The Application Of Cooperative Learning In College English Teaching In Tibet

With the development of society, cooperation has become more and more important in various fields of people's lives. It's necessary for people to learn how to get along with others in the 21st century. Cooperative teaching and learning, a new kind of teaching approach, has been applied into teaching practices more and more frequently and has become a supplementary teaching approach of traditional ones. However, cooperative learning has not been widely applied in College English teaching in Tibetan area, for the lack of effective pattern and strategies in practical English teaching. And for the significant differences between Tibetan students and students in other areas from the perspective of cognition and psychology, it is necessary to introduce cooperative learning into college English teaching in Tibet. And it is also an inevitable tendency of the reform and development of college English teaching in Tibet at present.The study here is to explore the applicability of cooperative learning in Tibetan college English teaching. The participants are students from Class 1 and Class 2 of 2009 majoring in Math in Lhasa Normal College. Class 1 is the experimental class while Class 2 is the control class.The purpose of the research is to answer the following questions:1) Can cooperative learning improve students'motivation and attitude toward their English learning in Tibetan Colleges?2) Can cooperative learning enhance Tibetan students'English scores?3) Is cooperative learning suitable for Tibetan college students? The instruments adopted in the study here are questionnaires, interviews.The following conclusions are drawn from the research:1) In the experimental class, students'English scores are a little bit higher than those in the control class.2) The Tibetan students have more positive attitude toward English learning through cooperative learning.3) Cooperative learning approach is suitable for the Tibetan college students.