2011031245 吴静

Research on Effectiveness of Cooperative Learning in English Class in Junior Middle Schoolsby请根据文中批注认真修改！！！！2015-5-17Wu JingA thesis submitted to School of Foreign Languagesin conformity with the requirements for theDegree of Bachelor of ArtsQujing Normal UniversityQujing, Yunnan, P.R. ChinaJune, 2015AcknowledgementsThis thesis originates from four years’ study at School of Foreign Languages at Qujing Normal University. Upon the completion of this thesis, I would like to express my great and heartfelt gratitude to all those who have contributed to this thesis either directly or indirectly.My greatest debt goes to my supervisor Professor Shi Lihong for her insightful suggestions that contribute to the framework of this thesis. She spared a lot of time from her busy schedule to read the different versions of the manuscript and gave advice for improvement. To her, I owe much more than words.Special thanks go to all the other teachers at English Department of Qujing Normal University. During the four years’ study, I benefited a great deal from their teaching and enlightening lectures.My gratitude also goes to my classmates and roommates. They gave me much encouragement and support.Finally, I would like to thank my family, for their spiritual and financial support.AbstractCooperative learning, a current effective classroom teaching method, is widely used in schools at all levels, both in home and abroad. Group cooperation learning method can not only improve students in English knowledge, but also help them to acquire the communicative competence in their communication activities. Effectively carry out cooperative learning, it is benefit to communicate feelings and exchange ideas between teachers and students or among students. It also helps to highlight students ' subject consciousness of the individual. Currently, the group cooperative learning model of teaching as a new form of organization, and it has been widely used in junior high school English teaching in recent years. The implementation of cooperative learning strategies in teaching junior high school English teaching, which help students foster abilities of cooperative learning. And so that the relationship between the students makes a change from individuals’ competi tion in the group into cooperation; help to create a new type of relationship between teacher and student; adding more interaction between teachers and students. Increase the exchange between students and teachers or among students in the classroom, not only can enhance students' interest in learning English, but students also can develop a sense of cooperation and collaboration capabilities.This paper mainly focuses on English cooperative learning at the stage of junior middle schools. The research adopts the ways of theory researching and practical testing. In the usual teaching work, the researcher finds that when students in cooperative learning groups fail to achieve the desired learning outcomes, on the contrary it impacts on English learning. Then the researcher analyzes the condition and meaning of cooperative learning in junior middle schools and study on the effectiveness of cooperative learning in English class. For this study, the researcher proposes two hypotheses, and around these two hypotheses conducts a one-month research. Through two teaching experiments and investigation, the results show that reasonable seating arrangement and interesting learning activities are good for improving the effectiveness of cooperative learning.Key words: cooperative learning；effectiveness；English teaching摘要合作学习是当前在世界范围内被广泛使用的课堂教学组织形式。

在英语课堂中组织小组合作学习，教学效果显著，在交际性活动中，培养了学生的语言运用能力和与人合作的技能。

有效地开展小组合作学习，将有利于师生之间、生生之间的感情沟通和信息交流，有利于凸显学生个体的主体意识。

目前，小组合作学习教学模式作为新型的教学组织形式，在近年来的初中英语教学中被广泛应用。

在初中英语教学中实施合作学习的教学策略，有利于培养学生的合作学习能力，让班级学生之间的关系由个体竞争转变为组内合作，有利于创建新型的师生关系，增加更多教师和学生之间的交流互动。

