An Empirical Study On The Transformation Of Students With Learning Difficulties In English Learning In Rural Primary School Based On Cooperative Learning

With the furthering of English curriculum reform, English teaching and learning has more and more challenges, and there are in China a considerable number of students with learning difficulties. How to help these students out of trouble has aroused many people’s attention, and the auther tries to apply Cooperative Learning in English classroom to transform this group of students.Based on the analysis of the current situation and causes of LDs in English learning and on the theoretical basis of CL theory, the thesis explores the effective application of CL to the transformation of LDs in English teaching and learning, which is testified by such research methods as teaching experiments, questionaires and interviews.The empirical study was conducted from September, 2013 to January, 2014. The participants in this research were six-grade LDs in English learning from Class 1 and Class 2 in L Primary School in Dongtai City of Jiangsu Province. Both classes had the same conditions except the empirical class was exposed to CL. In the empirical class the implementation of CL based on the features of LDs was as follows:(1) forming cooperative learning groups based on LD’s peer relationship to build an equitable, harmonious environment;(2) planning and giving effective cooperative learning lessons, setting up multiple-leveled group tasks to stimulate LDs’ higher participation and to help them experience the happiness from learning;(3) integrating a variety of assessments into everyday instruction to improve LDs’ performance.The results of the study show that 92.8%LDs indicated a preference to English learning through CL and spent more time learning; 91.7% LDs’ higher participation was stimulated; 89.6% LDs in the empirical class improved strikingly their academic achievement compared with the control class, and the mean score of LDs in the empirical class increased by 12 points and was in the lead by 9 points, and so on. Therefore, it is proved that the effective application of CL approach in English classroom has a positive effect on the transformation of LDs. And it is also found in the study that about 10.4% LDs made unsatisfactory progress because of different reasons, which needs further research. The present study explores the effective application of CL to the transformation of LDs, which will prove some enlightenments when people do research on CL and the transformation of LDs.