A Case Study On The Current Situation Of Cooperative Learning In Junior Middle School English Classroom

Cooperative ability is regarded as one of the basic qualities of talents in the 21 st century.English Curriculum Standards(2011)advocate the transformation of learning style from passive reception to active self-directed,cooperative and explorative learning.Cooperative learning,serving as a breakthrough and supplement for the traditional teaching,has been widely applied in the junior middle school English class.Although many researches have indicated that cooperative learning plays a positive role in creating an active learning atmosphere in class,there are few researches that investigate the current situation of cooperative learning in junior middle school English class.Based on the constructivism theory,motivation theory and social interdependence theory,this thesis attempts to examine the current situation of applying cooperative learning in junior middle school English class by taking Yantai No.3 Middle School as a case study.Through classroom observation,questionnaire and interviews,by taking four hundred students and ten English teachers as research subjects,this study aims to examine the following three questions:(1)How do students perform in the process of cooperative learning in junior middle school English class?(2)What are the teachers’ roles in the application of cooperative learning in English class?(3)What are the existing problems in the process of applying cooperative learning?This research has arrived at the following conclusions:(1)There is an imbalance of students’ involvement in cooperative learning and they don’t perform well in the aspect of interpersonal skills and group processing.(2)Teachers have incompetently played their roles of instructor and organizer in the process of cooperative learning.(3)Problems,such as monotonous form of cooperative learning,improper grouping and improper distributions of time,still exist in cooperative learning activities.