Astudy On The Learner Identity As Group Cooperative Learners And Cooperative Learning Motivation In Senior One English Classes

Constructivist theory advocates learner-centered learning,and believes that learner’s learning is a process of active exploration and construction of unknown things based on a certain cognitive ability.It emphasizes the importance of the creation of learning situation,the collaboration and communication between teachers and students and among students themselves for the construction of students’ knowledge.Group cooperative learning is a process in which students are the centers,while teachers act as supporters and helpers to achieve learning goals through cooperation and communication among students.It is also a teaching mode that is compatible with the constructivist learning theory.In addition,the “English Curriculum Criteria for Regular High School”(Revised in 2020)also mentions the advocacy of cultivating students’ learning ability through cooperative learning.It also emphasizes the important role of autonomous,cooperative,and inquiry-based learning in stimulating students’ interest in learning,increasing students’ participation in classroom activities,and promoting cooperation and communication between teachers and students.Teachers are also required to create a supportive learning situation for students in teaching and pay attention to whether students really realize mutual promotion and mutual learning through cooperative learning.Therefore,it is of great practical significance to carry out research on group cooperative learning.Group cooperative learning has been widely used in high school English classes,but there are few studies on the relationship between group cooperative learners’ identity and their motivation to participate in group cooperative learning.Therefore,based on the background of group cooperative learning,this study explores the identities of group cooperative learners identified by Senior One students in English classes and how these identities affect students’ cooperative motivation.This study adopts the quantitative research method,using questionnaires to study the learner identity as group cooperative learners and their cooperative learning motivation.198 students of Senior One English classes from Kunming Foreign Language School participate in it.Through the analysis of the collected data,it is found that:The cooperative learner identities identified by students are: “knowledge constructor”,“empathizer”,“collaborator”,“group attributor”,“researcher”,“learning activities designer”,“supervisor”,“active learner”,“evaluator”.According to the degree of identification from the highest to the lowest,these identities rank as:“knowledge constructor”(4.083),“empathizer”(4.072),“collaborator”(4.031),“group attributor”(3.965),“researcher”(3.867),“learning activity designer”(3.849),“supervisor”(3.848),“active learner”(3.804),“evaluator”(3.416).That is,the“knowledge constructor” is the highest identified identity,the “evaluator” is the lowest identified identity,and the rest are in between.The group cooperative learner identities identified by the students have a certain influence on students’ motivation to participate in group cooperative learning.Specifically,all these nine identities identified by the students do not affect students’ “intrinsic interest motivation”,“individual development motivation”,and“cooperative goal motivation” for participating in group cooperative learning.However,the identity of “empathizer” has a significant negative influence on“immediate achievement motivation”,“learning situation motivation”,and “reward motivation”.Moreover,the identity of the “knowledge constructor” has a significant positive influence on the “learning situation motivation”.The identity of “learning activity designer” has a significant positive influence on “reward motivation”.From the perspective of learner identity,this study provides some enlightenment on how to better carry out cooperative learning in high school English classes and stimulate students’ motivation to participate in group cooperative learning.It also provides a reference for teachers to motivate students to participate in group cooperative learning through better understanding the identity of group cooperative learners.