A Study On The Application Of Cooperative Learning Mode In Oral-English Teaching In Higher Vocational College

English education plays an important role among school subjects in China. Englishteaching in Higher Vocational College has widely been paid attention with the deepercommunication with foreign countries. The talent who has high quality skills withqualified English is proper for the need of the society. The students influenced by thetraditional teaching mode are poorer in speaking and less interested in English learning. Inorder to cultivate qualified talents with more competitiveness, it’s necessary to deepen theEnglish teaching reform and find a proper way to improve students’ oral Englishproficiency according to the education aim and the students’ characters.Rising from USA, Cooperative Learning method has gained effectiveness.Cooperative Learning has been honored the most important and successful reform in recentten years. Cooperative Learning means a teaching strategy system in which the studentswork together to achieve a common goal in heterogeneous groups and are rewarded as ateam. Many scholars and researchers at home and abroad have carried out effective studieson Cooperative Learning. The results have shown that Cooperative Learning has positiveeffects on affection, cognition and social skills. These researches almost are conducted inprimary and middle schools but fewer in Higher Vocational College.This research centers on oral English teaching in Higher Vocational College. The aimof this research is to answer the following questions:1. Can students achieve more proficiency in oral English in experimental class thanthat of students in control class?2. Can Cooperative Learning method have positive effects on students’ attitudes,anxiety, cooperative skills and classroom atmosphere?With the help of related theory, Cooperative Learning is brought into oral Englishclass to improve the students’ communication competence. The thesis begins with ageneral description of the background, significance, purpose and the organization of theresearch. Following is a summary of the present research on Cooperative Learning both athome and abroad. Then the theoretical framework is stated to prove the rationality ofapplying Cooperative Learning into oral English class. The thesis then introduces thedefinitions, elements, methods and characteristics of Cooperative Learning. For theexperiment, two classes are chosen at random as subjects in Higher Vocational Collegeduring one semester. The class with36sophomores is used as the experimental class andthe other class with38sophomores as the control class. The experimental class is divided into9heterogeneous groups consisting of4members in each group. Cooperative Learningmethod is used in experimental class in oral English teaching while traditional method isused in control class. Before the experiment there is an oral English proficiency test forboth experimental class and control class. The result shows that there is no significantdifference in oral English proficiency between the two classes. A pre-questionnaire is usedto learn of the attitudes towards oral English learning and other related aspects before theexperiment in both classes. The result shows that there is no significant difference betweenthe two classes. A posttest is used in both experimental class and control class to make acontrast of oral English proficiency. A post-questionnaire is used in both classes and aninterview in experimental class. In order to get accurate and reliable results, the SPSS16.0is used to analyze the results. The result shows that students’ interest is enhanced andanxiety is lowered in oral English in experimental class. Cooperative Learning can benefitin other aspects such as classroom atmosphere and cooperative skills. In the posttest, thescores in experimental class are higher than that of control class and higher than that of thepretest. There is no significant difference in control class in scores. Cooperative Learningmethod has many advantages in oral English class in Higher Vocational College. Thestudents hold positive attitude toward Cooperative Learning method.Though Cooperative Learning is an effective method in oral English in HigherVocational College, there are also some problems which remained to be solved. There aresuggestions for pedagogical implications. Theories and practice have shown that a bettereffect can be achieved by applying Cooperative Learning method into oral English classreasonably.