Motivating First-year College English Majors Throuch Co-operative Learning

The problem of teaching first-year college English majors effectively always haunts college English teachers in China. No matter how hard the teacher tries, there is not much response from learners in class. Learners?passivity is found everywhere in the whole process of learning. Most of the teachers generalize that the students lack motivation. This study intends to examine the problems that affect learner motivation and the potential factors that could influence motivation. Self-reported data were collected from 27 first-year college English majors randomly selected in the Foreign Languages Institute, Liaoning Teachers?University by using a close-ended questionnaire. Qualitative results caine from interviews from 4 teachers who have been teaching first-year English majors for several years. Findings provide evidence that some problems, which emerge with the iransition from middle school to university, will influence learners?motivation. In an attempt to remedy transition problems, cooperative learning梐 learner-centered approach梚s employed in CET to promote learner motivation in the process of L2 teaching and learning. In cooperative learning environments, the relationships among learners are trusting and trustworthy. Learners focus on how to complete the learning task without fear of making errors or being laughed at by others. The teacher抯 role is to facilitate the development of learners?language and communicative competence by providing a supportive learning environment according to learners?needs and interests. So cooperative learning in EFL is an appropriate way to motivate L2 learners in using the target language to communicate.