Reflection on the Implementing of Cooperative Learning in College English Classroom

【Abstract】At present， lecturing approach is the main method of English teaching. Students learn English just through receiving knowledge from teacher. In students learning conscious， there is no using English to communicate or through mutual help and encourage between students to improve themselves. Under this circumstance， students can only get the knowledge of English or get high scores， the ability of using language is hardly achieved. And in modern society， communication skills and team work abilities are indispensible for a person. Therefore， Cooperative Learning method is being placed in an important position. As a new teacher， the author puts the method of Cooperative Learning into practice. It changes the relationship between teacher and students， updates teaching method， arouses the enthusiasm of students， encourages student participation and cooperation ability. But there are still some places need to reflect and improve. Combined with some theoretical knowledge and practical conditions， the author finds out more feasible strategies to implement Cooperative Learning in our future teaching.

【Key words】cooperative learning； reflect

1. The Definition of Cooperative Learning

Murray（1994：34-36）defines cooperative learning as a family of pupils working together.The class typically is divided into groups of three to six children usually of the same age，but differing in ability， ethnicity and gender.

In China， the representative scholar of Cooperative Learning： Wang Tan （2000： 3） defines as “a teaching strategy system which aims to students cooperate in heterogeneous group， reaches the common goal and regards the whole performance as reward basis.”

The above conceptions by different researchers share the common ideas of cooperative learning，that is，students work based on coordinate relationship in heterogeneous groups to accomplish the common goal.“Positive interdependence”，“mutual help”，an “individual accountability” are essential to achieve the common learning goal. The heterogeneous members are the basis of establishing coordinate relationship， the common goal is the momentum of cooperating.

2. The Practice of Cooperative Learning

Content： New College English 1， Unite 2 Friendship， writing.

Cooperative Learning group： grouping based on scores of students. Six students make a group. There are 12 groups.

Tasks and steps： task 1， warming up questions. Students discuss the topic with their team in five minutes. And one student of each group shows their ideas. Task 2： every group should make a poster. Teacher shows how to make a poster. Every group shows poster to students and teacher. Teacher gives an appropriate evaluation. Task 3： Students write a passage based on their poster. Members of group correct their writing mutually， and choose the best one to show in the class.

3. Analysis the Practice of Cooperative Learning

3.1 The Positive Effect of the Practice

3.1.1 Extensive participation

In the activities， students show much interest and take part in discussion actively. That accord with “facing all students， developing their characteristics” put forward by the New Curriculum Standard. Since the topic has a close relationship with students life， they have heated debate.

3.1.2 Active atmosphere

It create a more relaxed and friendly context for students to learn. For teachers， its relatively quick and easy to organize the class activities. For students， it promotes them autonomy by allowing them to make their own decisions rather than follow the teachers.

3.1.3 Divergent thinking

It allows students to work together rather than under teachers guidance. Students dare to imagine and innovate. Under such active atmosphere， they ponder a problem from many angles. For instance， as to “what is friendship” this topic， the answers are limit in person， include a pet or a precious thing. They can think this question from different aspect.

3.1.4 Effective teaching

The effective can be proved in two aspects： effect and efficiency. Just in two classes， the abilities of speaking， writing， listening， negotiation， organization， cooperation， and writing are developed.

Before class， the author have divided students into 12 groups， the difficulty of task is increasing gradually， and choose a topic which students want to say， want to think， to discuss. Therefore， the classes are almost accomplishing the desired goals.

From these advantages， Cooperative learning can be defined as a “strategy” for the classroom that is used to increase motivation and retention，to help students develop a positive image of self and others，to provide a vehicle for critical thinking and problem solving，and to encourage collaborative social skills.（Catderon， 1987，and Christison 1990）.

3.2 The Problems of the Practice and Suggestions

3.2.1 Unreasonable grouping

The author divided group only based on the scores， thus totally ignore their characters gender and so on. As a result， some students dominate the talk while others may be very passive or even quiet all the time. Some groups finish the task fast while some very slow.

The teacher should divide the groups equally in order to make every one has the opportunity to participate fully.There are many ways of dividing groups. For instance， if it is a writing task， we should consider the writing skills， organizing language skills， skills of words and phrase， grammar and so on. If it is a talking task， the gender， the character， communication， negotiation， using language skills are important to consider.

3.2.2 Lack the consciousness of cooperation

When the reprehensive of groups statement their ideas， they just say “I think， I see”， not our team think. Although it is just a problem in details， it indicates students are still lack cooperation consciousness.

Sometimes it is very noise when there are students answer questions. So group division of work it is very important. Such as team leader， team supervisors， team recorders. The leader can organize the activity， the supervisor make every one take part in. The recorder organizes the ideas and thoughts which are the results of discussion. Every member takes his own responsibility and makes contribution to group. Positive interdependence is the core of cooperative learning.The students must realize that they are in the same boat.

3.2.3 The way of evaluation

In the practice， teacher is the only one who gives evaluation. In fact， students also can do that job. As a teacher， we cant say it is wrong or right. But we could let other students to comment on it. Then， teacher can say his thoughts. In this way， we can realize the real student-teacher interaction.

3.2.4 The position of teachers role

Teacher should as a guide， a cooperator， a promoter， not just a speaker. When students discuss the topic， teacher can walk around in classroom to know the situation of discussion， and if it necessary， teacher can join students.

3.3 Reflection on the Practice

Therefore， on the bases of anglicizing the advantages of cooperative learning， the author thinks the theory of cooperative theory can be combined with the English writing teaching， and points out that a cooperative writing model in teaching writing.

The basic steps are following：offering tasks—understanding demands—group discussion—cooperative writing—peer editing and teacher commenting. In detail， in the step of offering tasks， the teacher should make each student know the writing task very well. In group discussion， the teacher can divide the students into several groups or the students divide themselves into several groups. Each student can think freely， make up sentences freely， then discuss， select good opinions， good sentences. In the step of writing， the students can write， revise， draft. It can develop their conscious of group and their own creativity.Furthermore it can help them find out some problems of their own or their group. In the step of teacher commenting， the teacher asks every group to show their compositions and comment on the content and structure of the article. Cooperative teaming in English class is based on the modem social psychological education and cognition. It is also based on studying and making use of human beings relationship in class.It is guided by designed plan， it is motivated by cooperation between the teacher and the students， or among the students.It is completed through group activities.It is evaluated in the form of the whole group score.Its purpose is to improve the students speaking， writing ，negotiation ability， reprove the social atmosphere in class，and form good psychological qualities and social skills.

4. Conclusion

As a whole， Cooperative Learning has positive effect on students. Their learning interest， motivation， self-esteem， confidence， learning atmosphere are improved. Most students get many social skills， such as， interpersonal relationship， cooperative awareness and spirit is enhanced. Cooperative Learning is practicable in English teaching.

At the same time， the author also has got opportunities to improve. Firstly， it makes me realize that how to put the pedagogical theories into practical use. Secondly， the plan and process of teaching and after-class reflection is a process of constant deep-thought which makes me work more enthusiasm and efficient than before. Thirdly， it is a base for me to further teach better. Fourthly， it encourages me greatly to study in English teaching method.

There are still some problems when we put Cooperative Learning methods in use. At any time， any place， we （the teachers） should adapt different teaching methods which are suitable for different students. The best method of teaching method depends on the characters of students and interest of students.

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作者简介：李江小（1989.06-），女，湖北鄂州人，硕士研究生，助教，研究方向：英语教学。