The Application Of Cooperative Learning In English Grammar Teaching In Junior High School

With the development of modern science, technology and economy,the links between the countries are stronger and stronger. English,as a communicative tool, becomes more and more important in the international status. Grammar, as the rules of a language, plays a very important role in English teaching. Without grammar, there are no rules in language, so that people may have difficulty understanding each other. Besides, the grammar rule of English is different from those of Chinese. Learning English grammar can help students express the correct sentences in English. Good grammar can make your English article more smooth and beautiful. And the article has a clear thought, no ambiguity. However,in our country,traditional English grammar teaching is a“teacher-centered”teaching form.This teaching form represses students’ personality, limits their thinking,and makes their interest and enthusiasm low in learning English. According to China’s junior high school English Curriculum Standards, the purpose of English curriculum for compulsory education is to cultivate the students’ interest in learning, to develop students’ comprehensive English skills,including listening, speaking, reading, writing, to obtain the initial ability to use English and lay the solid foundation for real communication. The New Curriculum Standards pays more attention to students’ emotion and life-long learning ability.Cooperative learning rose in the 1970 s in America, and made substantive progress in the mid 80’s. Now, cooperative learning has been widely used in primary and secondary schools, even in the universities in many countries. Its representatives are the Johnson brothers, in the center of cooperative learning in American Minnesota University; Professor Slavin, in American Johns Hopki university; professor Guskey inAmerica University of Kentucky and so on. Systematic studies of cooperative learning in China began at the end of the 80’s in the twentieth century. First of all, some researches in Hangzhou city of Zhejiang and Shan Dong Province, promote the development of cooperative learning in China. Some scholars in our country evaluate and introduce the theory and practice of CL into our classroom. Many teachers also try applying cooperative learning in their teaching and they have made some achievements. Cooperative learning is respected in educational circles in our country. Many researches show that cooperative learning is more effective than traditional grammar teaching. It can not only improve students’ performance in grammar tests, but also enhance students’ interest and enthusiasm in learning English.The research aims to explore how to apply cooperative learning into English grammar teaching in junior high school. An experiment is conducted to examine whether students’ interest and their attitudes toward grammar learning will be changed under the model of cooperative learning,and whether cooperative learning will be able to enhance students’ confidence in learning English, and improve their learning result.In this experiment, the students from Grade 8 in Shangdu NO. 1Middle school of Inner Mongolia is chosen. Class 141, altogether 52 students, is an experimental class. Class 152, which consists of 48 students,is the control class. The students of the two classes in the research both belong to the key class. The English level of the students in the two classes is almost the same by the pre-test. The author proves the effectiveness of cooperative learning by using questionnaires, a pre-test, a post-test and an interview.The paper is made up of five parts: Chapter One is the introduction,which introduces the research background, objective and significance of the study. Chapter Two is literature review, which reviews the definitions of cooperative learning, the theoretical basis of cooperative learning and studies at home and abroad. Chapter Three is research methodology aboutthe research subjects, instruments and teaching procedures. Chapter Four is data analysis and discussion. Chapter Five is conclusion, which sums up the major findings, research limitation and suggestions for further research.