Application Of Cooperative Learning Into Senior High School English Teaching Of Reading

As one of the indispensable skills,reading plays an important role in the learning process of English.Reading competence not only reflects learners' language ability but also affects their achievements.However,the current teaching of English reading at senior high schools is basically teacher-centered,with classrooms as the main teaching grounds,and words,phrases,and grammar rules as the main teaching contents,ignoring the analyses of the structures and contents of the reading texts,failing to regard the process of reading as the active development of students' knowledge construction and ability cultivation.Improving the teaching effectiveness of English reading requires the reform and innovation of teaching methods.In order to explore new approaches in teaching English reading,this study introduced cooperative learning into senior high school teaching of English reading,with an aim to investigate into its effects on senior high school teaching of English reading.The semester-long teaching experiment involved two classes of Grade One in a senior high school in Jiangsu Province,with one class of 40 students as the experimental class and the other class of 40 students as the control class.The experimental class received cooperative learning instruction that centered on students and their learning,with group learning tasks as platforms and joint learning as objectives.The control class was taught with the traditional teaching method,with the teaching focuses laid on teacher's explanation of words,phrases and grammar rules.The study used two English reading tests at the beginning and the end of the second semester of 2016-2017 academic year,also before and after the teaching experiment,as the pretest and the posttest of the teaching experiment.The statistics and analysis of the tests results of the two classes were used as the major references to evaluate the effects of cooperative learning on students' English reading performances.In addition,this study also conducted a questionnaire survey to the students of the experimental class and the control class before and after the teaching experiment to evaluate the effects of cooperative learning on students' English reading.By comparing the reading tests scores of the students in the experimental class and the control class before and after the teaching experiment,the study found that the average reading tests scores of the control class and experimental class before the teaching experiment were 80.3 points and 80.9 points respectively,indicating no significant difference between the two classes.But the average reading tests scores of the control class and experimental class after the teaching experiment changed to 81.1 points and 86.6 points respectively,indicating that cooperative learning effectively promoted students'English reading test performances.The comparative data analysis of the questionnaire surveys conducted to both the experimental class students and the control class students before and after the teaching experiment showed that cooperation learning helped to stimulate students' interest in English reading,promoted students to improve their English reading process,and helped students to improve their reading abilities.The findings in the study offer some kind of inspiration for the teaching of English reading at senior high schools.Cooperative learning is helpful in arousing students' interest in English reading and improving students' English test performances,making it a selectable approach for senior high school teaching of English reading.