A Study On Pre-Service Teachers' Perception Of Cooperative Learning Method In Chinese EFL Class

This research aims to study the perceptions of pre-service teachers on cooperative learning activities in college English classes.Looking through the studies on cooperative learning methods in China and abroad in recent 40 years,the author found that most researchers focus on verifying that cooperative learning methods can effectively improve students' scores.Some researchers explore the attitude of students and teachers to cooperative learning method.Yet few researchers have studied preservice teachers' perception of this method,nor do they compare the attitudes of the three groups-pre-service teachers,experienced teachers,and students.Based on this situation,This paper attempts to explore the following research questions by comparing three different groups of pre-service teachers,experienced teachers and students: 1.What are the attitudes of teachers and students towards cooperative learning methods? Are there differences in their attitudes? 2.What are the attitudes of pre-service teachers and experienced teachers to cooperative learning methods? Are there differences in their attitudes? 3.What is the cause of these differences? By studying these issues,the study hopes to conducts deeper discussions on the issue of pre-service teacher training,and put forward suggestions for optimizing the use of cooperative learning method in college English classes.The researcher investigated 10 pre-service teachers,35 experienced teachers,and754 students studying in their fresh,sophomore,and junior year.Through questionnaire,interview,and class observation.The study finds that most teachers and students have a positive attitude towards cooperative learning methods in college English classes,but there are significant differences between teachers and students on individual issues.Pre-service teachers generally have a high degree of trust in cooperative learning methods,but they have low control and low confidence in whether this learning method can have a positive influence on students.The preservice teachers and experienced teachers have different emphasis on the steps of using the cooperative learning method,and the pre-service teachers have low satisfaction with the results of cooperative learning method with students.The main reason for this problem is that the teaching experience of the pre-service teachers is insufficient,so their understanding of this learning method is not enough or biased.These questions confirm the importance of training for pre-service teachers.On the issue of optimizing the cooperative learning method in college English classroom,the researcher puts forward advice for the training of pre-service teacher,and also bringssuggestions on classroom setting,student grouping arrangement,selection of teaching materials and so on.