增加课堂内师生，生生之间的交流，不仅可以增强学生学习英语的兴趣，而且可以培养学生的合作意识和合作能力。

本文是对初中阶段采用合作学习法进行英语教学而展开的研究。

研究主要采取理论分析与实验验证相结合的方法。

在平时的教学工作中，笔者发现学生在进行小组合作学习时无法达到预期的学习效果，反而影响学习。

于是笔者分析了初中阶段英语学科实施合作学习的条件和意义并对初中英语课堂中小组合作学习的实效性进行了研究。

针对这项研究笔者提出了两个假设，并围绕这两个假设进行了为期一个月的研究。

通过教学实验和调查研究，结果表明:合理的座位安排和有趣的学习活动有利于提高小组合作学习的实效性。

.关键词: 小组合作学习；实效性；英语教学ContentsAcknowledgements (i)Abstract (1)摘要 (2)1.Introduction (4)2. Literature Review (5)2.1 Effectiveness of Classroom Teaching (5)2.2 Definition of cooperative learning (5)2.3 Group Work (7)3. Project design (8)3.1 Problem found (8)3.2 Project Objectives (8)3.3 Project Hypothesis (8)3.4 Subjects and teaching material (8)3.5 Instrument (9)3.6 Project Process (9)3.6.1. Preparation stage (December 8, 2014 ---- December 12, 2014) (9)3.6.2. Project implementation (December 13, 2014---=-December 28, 2014) (10)3.6.5 Summary stage （December 28, 2014 --- January 1, 2015） (13)4. Conclusion (14)References (16)Appendix 1 Q uestionnaire (17)Appendix 2 Contents of learning (17)Appendix 3 Exercise： (17)Appendix 4: Teaching plan (18)Appendix 3: Test (20)1.IntroductionAs an effective way of classroom organization, cooperative learning has been widely used in English teaching in middle schools. There is more time left to the students in cooperative learning, and students are more active in learning. Classroom atmosphere became lively because of cooperative learning.However, due to the insufficient understanding of the theory and principles of cooperative learning and the improper organization and operation of cooperative learning activities, there are many problems in effective use of cooperative learning method especially in rural middle schools where English teaching and learning is mainly knowledge-centered and exam-oriented. In implementing cooperative learning, the following problems are commonly found in rural middle schools (Wang Pu, 2007):1. Some of the groups do not work cooperatively very well; especially some distracted students do their individual work and make class noisy. The classroom management is sometimes not easy to deal with.2. Due to the limitation of their ability, teachers have heavy workload to prepare for teaching materials and to design activities.3. It is not easy for the teachers to train the students to adapt to cooperative learning situations and to encourage students to take part in their group activities.4. It is difficult to have effective methods to measure students’ performances. Moreover, some students are absent, which deeply affect the group discussions, cooperative atmosphere and group performances. Students usually communicate with teammates in Chinese far more times than in English in class.To gain a better understanding of cooperative learning, more efforts need to be made to improve the effectiveness of it in English teaching. With this in mind, when I did my teaching practice last year I designed a project to explore the use of cooperative learning in English teaching and learning in rural junior middle schools.2. Literature Review2.1 Effectiveness of Classroom TeachingAs the name suggests, "Classroom Teaching" refers to teaching activities implemented in the classroom. Ren Caixia (2011) believes that: " classroom teaching mainly involves the teacher imparting knowledge to students and training students ' practical skills and problems related to ideological and moral education to the students; also related to teachers and students in teaching and learning ideas, content, teaching and learning methods, the management and evaluation of teaching and learning issues.Chen Donglei (2013:3) stated that “Effectiveness of class mainly refers to concrete progress or development that students have obtained from a period of teaching by teachers. Improving the effectiveness of class is to enable all students in the classroom get the maximum benefits and to achieve the objectives.”A researcher (2012) from the internet thinks that the effectiveness of the classroom is that students acquire the quantity and quality of the knowledge and skills; improve the quantity and quality of the consciousness and capacity, and nurture the quantity and quality of the emotion. The effectiveness of classroom teaching means that students get the most out of progress and develop with the least amount of time. The teacher who led classroom teaching can walk into the classroom and lead the class only after practicing basic skills; it will enhance the effectiveness of classroom teaching.2.2 Definition of cooperative learningMany researchers abroad have defined cooperative learning in different ways.Slavin (1990:2) states that cooperative learning refers to a variety of teaching methods in which students work in small groups to help one another learn academic content.Johnson and Johnson (1999:5) state that “cooperative learning is the instructional use of small groups so that students work together to maximize their own and each other’s learning. It may be contrasted with competitive and individualistic learning”.Dr. Sharan (1992:137), a famous psychologist from Tel Aviv University in Israel,points out that “Cooperative learning