Cooperative Learning in English Class1

1、英 語 課 堂 的 合 作 學(xué) 習(xí)cooperative learning in english classcontentsabstract . 1key words. 1i. introduction 1ii. theoretical grounds.32.1 brnduras social learning theory.32.2 vigotskis theory of “zone of proximal development”.32.3 piagets cognitive development theory.42.4 the theory of constructivism.4iii

2、. strategies for cooperative learning43.1 forming groups43.1.1 close seat group.43.1.2 ability group .53.1.3 interest group .63.1.4 mixture group.63.2 designing team activities.63.2.1 one-minute papers.63.2.2 round robin brainstorming.63.2.3 interview.73.3 students roles in cooperation73.4 teachers

3、role in cooperative learning.83.4.1 teacher as manager and organizer .93.4.2 teacher as participant and language resource.103.4.3 teacher as facilitator .10iv.disadvantages and problems. 104.1 class control.114.2 inactive learners in cooperative activity.114.3 insufficient cooperative work.124.4 unr

4、easonable question12v.advantages and significance . 12vi.conclusion13references.14cooperative learning in english class摘要: 社會的發(fā)展要求學(xué)生形成新的學(xué)習(xí)方式。課程改革的基本理念之一就是積極倡導(dǎo)自主、合作、探究的學(xué)習(xí)方式。隨著國際交流的越來越頻繁，現(xiàn)在的社會越來越需要合作，而且恰當(dāng)?shù)暮献鲿硪庀氩坏降氖斋@。對于學(xué)生來說，在學(xué)習(xí)中培養(yǎng)合作意識， 鍛煉合作能力也就顯得尤為重要了。本文根據(jù)國際語言環(huán)境和英語的交流性特點(diǎn)，通過與中國傳統(tǒng)的英語課堂教學(xué)的種種不足的對比，指出了在英語

5、課堂中采取合作教學(xué)方法的合理性及可行性，著重探討了合作學(xué)習(xí)的計(jì)劃，接著探討了如何面對及解決合作學(xué)習(xí)中所遇到的問題，從而較全面的證明了合作學(xué)習(xí)在教學(xué)中有著明顯的優(yōu)勢。關(guān)鍵詞: 合作學(xué)習(xí), 交流, 小組活動, 英語課堂, 傳統(tǒng)英語教學(xué)abstract: according to the needs of development of society, students must form a new learning approach. and a free, cooperative and explored learning method is one of the basic theories

6、 of curriculum reform. with its frequent international communication, cooperation is needed in many fields in our society, and it brings in much vigor and success. as to students, it is very important to develop their awareness of cooperation, and they should practice their cooperative ability in le

7、arning. according to international language environment and the characteristic of english language- communication, and compared with some shortage in traditional english teaching, this paper points out the property and feasibility of cooperative learning in english class, and then it focus on strate

8、gies for cooperative learning and how to solve the disadvantages and problems during cooperative learning, at last explains the advantages and significance of cooperative learning in english class.key words: cooperative learning, communicate, group activity, english class, traditional english teachi

9、ng i. introduction it is known to us all, with its frequent international cooperation and communication, china is in urgent need of many different kinds of professionals with a superior level of english language proficiency. so english has become more and more popular nowadays, and china has the lar

10、gest english language learning population in the world. however, most students have got nothing other than reciting large quantity of linguistic knowledge after more than ten years learning english, and even most students just like “deaf” or “mute” when they communicate with foreigners (he meihui, 2

11、003) the problem is mainly because that english class in china is still controlled by teacher-centered grammar cramming method and students passively listening method.in traditional english class, the teacher is an authority. he/she controls the whole class, and teaches the whole class by cramming l

12、inguistic knowledge to students no matter how much students can understand or digest. students just listen to the teacher passively and take notes; they have few opportunities to develop their skill in communicating with others in english, while they need to spend their large portion of time in memo

13、rizing a list of grammatical principle and a large of new words, and repeating these again and again to achieve a good mark in the english examination. so many students and even some teachers hold that learning english just for the examination. so the more this method is used frequently, the more st

14、udents become “deaf” or “mute” in english communication. therefore, this traditional teaching method is not any longer suitable for students learning english, and we must find out a new scientific method. as to english, as a tool of communication, we should not only recite some grammatical principle

15、 and a large collection of words, but also use it actively and frequently to develop our communication skill and interpersonal skill. and communication is the final aim for us to learn a language. learning english is also for communicating with others in the international environment. according to t

16、his, we must look for another teaching method in english learning, while cooperative learning is an efficient method in english learning. cooperative learning is defined as “group leaning activity organized so that learning is dependent on the socially structured exchange of information between lear

