manner. Observing their schoolmates in English language skills (reading and speaking). 4. Types of peer learning Forms of peer learning vary according to several criteria. The following table shows a classification of forms of peer learning according to each criterion: Table 1: Classification of forms of peer education according to each criterion (Fakhir, 2015). Standard The Peers’ age Number of Peers Roles Type of Participation Type of Learning The form Same age Differe nt ages Two Small group Fixed role Mutual role Full Integrati ve An Individ ual Remote ly 5. Factors affecting learning by peer learning strategy There are many factors that must be taken into consideration during the application of the peer learning strategy, including the following witch defined by (Sukrajh, 2018): 1. The gender of the peers, so that if the peers are of the same gender, this facilitates the learning process. 2. If the peers are of the same socio-cultural level, then peer learning is better than when these levels differ. 3. The greater the age of the teacher student over the age of the learner student, the better, so that this difference does not exceed three years. 4. The possibility of achieving the goals increases the more education sessions are repeated. 5. The length of the session varies according to the nature of the subject and the objectives. 6. The volume of the group is small, and the best is dual education. One pair / learner for each peer. 7. Peer acceptance of each other and their sharing of inclinations, attitudes, values, and personal characteristics increase their interaction with each other, which leads to good learning. 8. Good training of the (teachers) peers on their roles and providing them with clear details of strategy. 9. Willingness on the students' side. 10. Peer learning is short for a maximum of (4) weeks, providing better results so that the student does not feel bored or that the course becomes a substitute for the teacher. 11. Follow-up peer education sessions to provide feedback and intervene when necessary. 6. Steps to implement the peer education strategy In order to implement the strategy of peer learning, multiple readings were necessary to determine thesteps that the teacher must follow to implement the procedures for applying the strategy. (Fuchs & Fuchs, 2005) identified it as below: 1. Determining the goal of applying the strategy of peer learning, where the objectives of its application are multiple. One of those goals is to improve social skills, self-concept, and bio-personal relationships. And the most important of these goals is to help students in academic achievement. 2. Preparing students to accept the strategy by defining its advantages and objectives. 3. Determining the work groups and dividing the roles, and the (teachers) peer are determined based on their superiority or mastery of the skill required to be taught or their ability to feel the problems faced by their colleagues or their motivation to play the role of the teacher’s peer. 4. Training peers who are well-trained with clarification by audio-visual means, practice, and feedback, must be used first with peer teacher. Peer-teacher training takes several steps that differ in terms of the simplicity or complexity of the target skill. Those steps are to ask the peer teacher to observe the teacher during his performance in the classroom. Then the teacher discusses and answers the learner peer's inquiries. After that, the teacher plays the role of the learner in front of the (teacher) peer, or the (teacher's) peer performs with one of the educated peers in front of the teacher. Finally, He evaluates his performance and corrects his mistakes. 5. The (teacher) peer is asked to read books about learning, strategy of learning, and skills required to be taught. 6. The teacher prepares a booklet with detailed instructions for the learning strategy procedures. 7. Preparing learning aids and materials, identifying and preparing the place. 8. Preparing assessment tools. 9. The actual application of peer educating. Journal for Educators, Teachers and Trainers JETT, Vol. 14 (3); ISSN: 1989-9572 404 10. The teacher follows up on the (teacher's) peer eye and asks him to carry out the necessary exercises after each clarification, using educational means such as books and references, and these exercises are evaluated to assess the extent of his mastery of the. 11. Final evaluation: It would be helpful to reflect on the 'do's and don'ts' of peer learning. 3. Applied Framework 1. Research Hypotheses 1. There are statistically significant differences in the response of the study sample to the effect of using peer learning in the education of intermediate school students due to the personal variables of the study sample (gender, academic job, educational qualification, number of years of job experience) . 2. There are statistically significant differences in the response of the study sample towards teachers' opinion about the effectiveness of using the peer learning strategy in learning English. Attributable to the personal variables of the study sample (gender, academic position, educational qualification, number of years of job experience). 