Cooperative Learning and Academic Writing Skills: An Application of the Collective Working Memory Effect

Cognitive Load Theory (CLT) has primarily been applied to individual learning, while research on collaborative learning under CLT remains inconclusive. This experimental study investigated the effect of collective working memory on cognitive load, writing performance, and learning efficiency among 150 Indonesian undergraduates. Participants were assigned to either an individual learning (control) or cooperative learning (experimental) condition. Baseline writing performance differed between groups, so gain scores were analyzed. Results showed that both groups improved significantly in writing performance, with no significant differences between conditions. Cognitive load increased slightly in the cooperative learning group, while learning efficiency showed a small positive trend. These findings suggest that cooperative learning may support writing performance and efficiency in complex tasks, although clear advantages over individual learning were not established. Further research is needed with balanced baseline groups and longer interventions.