Effects Of Cooperative Learning On Successful Language Learners: An Empirical Study In The Chinese EFL Context

The question of how to promote and facilitate language teaching and learning through formal education in classrooms has always been a matter of the utmost concern to date. Various teaching methods have been proposed by educators and linguists in attempts to provide teachers with recipes for successful practice. In the past few decades, cooperative learning (CL) has gained its popularity. It is widely acknowledged that CL is a highly effective classroom intervention, superior to most traditional forms of instruction in terms of producing enhanced student achievement, positive attitudes toward learning, increased motivation and better interpersonal relationships.In order to investigate the effectiveness of CL on the academic achievement, attitude towards English learning and social skills of successful language learners (SLLs) in the Chinese tertiary-level EFL context, the researcher conducted this study in which two intact classes were selected with one adopting the CL instructional method and the other the traditional whole-class teaching method. 120 non-English major freshmen participated in this study and only 34 SLLs were identified, 16 of which from the control group and 18 from the experimental group. The whole study lasted 16 weeks.Based on the data elicited from pre/posttests, questionnaires and interviews, the researcher presents some major findings that have demonstrated the effectiveness of CL on SLLs in terms of academic achievement and attitude towards learning. However, no significant difference in social skills of SLLs has been found in this study. The results provide further evidence to the effectiveness of CL found in previous studies. Factors affecting the adoption of CL have been further explored. The implications of CL and suggestions for future research have also been proposed.