A Study Of Application Of Cooperative Learning In College English Classroom Teaching

To meet the need of the country and society for qualified personnel in the new era and keep up with the new development of higher education in China, new requirements (2004) have been proposed for college English teaching (CET). Reforming the existing unitary teaching-centered model and developing non-English-major students'ability in using English, especially in speaking and listening, have become the essential goals in the present college English education. It's undeniable that college English teaching has been confronted with big challenges. To achieve the desired goals, many college English teachers have found the traditional language teaching methods inadequate, in particular in the large-sized classes. Meanwhile, they are also worried by problems such as the passive learning atmosphere, students'inactive behaviors in learning, etc.In this background, the research proposed that implementing cooperative learning (CL) in CET should be a beneficial attempt and of great significance, since it's widely advocated by linguists and educators that the cooperative and communicative nature of language learning should be strongly reinforced by frequent group activities and dynamic cooperation in the classroom. As a pedagogical approach and strategy, cooperative learning makes students the center in the teaching process and focuses on the interactions among instructional dynamic factors. It helps to realize the shift of the teaching model, improve the classroom atmosphere in teaching and learning which is essential to reducing students'anxiety and increase their language acquisition, and improve students'ability in autonomous-learning, etc.The objective of this study is to explore the effectiveness of using cooperative learning in college English teaching, especially in students'academic achievement, their attitudes towards English learning and the classroom atmosphere. On analyzing the problems in the present English learning and teaching, an experimental study is conducted with a hypothesis that the students in the CL instruction will outperform those who are instructed by the traditional language teaching method. Based on a review of definition, basic elements, characteristics of CL and a discussion of its underlying theories, the study manages to clarify why and how cooperative learning facilitates foreign language teaching and learning. The study involves one experimental class which is exposed to CL instruction and one controlled class receiving the traditional Intensive-Reading method. All the participants are students of Grade 2008 with intermediate and under-intermediate English level from Chengdu University of Technology (CDUT).After the experiment had been conducted for about three semesters, data were collected by means of tests, questionnaires, interviews, and classroom observations. The effects of cooperative learning on students'academic achievement were examined through the analysis of the data from the pre-and-post-tests quantitatively with the use of SPSS 13.0. Significant difference (Sig=0.021<0.05) was found in the results, which made the author's hypothesis acceptable. Based on the analysis of the qualitative data, positive results were also found. Compared with the controlled class, students in the experimental class had a better attitude towards English learning and were more active in taking opportunities to express their ideas and get feedback from the peers. Besides, the atmosphere in the experimental class was more relaxing. Students acknowledged that they enjoyed the atmosphere and benefited quite a lot from the positive interaction and relationship with their classmates and the teacher.Based on the findings elicited from the data analysis, the author summed up the advantages of cooperative learning in CET. It's indicated in this study that cooperative learning does have positive influence on CTE, and it's feasible and practical to realize the strength of CL in language teaching and learning. However, there are still some problems and limitations in the process of the implementation; so, some challenges for Cooperative Learning in CET and suggestions for further researches are put forward in the end of this research.