Cohesión grupal y rendimiento académico : Un estudio de caso en el entorno educativo de segundas lenguas

With the aim of studying the kind of relationship established between group cohesion and academic performance within a second language education context, this paper a) examines the multidimensional nature of group cohesion; b) researches the specific relationships established between the four constructs of group cohesion and academic performance; and c) studies the longitudinal changes experimented by the variables. The participants in the study (N = 32) were two groups of first-year university students from a university department specializing in the teaching of Spanish. The methodology employed was mixed, including qualitative and quantitative methods of analysis. The instruments deployed to measure the two variables were a questionnaire (group cohesion), a written production test and a DELE Spanish Diploma-type exam (academic performance). To observe longitudinal changes, the two variables were measured twice for each group, and the data obtained were analyzed by means of a nonparametric statistical analysis. The results support the multidimensionality of group cohesion and suggest that the four constructs of group cohesion are in a significant but independent correlation with academic performance