An Investigation Of Group Work Engagement In Junior School English Class

The learner-centered class and cooperative learning have been greatly emphasized with the continuous development of English teaching reform.The learning effect will be better if students have a higher engagement in class.Group work,as a cooperative learning way,provides chances for students to improve their class engagement.It is also influenced by many factors like task design or some personal factors.Therefore,knowing the factors which relate to task design such as class type,type of group work and content of group work can help teachers deign the group work in order to improve the teaching efficiency.This research mixes the qualitative and quantitative research methods to analyze the current situation of students’ learning engagement in group work from three aspects: the behavioral engagement,cognitive engagement and emotional engagement,and then explore its influencing factors.The research participants are 7 teachers and125 junior students from grade 1 to grade 3 in a Foreign Language school in Xi’an.The key data collection methods are questionnaire,interview and class observation.The questionnaire is used to explore the current situation of students’ learning engagement in group work.The interview and class observation reflects the influencing factors of students’ learning engagement in group work.Based on the research,the conclusions are as follows: Firstly,behavioral engagement plays a key role in group work engagement,then cognitive engagement and emotional engagement.From the point of grade differences,the behavioral engagement and cognitive engagement are decreasing from grade 1 to grade 3.Thereis no direct connection between grade and emotional engagement.Moreover,Class type,the type and content of group work will influence students’ learning engagement in group work.But the content and type of group work will influence junior students more.