Abstract

This study aims to investigate the effect of the collaborative learning on improving the students’ potential when dealing with the active voice and the passive voice in English.

To achieve this aim, the researchers conducted this study on the eighth graders in Qalqilia district in Palestine. The treatment was applied to 50 male and female students who were randomly selected from all the district schools. The researchers divided the sample into two groups of 25 students each (a control group and an experimental group).. The groups were given the same material about the passive voice and the active voice. The students in the control group were taught the use of the passive voice and the active voice through the traditional method while the students in the experimental group were taught the use of the passive voice and the active voice through the collaborative learning method. The researchers illustrated the collaborative learning principles to the teacher of the experimental group. For details see Appendices III , P.24.

During the second semester 2006-2007 and before applying the collaborative method, the researchers gave the two groups the same test to make sure that they were equivalent. They administered the same test to the two groups after applying the collaborative method.  The findings of the study showed that there was a significant difference between the experimental and the control groups in favor of the experimental group, which means that the collaborative learning strategy was more effective in improving students’ learning of the active and passive voice.

           Based on these findings, the researchers recommended that teachers be advised to adopt the collaborative learning strategy that focuses on the learner who is considered as the foundation stone of the whole teaching and learning process.