Background of the research

When most teachers are aware of implementing collaborative learning as a student-centred learning approach, to what extent is their pedagogical knowledge enacted in their behaviour in the classrooms? Are individual needs catered when teachers apply this student-centred teaching method? The aim of this study was to understand how teachers interact with students when learning in small groups, with a specific focus on addressing learners’ differences defined by students’ ability levels. The results provided significant insights to future orientations about teacher education and effectiveness of collaborative learning.

Numerous research has shown the relationship between learning effectiveness and interaction style (Cohen, 1994). In particularly, the quality of student-student and teacher-student interaction styles has long been explored (Christie et al., 2009; Gillies, 2008; Huber & Huber, 2008; Reznitskaya et al., 2009). When grouping is also a factor of learning outcome (Cater & Jones, 1994), most of the studies were conducted in whole-class or general group structures (Bourne & Jewitt, 2003) without differentiating group characteristics. The effects of various group types on teacher’s interaction style were seriously underexploited.

After an extensive review of the literature this study aimed at addressing the following questions:

•         Is there any difference between the ways a teacher interacts with higher-ability and lower-ability students in collaborative learning?

•         If the above is yes, how are they different?

Definitions of key concepts

In this study collaborative learning was defined as ‘students working together in a group small enough that everyone can participate on a collective task that has been clearly assigned’ (Cohen, 1994). Furthermore, the size of a group was restricted to not more than six students comprising a homogeneous ability level. Based on this definition, there were two general group types in a classroom – groups composing of either higher-ability students or lower-ability students but not mixed. Teacher-student interaction was measured by the type of questions a teacher asked within the groups.

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