An Exploration Of Cooperative Learning And Student Involvement In College English Classroom

The lack of student involvement in the English classroom of China's educational institutions has been an accepted problem to a great many Chinese teachers of English. Students are used to listening to the teachers without bringing their initiative into full play while teachers are accustomed to be the center of attention in the classroom. The passivity of the students and the dominance of the teachers constitute enormous obstacles for students' practice and use of language in communicative contexts. To activate students in the classroom, many teachers have tried various approaches. However, the small skills they employ are too fragmental to be popularized among the teachers. A systematic approach for the enhancement of student involvement is still in urgent need. Adopting the position that maximizing student involvement is conducive to second language learning and based on the previous researches on cooperative learning, this study examines the ways that teachers may make use of cooperative learning to increase student involvement. An experiment that lasted a semester was done in an experimental class of 40 freshmen to contrast with the control class of 38 freshmen so as to discover students' difference in their classroom involvement. The treatment included various adapted cooperative learning techniques such as Jigsaw, Student Teams Achievement Divisions, group writing and group presentation. Questionnaires, interviews and observation checklists were used to explore problems that hinder student involvement.The results of the study demonstrate the effectiveness of cooperative learning in promoting student involvement in Chinese College English classroom. The roles that students took, the responsibility for explaining part of the text on everyone and the chances offered for them to speak out all proved helpful for their classroom participation. However, as a result of the longstanding traditional teaching, the immature implementation of cooperative learning and the special sample under study, various problems also turn out, including insufficient student-teacher interaction, wanting of self-evaluation, less promoting grouping and so on. In the light of Chinese background, enhanced group processing, considerate grouping, supervised preparation, adequate assessment and so on will be possible solutions.