17、ners in groups and in which each learner is held accountable for his or her own learning and is motivated to increase the learning of others” (olsen & kagan, 1992). and in this educational approach, students and the teacher are in a state of dynamic cooperation, together building up an intimate lear

18、ning and social atmosphere in the classroom to reach learning goals. in cooperative learning class, knowledge and authority are shared between the teacher and students. and cooperative learning is believed to be an effective way of learning english. when cooperation is used well in english class, it

19、 can activate the atmosphere of classroom, inspire students motivation of learning english, develop students intelligence and develop various personalities of students, enhance relationship or friendship between partners, enlarge students mind, and promote students communicative ability in english.

20、cooperative learning can provide students with more chance to choose challenging tasks that they are interested in, to exhibit control and autonomy, and to collaborate with peers. therefore, cooperative learning condition is believed to motivate students positively. and cooperative learning also pro

21、duces more positive relationship among students, healthier psychological adjustment and more favorable attitudes towards learning than do competitive or individualistic experiences. it can also enhance students satisfaction with their learning experience and can help to develop their social skills a

22、nd skills in oral communication as self-esteem. and cooperative learning is a good way to improve the relationship between teacher and their students because of teachers participation.ii.theoretical groundsthe idea of cooperative learning originated in the united states in 1970s and was developed in

23、to a teaching strategy in the 1980s. it has been tested in david johnsons cooperative learning center at the university of minnesota. the leading experts in this field are david johnson, roger johnson and robert slavin amongst others. the term “cooperative” is used in contrast to “competitive” and “

24、individualistic”. in many countries, cooperative learning is considered one of the most creative teaching strategies and china started to introduce cooperative learning in the 1990s. and from that time, many educators have studied this, and experiment in some schools at different levels. such as, ta

25、ng (1996) made an experiment in hong kong, and guo xiangju took an experiment from september 2001 to june 2003 in a college.and the concept of cooperative learning is based on the following theories: 2.1 brnduras social learning theory it points out that learning is going on in condition of interact

26、ion of these three elements which are environment, learner and cognitive act. the pattern of cooperative learning can provide students a natural environment for interaction, and make sure that cognitive act can be developed well. 2.2 vigotskis theory of “zone of proximal development”it notes that th

27、e disparity between a learners actual ability of solving the problem by himself (or herself) and his (or her) ability which has made progress by the help of his better-skilled classmates or his teacher is the disparity between a learners degree of ability developing and potential abilities. students

28、 cooperation in their own “zone of proximal development” is more super than in individual activity. so, students in different academic level can learn from others to make up for what they are unknown or unfamiliar with, and they can have a deep understanding of the problem after discussing with othe

29、rs. therefore cooperative learning is a good way for students to improve their study.2.3 piagets cognitive development theoryit points out that cognitive development process is a process of absorption, assimilation, adjustment, and counterbalance. and it stresses that social experience knowledge (la

30、nguage, value, principle, morality and so on) only can gain during interactive communication with others. the pattern of cooperation provides much more opportunity for students to improve their ability of cognition.2.4 the theory of constructivismconstructivism thinks that learning is not only a pro

31、cess for students to accept knowledge passively, but also a process for students to build a system of knowledge. this student-centered learning process is a good one of inspiring students interests and motivation and expressing students personalities. under this method, students in cooperation can c

32、easelessly perform, assimilate, reflect and adjust, at last improve themselves and reach success (guo yanbing, 2002).iii. strategies for cooperative learning3.1 forming groupsforming groups is a basic way for cooperative learning in english class, and generally we give each group or team a specific

33、task, and then they achieve the final goal through efforts from all of team members. forming teams depends on members of students, students academic level, students interest, seat and sex (a group should be a mixture of males and females).3.1.1 close seat groupas time limited, it is not a wise optio

34、n to change students seat to do a cooperative activity in a class, so sometimes we should adopt “close seat principle” to organize cooperative activities (liu wenbiao & shi wenjuan, 2005), according to students seat, pair-work and group-work both can go on.pair-work is a very convenient and the most

35、 used way to do cooperation. harmer (1991) pointed out, “students can be divided to 2 persons in a group and they achieve most of tasks in this way.” this way of cooperative learning method saves the time which is used to form groups, and it provides much time and chance for every group to practice

36、their english language in cooperation. a group-work of four students or six students is also a good way for cooperation. in this way, we often let students in the first row turn back to the second row, and students sit nearer in these two rows can do face-to-face group work, and like this pattern, t

