Cooperative Learning Approach In Vocational College Oral English Teaching: An Experimental Study On Non-english Major Freshmen

Nowadays, English plays a more and more important role in vocational education, and the aim of vocational English teaching is to train and improve students' ability to use English, especially in English speaking which can help them to communicate with others and hunt a better job after their graduation in modern competitive society. However, current vocational oral English teaching and learning is not optimistic. Most vocational college English classes are teacher-centered and hardly provide enough time and proper atmosphere for students to practice their oral English. The English teaching approaches are relatively lagging behind. With the nationwide advocacy of transformation into student-centered language teaching, Cooperative Learning Approach, as a new and effective approach, has been increasingly paid attention to in educational circles. Cooperative Learning Approach introduces the cooperative work into class and focuses interaction among students on the basis of the collectiveness in the process of teaching. Simply speaking, it is the instructional use of small groups so that students can work together to achieve shared goals. This thesis points out the students'characteristics in vocational college such as their poor English background, low interest in English and anxiety in oral English. Through implementing Cooperative Learning Approach in oral English teaching in vocational college, the thesis is expected to help students promote their oral English competence and to improve the poor situation of vocational college English teaching and learning as well.The research attempts to find out the effectiveness and feasibility of Cooperative Learning Approach in vocational oral English teaching, and the research questions to be addressed in the research are as follows:1) Can CLA improve vocational college students'learning atmosphere and activate their interest to speak all the time when it is implemented in oral English teaching? 2) Can CLA help students overcome psychological barriers to practice oral English when it is implemented in oral English teaching in vocational college? 3) Is CLA feasible to vocational college students in oral English teaching? 4) What progress can the students make with the help of the CLA?The subjects were 61 first year non-English majors studying in Henan Judicial Police Vocational College. The experiment was conducted from April to June of 2009, totally twelve weeks. And the data were collected from oral tests,classroom observation, students'questionnaires and interviews. SPSS 16.0 helped to analyze the test results and the data obtained from the questionnaires. Both quantitative and qualitative analyses were applied in the experiment to confirm the effectiveness of CLA.The research finds that CLA can promote students'oral English achievements in vocational college. It can improve class atmosphere,activate students'motivation, arouse students'interest, and provide opportunities for them to speak. It also allays students'anxiety of speaking English. Moreover, CLA helps students to strengthen their collective responsibility, build their self-confidence and enhance their learning ability as well, and their social interactive competence has improved through the application of CLA in the class. Therefore, it is feasible to implement CLA in oral English teaching in vocational college.