Due to international and national student achievement research studies (e.g. TIMS , PISA , DESI ) the quality of classroom instruction has become a major issue of both, educational research and educational policy in Germany. Whereas 1990s research mainly focused on student achievement, few scholars have recently turned to classroom processes and their contextual conditions. Especially teachers’ professional skills and certain individual characteristics have become a topic of high interest (Helmke, Helmke & Schrader, 2007). As a result of previous research, both educators and politicians demand for instructional approaches, which focus on independent study, student-directedness, and the development of academic and social skills. The concept of cooperative learning (CL) is often highlighted in this context, but seldom used in systematic manner within German schools (Ganser, 2005, Stern & Huber, 1997). In order to increase its utilization, a teacher skills training has been developed and evaluated. The approach is based on the theoretical background and methodological implications of the Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 1985), the Cooperation in the classroom training by Johnson & Johnson (1989, 1998, 1999), and the Group training of Social Skills by Hinsch & Pfingsten (2007). The training approach draws on prior research on teachers’ in-service education. It has been designed to increase a) participants’ intention to use CL and b) their actual utilization of CL in the classroom. According to the Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 1985) the training therefore needs to address and positively modify participants’ a) attitudes towards the use of CL in the EFL classroom, b) subjective norms, and c) control expectancies. Based on Ajzen’s Theory of Planned Behavior (1985) the study addressed the following research questions: I. Does the training affect participants' intention to use CL in their classroom? a) Does the training affect participants’ attitudes towards the use of CL? b) Does the training affect subjective norms of the participants? c) Does the training affect perceived behavioral control of the participants to use CL in their classroom? II. Does training participation increase teachers' use of CL in their classroom? III. How do participants evaluate the training approach? Through the combination of the two training approaches, all factors under consideration are addressed in order to cause a positive modification. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the training approach, and the results of a pilot study, which has been conducted in February 2009 at a German Hauptschule and a German comprehensive school.

The utilized questionnaire contains three sections related to the five research questions. All scales have established validity and internal consistency in prior research by its developers (Abrami, Poulsen & Chambers, 2004; Ghaith, 2004). A pretest-posttest control group design has been used to investigate the trainings effects on in-service teachers’ intentions to implement cooperative learning and their actual use of CL procedures in their classrooms. In addition, the acceptance of the training has been examined. The data has been gathered from a sample of German in-service teachers (N = 38).

Notwithstanding its limitations, the overall results of the study indicate that the training approach is valuable. In addition to increased means on all scales while comparing pre and post test results, the acceptance of the training approach is high. However, its effectiveness needs to be validated through further research.