The Application Of Cooperative Learning In The English Reading Class In Senior High School

English reading, as one of the four skills of language learning, plays an important role in the English learning. The traditional English reading teaching is dominated by a teacher-centered, examination-oriented, grammar and vocabulary-based method. Knowledge of English is transmitted through the instructor who acts as an authority, a knowledge-giver and moral example to students, who are simply silent passive knowledge receivers. Therefore it is natural to see students cannot read fluently even after having learned English for several years. It is the same with the author's students. Though they have finished the Junior English learning and passed onto the senior study, their English reading competence is far from the requirements put forward by the Standards of English Curriculum.There is a great need to reflect on the teaching methods in the English reading class and make some changes. Among various teaching approaches, Cooperative Learning is quite practical. Cooperative Learning is a kind of learning that students are all engaged in various study activities, which needs cooperation and mutual support in groups. They work together to finish the learning tasks assigned by the teacher. Cooperative Learning reflects the characters of human communication and cooperation. Cooperative Learning is an important part of the Standards of English Curriculum, which advocates the cooperative spirits among students and task-based teaching. As an advanced learning style, Cooperative Learning is being more widely applied to English teaching and becoming a breakthrough and supplement to traditional English teaching.The author attempts to apply Cooperative Learning in Senior English reading class to promote students'reading ability and investigate whether Cooperative Learning can be applied to teaching reading and what kinds of advantages it has for senior students.In this paper, the author makes some systematic and deep-going research on applying Cooperative Learning to Senior English reading class, the paper consists of five parts:Part One gave us a briefly introduction of the research background, the significance and purpose of the research. Then in the second part the author systematically expounds some theories relevant to Cooperative Learning and the research situation of English reading teaching. The theories mentioned can be provided for practice. Part Three is the important part of the essay; the author conducted an experimental study in Senior High School English reading class. The experimental class received the cooperative method of learning while the control class the traditional way. The data collection includes the following techniques: two English tests of English reading comprehension, two questionnaires and the student interview. The results of the research show that Cooperative Learning has not only improved the students'reading ability, but also boosted the students'motivation and improve the atmosphere of English reading class. Conclusions are drawn and some proposals are put forward for the improvement of Cooperative Learning in English reading class.