The Effects Of Group Cooperative Learning On Students’ Use Of Writing Strategies And Writing Performance In Writing English Continuation Tasks In Senior High Schools

In response to the trend of integration of English skills,continuation task was added to the National College Entrance Examination in 2016 as a new writing task that examines both reading and writing skills.It is receiving increasing attention from many researchers and teachers.Many researchers believe that the application of writing strategies has a positive correlation to writing performance.Therefore,many teachers introduce lots of writing strategies in continuation task writing teaching in traditional teacher-centered classrooms,but the researcher found that most students were unable to use writing strategies effectively by analyzing students’ continuation.Since the use of writing strategies is reflected in the writing process,teachers should provide students with more opportunities to learn and use writing strategies.However,the research on continuation task mainly focuses on the effects of promoting language learning and writing strategies,little attention is paid to the teaching methods that promote the effective use of writing strategies.The researcher studied the literature on group cooperative learning and found that it provided students with the opportunities to observe and learn how to use writing strategies from other students.Based on this research background,this study employed questionnaires,tests,writing texts and semi-structured interviews as instruments to explore the following questions through quasi-experimental research:1.What are the effects of group cooperative learning on students’ use of writing strategies in writing continuation task?2.What are the effects of group cooperative learning on students’ writing performance in writing continuation task?The participants in this experiment were 93 students in parallel classes in grade one of senior high school in Shanwei and were randomly divided into an experimental class and a control class.The control class used the traditional teacher-centered teaching method,while the experimental class employed the group cooperative learning teaching method.Questionnaires,pretest and post-test were conducted in both classes before and after the experiment.The questionnaire data and writing scores in the pretest and post-test were analyzed by SPSS 24.0.Then the researcher analyzed the writing texts of the pretest and post-test in the experimental class and interviewed several students from the experimental class.During the experiment,according to the scoring criteria of continuation task and the situation of senior high school students,the researcher developed a teaching plan to guide the students to gradually improve the application ability of writing strategies in writing continuation tasks and divided the continuation task teaching into four phases.Group cooperative learning was adopted in the four phases in experimental class to explore the effects of group cooperative learning on students’ use of writing strategies and writing performance.The results of the teaching experiment show that the application of group cooperative learning has a positive effect on the improvement of students’ awareness of using writing strategies and their ability to use writing strategies in the writing process.In addition,compared with the traditional teacher-centered teaching method,group cooperative learning is more effective in improving students’ writing performance.Finally,some pedagogical implications are presented based on the findings of this study:(1)Teachers are encouraged to apply group cooperative learning to continuation task writing teaching.(2)When teachers choose materials for continuation task,the content and genres can be diverse.(3)Teachers should design appropriate forms of group activities to achieve the learning tasks.(4)The evaluation should be specific.The study provides supportive experimental data and a case reference for the application of group cooperative learning in continuation task teaching in senior high school.