A Research On The "Individual Responsibility" In Collaborative Learning In Senior English

“Collaborative Learning”（CL）is one of the learning methods which has been stronglyprososed in the literature about national education policies. Based on the Johnson brothers（Johnson D. W., Johnson R. T., Holubec E J.,1993.）, it refers to “a teaching format inwhich students work in groups together to facilitate their learning, and the learning of others”.This paper difines CL as “a positive interdependence based on clear responsibility among thegroup memers” by combining the interpretations of CL by different scholars（Slavin, R.E.,1980, Light, PH.,1992, Winzer,1995, S., etc.）. It emphasizes the group member’sresponsibility in order to complete the common goals of group tasks through face-to-faceinteractions.Although many English teachers have carried out various forms of CL, they focus moreon the ‘form’ rather than ‘content’, this has lead to various problems, for example, it maycasue top students-oriented, most students just take lookers-on attitude. In most cases, it is thegroup leader who undertakes the entire task. In this way, the group member’s “individualresponsibility” has been deprived. And this paper is about the investigation and analysis ofCL in senior middle schools in China from the angle of “individual responsibility” of CL. Theaim is to find out the essential meaning of “individual responsibility” and its specificcharacteristics, further to illustrate the prospective fundamental significance of CL in foreignlanguage teaching as well as teachers’ principal responsibility in organizing CL.This paper mainly deals with five questions: firstly, what is the essential meaning of CL,what principal characteristics it has? Secondly, what’s the relationship between the“individual responsibility” and other characteristics of CL? This is to explain the reason whygroup member’s responsibility is essential to CL. Thirdly, what are the forms of expression of“individual responsibility” in CL in middle school English classes, and how do they affect theteam development? Fourthly, how do middle school English teachers understand CL? Lastlyare concerned with the main factors that may restrict CL in middle school English class andthe reasons.The thesis consists of five parts: first comes the preface which mainly proposes the necessity and purpose of this research. The second part is literature review. In this part, theconnotation of CL, including its elements, characteristics and theoretical basis, is elaborated.And the research of CL in middle school English teaching is classified. Besides, the study on“individual responsibility” mainly focuses on the connotation and implementation policies.The relationship between individual responsibility and other essential features of CL is alsoillustrated in this part. The third part is the research design. Four main methods are used:documentary analysis, interview, classroom observation and analysis of text. In part IV, thecharacteristics of individual responsibility, together with its interaction with othercharacteristics of CL and its constraints are discussed by analyzing collaborative cases. Onthis basis, this section explained the teachers and students’ understanding and recognition ofthe CL. Finally is about conclusion, enlightenment and directions for further research.The paper has found, through classroom observation and content analysis of CL cases,that, the members "individual responsibility" in classroom CL includes not only the specificroles and responsibilities, but also indicates the relationships among team members and thecultural environment. Therefore, to fulfil the individual responsibility, we not only needmeans to detect the implementation of “individual responsibility”, but also need to understandteachers’ awareness of the Ss’ responsibilities as well as all efforts made by group work to theestablishment of partnerships and to building a healthy team cultural environment.The preliminary conclusions of this study include: first, the group members’“individualresponsibility” is the foundation and prerequisite of CL. We can determine whether thesubstantive collaboration exsit by judging the specific characteristics and performance ofstudents’“individual responsibility”. The main characteristics of collaboration, that is, eachteam member’ responsibility should meet his or her specific learning characteristics, and cancontribute to the team with visible behaviors of learning; this is the key to long-termdevelopment of the team. Second, teachers’ awareness and understanding of “individualresponsibility” in CL may influence their real CL practice as well as guidance. Third, in CL,the major factors affecting the implementation of “individual responsibility” include thebuilding of teams’ cultural environment, teachers’ organization and control as well as theobjective evaluation of CL, which is directly related to the building of team culture.This research not only inquires into the specific methods and strategies to promote students’ CL from the viewpoint of executors, it can also enrich the facts of cases forempirical study on CL.