is the general term of a series of methods to organize and promote classroom teaching. The cooperation among students in the learning process is the basic characteristic of all these methods.”As for Vermette (1998), he gives an integrated definition as follows. “A cooperative classroom team is a relatively permanent, heterogeneously mixed, small group of students who have been assembled to complete an activity, produce a series of projects or products, and who have been asked to individually master a body of knowledge. The spirit within the team has to be one of positive interdependence, that is, a feeling that success for any one is tied directly to the successes of others. Moreover, these groups have to have been assigned by the teacher and they have to include regular direct face-to-face interaction in the classroo m setting.”(Cited in Li Xiaolu, 2013:11)Roger, Olsen and Kagan (1992:8) described that cooperative learning is group learning activity. It is organized in such a way that learning is based on the socially structured change of information between learners in groups in which each learner is held accountable for his or her own learning and is motivated to increase the learning of others.Parker (1994) described the cooperative learning as “classroom environment where students interact with one another in small groups while working together on academic task to attain the common goal”.According to Johnson, Johnson and Holubec (1998:5), in cooperative learning, “students work in small groups to accomplish shared learning goals. They learn the assigned material and ensure that all other group members also learn it. Cooperative learning uses a criterion based evaluation system in which student achievement is judged against a fixed set of standards”According to Vernon and Louise (1998:495), “Students take more responsibility for helping each other with assignments and problems in cooperative learning that alleviates some of the stress on the teacher to maintain order and to keep the students on task”.Chinese scholars Wang Tan and Ma Lan are both dedicated to the current research of cooperative learning. Wang Tan (2002), one of the representatives of cooperative learning researchers at present, thinks that cooperative learning is a pedagogical strategy system in which students is promoted to cooperate in heterogeneous groups, achieve common learning goals and be rewarded on the basis of the group performance. Ma Lan (2005) gives a statement that cooperative learning is team cooperation in classroom settings.Based on all the research above, I try to define cooperative learning as the following: Cooperative learning is an instructional strategy in which pairs or small groups of learners with different levels of ability work together to accomplish a shared goal. The aim of this cooperation is for learners to maximize their own and each other’s learning. It is animportant form of learning to cultivate students ' language skills, adaptability, and creativity. It also is an important means to promote self-exploration, self-discovery and solve the problem.2.3 Group WorkThe term group work refers to “two or more persons working together and interacting with one another” (Good, 1973: 267).Brumfit (1984:76) says that group work seems to be an extremely attractive idea for a number of reasons. All the students in a group work together, they communicate with each other and more importantly cooperate with each other. Students will be teaching and learning in the group exhibiting a degree of self-reliance that simply is not possible when the teacher acts as a controller.Brumfit and Johnson (1979:182) say that in placing students in small groups, each group enables them to maintain their individual psychology and may work within their capacities and level of English language. Small groups provide the chance of intensive involvement. In this way the quantity and quality of language practice increase. There are opportunities for feedback and monitoring and eventually getting guidance from the teacher.3. Project design3.1 Problem foundThe school where I had teaching practice is located in Wen Shan. The students there are mostly from rural families, whose parents work away from home; some students in the class are left-behind children. Most students are afraid of learning English and they think it is so difficult.When doing group work in class, I found that they were not active and some of them did nothing in groups.To improve the situation and get to know more about cooperative learning, I launched a project during the teaching practice on the effective implementation of group learning.3.2 Project ObjectivesThe project objectives are: first, to help teachers know the effectiveness of group learning in English class; second, to recommend teachers to adopt different ways for group learning; third, to enh ance students’ interest in learning English and fourth, to improve students’ learning efficiency3.3 Project Hypothesis1) If classroom seating arrangements are reasonable, it will be helpful for studentsto attend group work.2) If the content of group