Positive learning spaces: Social Interdependence Theory and Cooperative learning
By Michael Rabbidge
A main concern of modern education is to provide positive learning spaces so that students can become more motivated learners beyond the classroom. While a number of theories have addressed this point of interest to varying degrees of success, one that has proven itself invaluable to teachers while also having the support of research is Social Interdependence Theory.
Social interdependence in learning describes the situation where students need to rely on each other to accomplish a learning goal. It runs counter to the more Darwinist view of learning which creates competitive learning contexts which force students to actively work against each other to achieve their learning goals.
Social interdependence theory (Johnson & Johnson, 2005) has been used within education circles to understand why people care, or don’t, for each other or certain issues in a given activity or lesson. It suggests three lenses through which the level of interest shown can be understood: The first – positive interdependence, is where students see their actions as positively correlated to other students in the group. The second – negative interdependence, is where students see their actions as negatively related to other students in the group. No interdependence describes the situation where students see no correlation between their own actions and the actions of other students in the group.
Each form of interdependence promotes different psychological processes and forms of interaction in the classroom. For example, positive interdependence is said to promote substitutability – how much one student’s actions can be substituted for another’s, inducibility – openness to being influenced or influencing other students, and positive cathexis – being psychologically positive beyond oneself. These processes expand self-interest to mutual interest by being able to rely on others’ actions, being emotionally supportive of others who share the same goals, and being accepting of other views and opinions on a given activity. This all leads to positive forms of interaction, or promotive interaction; students facilitating each other’s efforts to complete a group task. Negative interdependence fosters the opposite psychological processes and forms of interaction in the classroom, and therefore is generally undesirable in positive learning contexts.
This theory has been used as a basis for the promotion of cooperative/ collaborative learning by adopting activity types that encourage positive interdependence views, with research revealing a number of positive impacts for learners:
1. An increased level of achievement and productivity
2. Improved levels of motivation
3. Improved use of reasoning strategies
4. Outperforming students who work individually
5. Generally more positive learner identity formation
So how can teachers create a learning environment that facilitates positive interdependence?
Firstly, making effective pre-instructional teaching decisions that focus on creating effective groups of students based on ability and learner styles is key. Providing materials and activities that guarantee cooperation is rewarded (i.e., necessary) by ensuring that instructions are highly explicit and that there is a clear product as a result of the group activity is important here. Explaining to students the cooperative nature of the activity and the potential benefits of cooperative action can ensure students buy-in to this learning approach, especially if students come from cultures that promote more individualistic learning approaches. Monitoring learning and intervening to provide assistance with achieving activity goals or helping students to develop interpersonal skills and language effectively ensures smoother progress during activity. Finally, assessing and responding to students cooperative learning can further aid in students becoming more effectively collaborators for future lessons as they are able to reflect upon their actions to see where they were successful in the collaborative endeavors.
The information briefly outlined here regarding Social Interdependence Theory helps foster more positive psychological processes in students relative to the competitive forms of education that tend to dominate modern ELT discussions. As an approach it offers a counter to increasingly dominant competitive models of education. In addition, it is not entirely activity dependent, but rather can be applied to improve the cooperative nature of activities that teachers already commonly employ.
Johnson, D., & Johnson, R. (2005). New Developments in Social Interdependence Theory. Genetic, social, and general psychology monographs, 131, 285-358. doi:10.3200/MONO.131.4.285-358