2. Study tool The study used the survey form as a tool for the field study to collect data from (60) English teachers, they are the study population, after reviewing the administrative literature and previous studies related to the subject of the study, as it was used in building the questionnaire and its main themes and drafting its paragraphs, which consists of two main sections. The first section was devoted to knowing the demographic data of the study sample. It includes (gender, academic position, educational qualification, number of years of work experience). The second section was devoted to the study themes and included 34 items. It included the axis of the impact of using peer learning in the education of intermediate school students, which included 20 items, and the axis of teachers' opinion about the effectiveness of using the peer learning strategy in Learn English. It included 14 items and the study relied on the five-point Likert scale (strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree, strongly disagree) in answering the questions of the study themes. The study divided the direction of the study sample's approval of the study themes statements into levels: Table 2: levels study sample's approval of the study themes Degree Level 1 – 1.799 Very low 1.800 – 2.599 Low 2.600 – 3.399 Middle 3.400 – 4.199 High 4.200 - 5 Very high 3. Statistical methods used in the study: The researcher used SPSS statistical program to analyze the study data using a set of statistical methods as follows: - Cronbach alpha coefficient to calculate the stability level of the study tool. - Pearson correlation coefficient to determine the level of internal consistency and validity of the study tool. - Percentages and frequencies to describe the characteristics of the study sample. - The mean, standard deviation, and the relative weight calculation to describe the level of response of the study sample to the phrases of the study tool. 4. Validity of the study tool : The validity of the internal consistency of the questionnaire statements was calculated by using the Pearson correlation coefficient to measure the correlation between the degree of each of the questionnaire statements and the total score of the axis to which the statement belongs to determine the level of internal consistency of the study tool. It was found that all the values of the Pearson correlation coefficients were statistically significant at the level of (0.01) This means that the level of truthfulness of the study tool statements is high, which indicates that it is applicable to achieve the objectives of the study . 5. Reliability of the study tool: The Cronbach alpha coefficient was calculated for the phrases of the questionnaire axes, and the results were as follows: Journal for Educators, Teachers and Trainers JETT, Vol. 14 (3); ISSN: 1989-9572 405 Table 3: Reliability Questionnaire (Collected data) Themes Cronbach’s alpha Number of Elements Impact of using peer learning in the education of intermediate school students. 0.773 20 Teachers' opinion about the effectiveness of using the peer learning strategy in Learn English. 0.895 14 Total questionnaire 0.832 34 It turns out that the value of the Reliability coefficient Alpha is greater than 0.7 for all themes of the questionnaire form, which confirms the validity and relevance of the statements of the themes of the questionnaire form. The high level of Reliability of the tool used in the study confirms its validity to achieve the purposes and objectives of the study. 6. Demographic Characteristics Table 4: Sample According to Demographic Characteristics (Collected data) Characteristics Categories N % Gender Male 13 22.4 Female 45 77.6 Academic position Teacher assistant / Teacher 1 1.7 Practicing teacher 54 93.1 Advanced teacher 2 3.4 Expert teacher 1 1.7 Educational qualification Bachelor’s 54 93.1 Master’s 4 6.9 Number of years of work experience Less than 3 6 10.3 3 to less than 5 years 2 3.4 5 - 10 years 7 12.1 More than 10 years 43 74.1 7. The Variables of the Study Impact of using peer learning in the education of intermediate school students Table 5: Theme of the impact of using peer learning in the education of intermediate school students (Collected data) N. Phrases Mean S. D. Relative Weight Degree 1 I find it useful for students to elicit information by collaborating with others. 4.448 0.567 0.890 Very High 2 I find the peer tutoring method to be appropriate for this age group. 4.172 0.679 0.834 High 3 I find that teamwork in students helps learning more. 4.190 0.868 0.838 High 4 I believe that social interaction between students increases learning in adolescents. 4.362 0.520 0.872 Very High 5 I find that increasing compatibility among students increases learning rates. 4.448 0.535 0.890 Very High 6 I find that individual differences among students prevent them from learning English. 3.741 0.983 0.748 High Journal for Educators, Teachers and Trainers JETT, Vol. 14 (3); ISSN: 1989-9572 406 7 I find that peer learning helps increase creative ideas among students. 4.207 0.669 0.841 Very High 8 I find that dividing students into groups encourages students to express their opinions. 