work is interesting, students would like to discuss witheach other.3.4 Subjects and teaching materialThis study takes two classes (Class 8 and Class 10) of Grade seven in junior middle school in Wen Shan De Hou Town Central School, about 100 students as the study subjects.The teaching material chosen in the project is taken from Ren Ai Project English seven grade English book from PSP (Popular Science Press).3.5 InstrumentThe instrument used to collect data is a questionnaire survey; this questionnaire includes six questions (Appendix 1). It is mainly used in the preparation stage and summary stage of the project, there are two purposes: first, to know students ' views on cooperative learning; second, to provide evidence for my hypothesis by contrast two stages’ survey results.3.6 Project ProcessThe whole process is divided into three stages.The first stage is preparation. There are three steps: 1) Determine implementation time;2)Determine the contents of cooperative learning; 3)Designed exercises and test for experiment process; 4) Let the student finish questionnaire（Appendix 1）.The second stage is project implementation. I divide 50 students into 10 groups. 5 groups are Experiment Groups and the rest 5 groups are Control groups. According to my hypothesis carry out two experiments: Experiment one and Experiment two. Experiment one is used to verify the first hypothesis and it takes one week; Experiment two is used to verify the second hypothesis and it also takes one week. The experiment includes three processes: before the class, during the class, after the class.The third stage is summary, the data that the experiments provide whether can prove my hypothesis is established or not.3.6.1. Preparation stage (December 8, 2014 ---- December 12, 2014)1) Determine implementation time：Experiment one needs 8 days, which is from December 13, 2014 to the 20th; Experiment two is also 8 days, which is from the 21st to 28th; Summarizing stage was from 29th to 31st.2) Determine the contents of cooperative learning: Appendix 2.3）Designed exercises(Appendix 3) and test(Appendix 5) for experiment process.4) let students finish the questionnaire(Appendix 1)，the result shows at table one.Table one:3.6.2. Project implementation (December 13, 2014---=-December 28, 2014)1. Experiment one (December 13, 2014 -- December 20, 2014)1) Before the experiment:①Divide the class into small groups:There are 50 students participate in this study, and every 5 students in a group, students are divided into 10 groups (group1, group2, group3, grou5, group6, group7, group8, group9, group10). We use Complementary strengths. Each group has top students, secondary students and poor students, such arrangement can avoid the fortuity of study. It can ensure diversity and complementarity of each member and the fairness of the reasonable competition between groups. I take group1 to group5 as Experiment Groups, and group6 to group10 as Control groups. I named Group1 to grou5 as “E” group, group6 to group10 as “C” group.②Scientific seating arrangements:Students of “E” group are sitting around, and like "o" while students of “C” group are siting like traditional arrangement. Allow students to put tables and chairs into a circle, and members of each group sit in their respective seats.2) During the experiment①I finish the teaching contents according to my teaching plan.(Appendix 4)②I assign learning tasks to each group and ask them to remember new words and phrases(Appendix 2) they have learned within 20 minutes.③After cooperative learning, let each member of ”E” group and “C” group complete exercises(Appendix 3) without text books. Finally, I collect data (Table 2).Table 2:3) After the experimentResults and discussion2.Experiment two (December 21, 2014 -- December 28, 2014)1)Before the experiment:①Divide the class into small groups like experiment one.②Seating arrangement: Students of “E” group and “C” group are sitting around, and like "o". Members of each group sit in their respective seats.2)During the experiment①I give students cooperative learning task: Group “E”read Section B 1a (Picture one), and learn each other, discuss with each other. They practice conversations and role playing. I ask them to circle phrases and important sentences they have learned. Finally, they finish Section B 1c. The content of group “C” is Section D 2a, during their learning they are required to circle phrases they have learned. Finally, they also should complete Section B 1c. After 20 minutes I collect data of each group’s task completion situation (Table 3).