The Application Of Cooperative Learning To English Listening Teaching In Primary School

The English Curriculum Standards pointed out that students should be encouraged to develop their language skills through discussion,cooperation,and exploration.Listening is the most important input method in English learning,and listening comprehension plays an essential role in English tests.However,the traditional listening teaching mode only blindly listens to the answer,fails to stimulate students’ interest in listening learning,which is not conducive to the cultivation of students’ listening ability.Cooperative learning has attracted extensive attention since it was introduced into China in the 1980 s.At present,it is a practical teaching theory applied to foreign language teaching.Cooperative learning with the characteristics of stimulating students’ learning interest,focusing on the interaction between student-student and student-teacher,which meets the requirements of English curriculum standards.Therefore,the author will try to apply cooperative learning to English listening teaching in primary school to explore an efficient teaching method.In this research,43 students from Class 4 Grade 4 and 41 students from Class 6Grade 4 of E Primary School in Pianguan County were selected as the research subjects.According to the test scores before the experiment,the author chose Class 4of Grade 4,whose average score was relatively low,as the experimental class and Class 6 of Grade 4 as the control class to carry out comparative experimental research.The traditional teaching method for listening was used in the control class,and the cooperative learning method was adopted in the experimental class.The author tried to explore the following questions: 1)What is the current situation of students’ listening performance and what affects it? 2)What effect does cooperative learning have on students’ listening performance? 3)What other benefits does cooperative learning have on students’ learning performance?The research instruments in this research included interview,questionnaire,classroom observation,and test.The author first interviewed some students in the experimental class to realize their current situation of listening learning.On this basis,the author conducted a questionnaire for the students of the experimental class and the control class to further understanding.At last,the author explored the impact of cooperative learning on English listening teaching by analyzing the data of classroom observation,questionnaire,test and interview.Through the analysis of the test scores in different phases,classroom observation,interviews and questionnaires,the following conclusions are drawn: 1)There is no significant difference in the listening performance between the experimental class and the control class before the experiment,lacking listening learning interests and methods.2)The listening performance of the experimental class is superior to that of the control class by learning cooperatively.The classroom atmosphere has become active and the students’ learning ability also has improved.3)Cooperative learning has other benefits on students’ learning performance.Their cooperative skills,interpersonal skills,and self-confidence have also improved accordingly.However,there are also some disadvantages.Excessive cooperation neglects the autonomous learning of some students and the leading role of the teacher.According to the above results,the following suggestions are listed: 1)During the experiment,teachers should provide timely guidance to students’ performance;2)Cooperative learning cannot completely replace traditional teaching methods,and should be selected based on actual conditions;3)Teachers should take full account of each student’s differences.