Effect of face-to-face promotive interaction in cooperative learning on preschoolers’ achievement in English language activities in Tharaka-Nithi County, Kenya

This study investigated effect of face –to- face promotive interaction in cooperative learning among preschoolers. Face to face promotive interaction is a basic component of cooperative learning in which the students communicate each other, explain the ideas, give feedback, support each other and work towards achieving common learning targets. The study compared the achievement of preschoolers in English language activities in Tharaka Nithi County, Kenya in the context of a cooperative learning approach with face-to-face promotive interaction. This study was designed in quasi-experimental with a nonequivalent control group pre-test and post test design and assisted by social interdependence theory. The study was conducted on the pre-primary school learners, teachers and head teachers in Tharaka Nithi County. The respondents for the sample were sampled using stratified randomized sampling method where 48 preschool learners and 19 teachers and 12 head teachers were sampled. Pre- and post-test assessments of the learners, the teachers' questionnaires, classroom observation schedules and head teacher interviews were used to gather data. Data were analysed by descriptive statistics, inferential statistics (independent-samples t-test, analysis of covariance) and thematic analysis for qualitative data. The mean score for the 48 learners was 15.46 with a standard deviation of 2.87 for face to face promotive interaction. The distribution of the number of engagements in promotive interaction had a skewness of -0.163 and a kurtosis of -0.724, which suggests some variation in the levels of engagement in promotive interaction amongst the learners. Pre-activity mean score for the treatment group was 25.9583 while for the control group it was 17.0000. This was higher in the treatment group than the control group. Treatment group had a mean score of 32.5417 while control group had a mean score of 22.5417 at post-test. Independent-samples t-test revealed that the two groups were statistically significantly different at pre-test and post-test with a difference of 10.00 points at post-test, t(46) = 4.895, p < .001. The results suggest that direct peer interactive structured cooperative learning has better effects on English language activity performance of preschoolers. The study suggests that the structured face-to-face promotive interaction can be a valuable classroom tool for helping preschoolers with their English language learning if it is carefully designed.