An Empirical Research On The Application Of Cooperative Learning In The English Reading In Junior High School

Reading is one of the efficient ways to get information. Meanwhile, English reading is anessential means of language studying and one of the purposes of language using. It plays an irreplaceablerole with the other three language skills---listening，speaking and writing in a foreign language learning.However, our English reading teaching is still dominated by the traditional teacher-centered. Knowledge ofEnglish is transmitted through the instructor to students. Students act as silent passive knowledge receiversin English teaching class.In order to change the traditional English teaching situation to meet the requirements which wereput forward by the Standards of English Curriculum, the author thought cooperative learning is one of thegood methods to be a supplement and breakthrough to the traditional English teaching. In cooperativelearning class, students are expected to interact with others in their own roles, explain their ideas to oneanother, participate in solving problems, and discuss the method to solve conflicts may arise during theprocess. Cooperative learning is an effective way of improving the reading achievement. It is not onlychange the situation of the traditional reading class: foster the students’ positive attitude towards Englishlearning and increased their reading achievements. But also raises their self-confidence, the ability oflearning autonomously and develops the students’ interpersonal techniques which are required by the NewCurriculum Standard.The purpose of this paper is explore how to apply cooperative learning into English reading classand what are the effectiveness of using cooperative learning in comparison to traditional instructionmethods on students’ English reading in the author’s classes.In this paper, the author combines theoretical analysis with empirical research methods. First ofall, the author reviews some relevant theories to analyze the necessity and the feasibility of cooperativelearning in English reading class. Then the author designed the experiments of putting cooperative learninginto English reading class. Lastly, it investigates the result of the implementation of cooperative learninginto English reading class in Junior High School. The experiment selected control class and experimentalclass to compare the effectiveness of cooperative learning. And the date collection includes questionnaires, interviews, and pre-test and post-test. By analyzing the results, the author found that students had a positiveattitude towards cooperative learning and their reading competence has been promoted greatly.This paper consists of five chapters which are listed as follows: Chapter1is the introductionwhich includes the background of the study, the research purpose and the structure of the thesis. Chapter2is the literature review in which part reviews some relevant literatures and theories of cooperative learningand reading. Meanwhile, it presents the relationship between the cooperative learning and reading. It isimportant to lay a solid theoretical foundation for the present study. Chapter3is mainly describing theresearch design including the subjects, the research instruments and the research procedure. Chapter4is thedate collection and analysis which presents the results of the experiment based on the research instruments.Chapter5states the major findings through the analysis of the research and limitations of the research.Lastly, the author gives some suggestions for the further research.