An Action Research On Improving The Effectiveness Of Group Cooperative Learning In Senior English Class

The General Senior High School Curriculum Standards English（2017 Edition,Revised in 2020）clearly puts forward the importance of cooperative learning,requiring teachers to pay attention to cultivating students’ cooperative learning ability.Under the background of new curriculum reform,many senior high school English teachers try to implement group cooperative learning to improve students’ participation and enthusiasm in class.But at the same time,there also emerge many problems.Based on the problems encountered by the author in group cooperative learning（GCL）,this study conducts an action research on improving the effectiveness of GCL,aiming to further enhance students’ cooperative ability and improve the quality of English teaching.Two research questions are included in this study:（1）What are the factors that affect the effectiveness of GCL in senior English class?（2）What measures can be taken to promote the effectiveness of GCL? With the students in the two classes of Senior One taught by the author as the research participants,this study,lasting for 13 weeks,was carried out according to the procedure of the open research process,in which some strategies were applied to improve the effectiveness of GCL into practical teaching.Data were collected and analyzed by means of questionnaires,interview records,classroom observation as well as teaching reflection.On the basis of the analysis of data collected,major findings of this research are listed as follows: firstly,overall,most of the teachers and students know the mode of GCL,and think it necessary to apply it in senior English class,but students’ participation and the effectiveness of GCL are to some extent low in current senior English class.Secondly,the factors affecting the effectiveness of GCL mainly contain two aspects,including teachers’ unreasonable establishment of cooperative learning group,distribution of work,task arrangement and the cooperative timing,lack of guidance along with timely and proper evaluation,as well as students’ lack of awareness,ability and preparation for cooperation.Finally,as for factors of teachers,they can implement a series of strategies in the five aspects—establishment of cooperative learning group,distribution of roles in the group,task arrangement,control of the cooperative timing and the ways of evaluation to GCL,so as to improve the effectiveness of GCL.Based on the existing problems and findings above,this study puts forward corresponding suggestions from the perspectives of teachers and students,in order to further promote the effectiveness of GCL in senior English class.（1）In terms of teachers,they should: follow the principles of fairness,rationality and flexibility to establish the cooperative learning groups and distribute the work;properly seize the opportunities for cooperation and control the time;design the learning guide and arrange cooperative tasks scientifically and reasonably;provide timely and in-place guidance to students;evaluate the effect of GCL timely and efficiently.（2）As for students,they should: enhance their cooperative awareness,strengthen their sense of responsibility and belonging,and take an active part in the cooperative activities;pay attention to developing their language competence and thinking quality,improving their communication skills and cooperation ability;take good advantage of the autonomous learning class and improve the autonomous learning ability,trying to make good preparations for cooperation.