The Application Of Cooperative Learning In Teaching Reading At Junior Middle Schools

The phenomenon of emphasizing instruction and overlooking ability has long existed inEnglish teaching in China, leading to the strange result of getting high marks in examinationswhile having low practical ability in using English. Teaching reading is one of the mostimportant parts in English teaching at middle schools, the result of which greatly influencesthe cultivation and improvements of students reading ability. However, drawbacks do exist inteaching reading at junior middle schools at present. For instance, the monotony of theteaching mode; the leading role of teachers in class and the lack of interaction in the studentsbody. Under this situation, more and more experts and teachers are taking an active part infinding better ways of activating students initiative in English learning. Among them,cooperate learning is one of the most popular and most recognized ways.Originated in1970s and gaining substantial achievements in ten years time, cooperativelearning which is honored as the most successful teaching reform up till now has become oneof the major teaching theories in the world. In China, cooperative learning is also stressed inthe new curriculum reform and regarded as a suitable way in teaching reading for it caneffectively improve students competitive and cooperative awareness, which is gainingpopularity among teachers and students.However, due to the influence of traditional teaching method, some teachers cannot deal withissues of cooperative learning flexibly. Their understanding of the theory and practice ofcooperative learning is not enough. When they are applying the method, they cannot find a setof effective strategies and methods and they cannot fully analyze the advantages anddisadvantages of the theory. These require our further investigations into it to serve thepurpose of teaching reading at middle schools so as to arouse the quality of English teachingand learning initiatives of the students.This study takes two natural classes at Junior2of Taoyuan Middle School as the subjects,in which Class I is the control group while Class II is the experiment group Pre-test and post-test are done to both groups. This study, taking into consideration the real teachingpractice in English reading class at middle schools, demonstrates the significance of carryingout cooperative learning method. Based on the disadvantages of cooperative learning theoryand problems produced in its application, this study proposes some reasonable teachingmodes and strategies for cooperative learning: group teaching and effective classroommanagement strategy. This study also tries to establish the implementation method ofcooperative learning in teaching reading from the perspective of teaching reading at middleschools. Adopting experiments, data analysis, literature review and other research methods,this study tries to show the practicability of cooperative learning in the teaching of Englishreading.Experiments and data analysis show that the use of cooperative learning in teachingreading can greatly arouse the students’ enthusiasm which is helpful in enhancing theirinterest in learning reading, strengthening the students cooperative learning and self-taughtabilities which is helpful in improving their reading skill and understanding in English, whichis a new and effective teaching mode worthy of being popularized.