37、he third rows students turn back to the fourth, the fifth turn to the sixth, and so on. if it is a group of 4 students, they can cooperate like the following table:according to this table, sun qiantu ( 2002 ) pointed out, student a1 can form a group with student a2, student b1, and student b2, and i

38、n that way we can infer student a3 can form another group with a4, b3 and b4. and students in such a group can do a cooperative activity sufficiently because of more than one partner and also can do a face-to-face communication which help to cooperate. and sometimes each member is given a role; for

39、example, the roles include a leader, a recorder, a reporter, and a monitor. team member perform their function respectively according to their roles. 3.1.2 ability group ability group is considered as such two patterns: one is described like this, the whole ability of each group is almost same, but

40、each students ability in every group is not the same. for example, team of four is formed by choosing one person from the top, and one from the end and the two from the middle according to their academic level (guo xiangju, 2004). in such a group, students can learn from others, even the struggling

41、level student, and also they can help each other and go ahead together to achieve a common goal. and learning in this kind of group, students can improve their learning method by observing others learning; it is a very useful way for learning. in this situation, everyone should join in the cooperati

42、on, because the success of a group needs everyones effort, not one person. in this atmosphere, solidarity and each others help is more important, and the feeling of responsibility is also important. the other is explained to such a pattern: the whole class is divided into many groups, in which each

43、student almost has the same level in english, but the entire ability of each group is different, for example, group a (the most talented), group b (average), group c (less talented), and cooperative activity should be designed in different level for different groups. pintrich, brown & weistein (1994

44、) believed that students could be truly engaged in tasks when the challenges were in balance with the learners skills or abilities to respond.3.1.3 interest group students who have the same interest should be divided into a same group. interest can make them communicate easily and would like to comm

45、unicate with others. and can promote their relationship. harmonious relationship makes students feel at ease, relax, and have no pressure, they can join the group actively and dare to exchange their opinion, and they are not afraid of undergoing mocking (guo yanbing, 2002).3.1.4 mixture groupa group

46、 is regarded as a mixture of male and female student (liu jinmei, 2003), because generally boys and girls think differently when they face the same question, so this mixture group can provide a chance to exchange their different idea through cooperation, and also give those shy girls or boys a chanc

47、e to practice their encouragement to speak before counter-sexes. 3.2 designing team activitieshere are 3 team activities: one-minute paper, round robin brainstorming, and interview (guo xiangju, 2004).3.2.1 one-minute papersone-minute papers can be used to facilitate a group discussion or to provide

48、 feedback to the teacher. this activity focuses students on the content. papers should be immediately followed by a team discussion, making good use of these papers. it can develop students ability of finding and solving problems. after discussing the content together, they may have a deep impressio

49、n of the content. william (1991) pointed that students can understand a passage much better after discussing in groups rather than passively listening.3.2.2 round robin brainstorminground robin brainstorming can be used in this situation, a question has several kinds of answers, and students are giv

50、en time to think about, after thinking, members of team share ideas and the team recorder writes down the answers. for example, unit7 living with disease (book i, grade 2 of senior middle school), after finishing a first listening of passage, there is a question in the book, “if you were a disease d

51、etective, what would you do to learn more about a new disease?” this question is to develop students skill of thinking according to some information of disease. students discuss in different groups to express their ideas about this, and many answers can be collected, such as, a: if i were a disease

52、detective, i would collect important information about this new disease.b: if i were a disease detective, i would visit the sick person and find out the detailed information.c: if i were a disease detective, i would find out the symptoms of this new disease.d: if i were a disease detective, i would

53、look for viruses or bacteria in blood samples in the lab.e: 3.2.3 interviewinterview is a multi-roles activity; it is a good activity for each member to practice. each member has his own role, this activity give everyone a deep sense of cooperation and responsibility for his group. take unit 9 the e

54、arth summit (book, of grade 2 of senior middle school); many kinds of environment problems are collected in this unit. for example, it is a situation that there is plenty of coal under the ground in a village, and more and more are explored in present years. according to this situation, a reporter i

55、nterviewed a native citizen, a businessman, a worker and an environmentalist, and students play their different role and cooperate in their own groups to achieve this interview. interview is a much more difficult cooperative activity in english class. it is challenging students integrated communicat

56、ion skill, which contains listening, speaking, and thinking.3.3 students roles in cooperationstudents are the king actors in cooperative learning, and they must change their passive roles for active ones. compared with students who obtained knowledge passively and had no freedom except obeying to te

57、achers order in traditional english learning class, students are the main actors in cooperative learning class, and the classroom is their stage. “their major roles are collaborator and active participator. it is useful to think how these new roles influence the processes and activities students conduct before, during, and after learning