②I invite 5 students from group “E” and group “C” respectively (that is each group invites a member) to write down phrases on the blackboard by themselves. After 5 minutes I observe the number of phrases they have wrote down. The result shows Table 3.Picture onePicture twoPicture three3.6.5 Summary stage （December 28, 2014 --- January 1, 2015）To summarize carefully, collect and collate data and research results. Organizing varied forms of learning (such as team competition, "the star of the team cooperation," "excellent spokesman", etc.). Analyzed and summarized.4. ConclusionIn research cooperative learning, the beginning is from class case, teachers should collect lots of class cases, and then make a classification summary on cases, research which target can put in group cooperation, which are not suitable put in cooperation. The teacher should classify these tasks that can be put in group cooperation, it can be divided into: multi-directional problem; problems are completed together; problems are found by discussing, and so on. Next it is necessary to develop a process for each operation class, and each procedure must be clear and specific. It also can be used repeatedly in class, then adjust, and amend. Not every goal is suitable for the working group to finish. There are three forms used timely by students, they are independent learning, inquiry learning and cooperative learning.Students should be based on actual situation, and should not copy the successful experience of others. Teachers for classroom control should be flexible rather than "Put Mustang and should be characterized. Student group activities not only have clear division, but also should create good environment, and create situations the creation. It enhances team cohesion and stimulates students’ interest.In a word, carry out the implementation of the object and purpose of the English group cooperative learning in English class, not only to improve student participation in the teaching process, and improve their practical skills and language proficiency, but also to improve effectiveness of cooperative learning, improve students' comprehensive quality, so that they can fully develop. So, as an English teacher, we must proceed from the actual teaching, trying to find effective cooperation group learning model for students. Explore them and make full use in teaching process. It not only can active classroom teaching atmosphere, but also make the students have a good motivation to participate in teaching. However, the teacher cannot just deliberately cooperate in order to achieve interactive forms of teaching, otherwise they would be self-defeating, either wasting precious classroom time, or cannot complete the task of teaching with good quality and quantity. English teacher should under the premise of constantly improving their professionalism continuing to explore the actual operability of group cooperative learning English and the efficiency of results, let the real group cooperative learning play its advantages in the classroom, so that English teaching has become fun, activity, truly effective and efficient improving students' English scores, literacy overall.Here are a few thoughts in the implementation process:1. Students lack strategies when discussing.2. After the discussion, they do not summarize in time. They also can’t summarize rules and acquire knowledge from the group.3. During the group discussions, the students cannot grasp the theme, and often off the topic.4. Soldiers teach soldiers may be less ideal, one to one is ok while one to three would have been on a mere formality.5. Competition system is indispensable in group cooperation.6. Cooperative learning activity design is not just the single form of "discussion".7. When you assign tasks to groups, teachers often make mistakes of not standard language and unclear requirements.8. If the design is not reasonable for students’ activities, it would be easy for teachers to be spoon-fed.9. Although the teacher assign tasks, it isn’t useful if nobody begins to act.10. Consolidation phase of thinking and practice is put to an individual or a group, which one is better?ReferencesBrumfit, C. 1984. Communicative methodology in language teaching[M] London: Cambridge University Press.Brumfit, C. J., & Johnson K. 1979. The Communicative approach to language teaching [M]. London: Oxford University Press.Johnson, D. W. & Johnson R. T. 1999. Learning together and alone [M]. USA: Allyn and Bacon Company.Good. 1973. Dictionary of education [Z]. New York: McGraw Hill Book Company.Johnson, D. W., Johnson R.T. & Holubec, E. J., 1993. Cooperation in the classroom [M]. Minnesota: Interaction Book Company.Johnson, D.W., Johnson, R. K., & Holubec, E. J., 1998. Cooperation in the class-room[M].USA: Interaction Book Company.Parker, R., 1994. Small Group Cooperative learning in the classroom [J]. OSSC Bulletin: 2/7, 27-30. Roger, E.W., Olsen, B. & Kagan, S. 1992. About cooperative learning: Cooperative language learning[A]. In Kessler. C. (eds.) Cooperative language learning: A teacher’s resource book [C], NewJersey: Prentice Hall.Vernon, F. J., & Louise, S. J. 1998. Comprehensive classroom management[M].USA: Simon and Schuster Publishing.Sharan, Y. & Sharan, S. 1992. Expanding Cooperative Learning Through Group Investigation [M]. New York: Teachers College Press.Slavin, R. E. 1990. Cooperative learning: Review of Educational Research[M]. Beijing: Beijing University Press.Wang Pu, 2007, The Comparison of Difficulties between Cooperative Learning and Traditional Teaching Methods in College English Teachers [M].Kun Shan University.陈冬雷,2013, 提高高中英语课堂实效性研究[D]。