Application Of Cooperative Learning In English Reading Class For Senior High School Students

The study and discussion about the issue of cooperative learning has been an educational fad. The previous studies have shown that cooperative learning is a good method of learning. However, whether it could help Chinese senior students improve their English is still under experiment, especially, whether it could help improve their reading ability in English is worth doing more layers of studies, and very few English teachers in senior middle school have really or commonly carried it into practical teaching, in particular English reading.The necessity of the study is that present syllabus and curriculum standard all demand students in Chinese middle school to develop and improve the ability of reading, but for most of students a common headache is still reading comprehension. The direct reason why cooperative Learning arouses the author's great interest is that the author has found that for her students the most difficult problem is reading. On the basis of reading some related literatures, the author, combining her teaching experience and the reality of the teaching subjects, puts forward the following questions: 1) Can cooperative learning in reading inspire these students' motivation in learning English? 2)Can students improve their reading achievements? 3)Can students improve their English language proficiency through cooperative reading?This dissertation is mainly to introduce cooperative learning and its application in senior English reading. It is made up of five chapters: Part I introduces the necessity of using cooperative learning into China's senior English reading class. The author simply explains the necessity from the New Curriculum Standard and students' real problems and the Senior English Teaching Outline; Part II describes literature review about cooperative learning, probing into some previous researches abroad and in China, the theoretical basis of cooperative learning, the definition and characters of cooperative leaning and English reading teaching, their theory basis and relations between them and then attempts to explore the effects of the application of cooperative learning in English reading class; Part III mainly introduces the theoretical basis of cooperative reading according to the theoretical basis of cooperative learning ; Part IV introduces the methodology adopted in the present study and describes the process of the study, the data analysis and the result of the study. The study involved two classes of first-year students from Lanzhou No. 12 Middle School. From March 2006 to July 2006 all the English reading classes were experimented by means of cooperative learning. Quantitative analysis and qualitative analysis are conducted in the reading class by means of questionnaires, interview and test. In the control class, no regular cooperative reading was conducted while in the experimental class planned cooperative reading was adopted regularly. A pre-test, a mid-test and a post-test were conducted to find out changes in students' English language proficiency and their reading ability. Moreover, The same questionnaire on motivation was given to the students in both groups twice, before and after the experiment, Statistical instruments from SPSS10.0 were used to analyze the collected quantitative data. Finally, a follow-up interview was administered to investigate changes in students' atitudes towards English learning and cooperative reading. The results of the study show that cooperative learning to the English reading teaching in senior high school can not only stimulate students' learning interests, boost the students' motivation, but also raise their English language proficiency and reading ability. Part V is about some discussions on findings, limitations and suggestions for future research.In this study, the author has found that the subjects in this sample could use cooperative learning in English reading for most time, and most students of them had positive attitudes towards it, for they believed that it could help them stimulate their interest in English reading and study, and make difficult English reading easier. The study shows the application of cooperative learning in English reading is wholly effective in improving students' motivation and gradually improving students' reading ability and English levels, and is especially helpful for middle achievers. However, for some individual students, it shows little effect not only in their motivation but also in their English levels or reading ability, neither does it prove to be helpful to lower achievers.