4.000 0.898 0.800 High 9 I think working groups help provide role models for students, which helps in developing their thinking. 4.241 0.709 0.848 Very High 10 I find students benefit from the individual work strategy the most. 3.310 1.111 0.662 Medium 11 I find that teamwork with peers does not increase interaction but problems. 2.724 1.073 0.545 Medium 12 Team work enhances students' cooperation in their daily life matters. 4.207 0.695 0.841 Very High 13 Some students prefer to refuse to work with others despite their advanced level. 3.897 0.892 0.779 High 14 I find an increase in social interaction among students after using peer learning. 4.017 0.761 0.803 High 15 Peer learning is suitable for students younger than intermediate school. 3.172 1.110 0.634 Medium 16 I find that the study should rely on multiple methods and not a specific method. 4.517 0.569 0.903 Very High 17 Different abilities of students force teachers to use several methods of teaching. 4.569 0.534 0.914 Very High 18 Peer rotation helps information flow into students' minds better. 4.069 0.697 0.814 High 19 Peer learning gives equal opportunities for selfexpression. 3.828 0.920 0.766 High 20 Peer learning helps students develop in general, psychologically and academically. 4.190 0.606 0.838 High The 8 phrases impact of using peer learning in the education of intermediate school students’ themes were very high, and 9 phrases impact of using peer learning in the education of intermediate school students’ themes were high, and 3 phrases impact of using peer learning in the education of intermediate school student’s themes were Medium,and it shows high level of the impact of using peer learning in the education of intermediate school students where mean is 4.016 and S.D 0.770 Teachers' opinion about the effectiveness of using the peer learning strategy in Learn English Table 6: Theme of the teachers' opinion about the effectiveness of using the peer learning strategy in Learn English (Collected data) N. Phrase Mean S. D. Relative weight Degree 1 Peer learning can change students' thinking about the English language. 4.000 0.725 0.800 High 2 Peer learning is able to improve students' achievement levels in English. 4.052 0.686 0.810 High Journal for Educators, Teachers and Trainers JETT, Vol. 14 (3); ISSN: 1989-9572 407 3 I do not prefer peer learning in teaching languages. 2.586 1.155 0.517 Low 4 The peer learning method is more used in teaching theoretical than practical subjects. 3.103 0.968 0.621 Medium 5 The strategy led to the development of the students in their use of the language between them. 3.966 0.772 0.793 High 6 The strategy has resulted in students developing academically beyond expectation. 3.552 0.940 0.710 High 7 Peer learning is one of the modern methods that help to learn the language better. 4.052 0.633 0.810 High 8 I can't use peer learning because of class time constraints. 3.397 1.169 0.679 Medium 9 Riot issues sometimes arise when using peer learning. 3.810 0.907 0.762 High 10 Students usually do not accept group changes. 3.879 0.860 0.776 High 11 Engagement increases each time peer learning is used. 3.828 0.729 0.766 High 12 Students escape from group activities and content themselves with receiving information. 3.328 1.049 0.666 Medium 13 A peer learning strategy works on sharing information among students. 4.069 0.588 0.814 High 14 There is a negative impact of peer learning on student achievement in English 2.672 1.033 0.534 Medium The 9 phrases teachers' opinion about the effectiveness of using the peer learning strategy in Learn English themes were high, and 4 phrases teachers' opinion about the effectiveness of using the peer learning strategy in Learn English themes were Medium, and 1 phrase teachers' opinion about the effectiveness of using the peer learning strategy in Learn English themes were low, and it shows high level of the teachers' opinion about the effectiveness of using the peer learning strategy in Learn English where mean is 3.592 and S.D 0.872 Test Research Hypotheses In order to identify the statistically significant differences between the average responses of the study sample on the study themes due to the variables (gender, academic position, educational qualification, number of years of work experience), the independent samples test (T-test) was used for the variables (gender, educational qualification), and the one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) is used for the variables (academic position, number of years of job experience), as shown in the following tables: There are statistically significant differences in the response of the study sample to the effect of using peer learning in the education of intermediate school students due to the personal variables of the study sample (gender, academic job, educational qualification, number of years of job experience) . Table 7: Differences in the response of the study sample to the effect of using peer learning in the education of intermediate school students due to the personal variables of the study sample (gender, educational qualification) Variables Categories N ttest P-value Gender Male 13 -0.047 0.963 Female 45 Educational qualification Bachelor’s 54 -0.131 0.896 Master’s 4