Application Of Cooperative Learning Theory To Oral English Teaching In Secondary Vocational School

After many years of English learning, most Chinese students′ speaking abilitiesare still very poor. The key point is that they have few opportunities to speak Englishfor the traditional English teaching classroom tending to be teacher-centered, whichusually do not encourage interactive activities among students, and thecommunication between teachers and students are often in native language, this is notgood for stimulating students′desire to express ideas in English. The research on theapplications of cooperative learning to the classroom began in early 1970s in America,Research findings suggest that cooperative learning has benefits for many learners.And the successful outcomes attract the attention of Chinese education. Nowadays,more and more introductions are made and a lot of attempts are tried to apply thismethod to language learning in China.The purpose of this study is to find out whether cooperative learning can improvelearners′speaking abilities, what psychological changes happened to students incooperative learning and whether the atmosphere in the experimental class is moreenjoyable and relax than the traditional class. Through the analysis of thequestionnaire, data of the test and the journals, the study indicates that cooperativelearning can activate the language class, offers more chances for students tocommunicate in English, and it is an effective way to teach oral English in thesecondary vocational school indeed. The author summarizes the advantages anddisadvantages of CL instruction in oral English teaching, and put forward somesuggestions for further studies.