A Study Of Cooperative Learning In EFL Teaching

This paper reports on a contrastive study of Cooperative Learning (CL) in EFL teaching in China. It involves one experimental group, which is exposed to CL instruction, and one control group that receives traditional teacher-frontal instruction. The purpose of this study is to explore, first, how CL can be successfully implemented in reading and writing and whether the learners who have received CL instruction can perform better than learners in control group in their academic achievement and; secondly, what roles can the teacher as well as learners play during the learning process. Through the analysis of questionnaire, data of the test and learning and teaching journals, the study indicates that, after 15-week treatment, though the two groups have not achieved significant differences in their academic achievement, oral and writing abilities of the experimental group proved to be better than those of the control group. Meanwhile, learners in experimental group tend to be more autonomous. They enjoy the relaxed atmosphere and benefit quite a lot from it. Besides, the roles the teacher and learners play during the application are carefully analyzed. Based on the findings drawn from the data analysis, the author summarizes the advantages as well as disadvantages of CL instruction in college English teaching in China. Finally, some general implications are concluded and suggestions for further studies are put forward.