| Summary: | The Malaysian English Language syllabus aims to extend students' English language proficiency to meet their daily communicative needs. Students’ poor English language speaking skills, however, have been a concern. Furthermore, the use of teacher-centred approach was to cater to the exam-oriented environment. This approach cared little for students’ affective factor, for students’ speaking anxiety in language. Therefore, this study explores the effect of co-operative learning on speaking in the English language. Specifically, it aims to examine the impact of co-operative learning on speaking anxiety and speaking performance among rural students. The study also investigates students’ experience of co-operative learning. Form 2 students were selected from a rural school in Pulau Pinang, Malaysia. A mixed-method design with quantitative and qualitative approaches were used in this quasi-experimental pre- and post-test study. The results showed that the cooperative learning method implemented during the English language classroom positively impacted students’ speaking performance. However, co-operative learning method did not influence the students’ speaking anxiety. Nevertheless, students were interested in this teaching approach. Integration of co-operative learning in English language class lessons enables interactive and fun learning among students. Therefore, the application of co-operative learning is suitable and should be applied by especially Malaysian English language teachers to increase students’ interest and performance in the English language.
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