论文总字数：47608字

摘 要

合作学习是当前世界范围内被广泛使用的课堂教学形式之一，许多初中英语教师试图通过在课堂上实施小组合作学习来提高英语教学的有效性，但效果不佳。因此，笔者试图通过自己的课堂教学实践来研究如何提高初中英语课堂小组合作学习的有效性。本文首先结合前人的研究并根据自身的教学实践，提出了在初中英语课堂有效开展小组合作学习的策略。然后以镇江市上党中学初二年级两个班为实验对象，运用所提出的策略进行实验，并通过问卷调查法、访谈法验证实验效果。实验结果表明，本文提出的策略具有可行性与有效性，能够为初中教师在日后开展小组合作学习提供借鉴意义。

关键词：小组合作学习；有效性；实验探究

Contents

1. Introduction…………………………………………………...……….....1

2. Literature Review………………………………………………........……1

2.1 The definition of GCL………………………………………..............…...2

2.2 The theoretical basis of GCL…………………………...................……....3

3. Strategies of GCL in English Class in Junior Middle School……...…..5 3.1 Establishment of a cooperative learning group………………..............….5 3.2 Training of cooperative learning skills......................................................7 3.3 Training of skills of English language ………………………….......….....8 3.4 Evaluation on GCL……………………………………………....…........10

4. Experiment on GCL in English Class in Junior Middle School….....12 4.1 Purpose of the experiment………………………….………………....…12 4.2 Methods of the experiment……………………………………….….......12

4.3 Results of the experiment………………………………………….....….13

5. Conclusion………………………………………………………………..14

5.1 Main results of the study..........................................................................14

5.2 Enlightenment from the experiment..........................................................15

5.3 Limitation of the study...............................................................................16

Works Cited………………………………………………………………...17

Appendixes……………………………………………………………….…18

1. Introduction

Since the early 1990s, when the concept of group GCL was introduced into China, a lot of theories and practice have been done on the nature of GCL, its implementation and strategies in the teaching process. The results of these researches have confirmed that this teaching method is indeed conducive to the cultivation of students" cooperative consciousness and cooperative ability. It is beneficial to the lifelong development of students. Decision on Basic Education Reform and Development, The outline of the basic education curriculum reform (Trial) promulgated in 2001 and Standard of Compulsory Education English Curriculum promulgated in 2011 reflected the state"s advocation on the teaching mode of GCL. Thus, it is an irresistible trend to closely combine group GCL with classroom teaching.

However, in the teaching practice and the process of listening to class, the author carefully observed and reflected the current situation of GCL and found many problems which affect the efficiency and effectiveness of English classroom teaching. The purpose of this study is to solve the problems to truly improve the effectiveness of GCL and to enable the teaching method to play its due role.

This study is based on the current application of GCL in English classroom in junior high school. The problems existing in GCL and the underlying reasons behind these problems are discussed respectively. The author points out ways and strategies to solve these problems. The application of these strategies in the teaching process is based on the author’s personal practice and research, which ultimately improves the effectiveness of group GCL. This study provides a reasonable and effective strategy for the rational and effective development of GCL in English class in the future. It also provides some enlightening significance and important reference for the classroom teaching of English teachers in junior middle school.

2. Literature Review

2.1 The definition of GCL

Professor Slavin in Johns Hopkins University is one of the main representatives of GCL. He believes that GCL is a classroom teaching technique that enables students to engage in learning activities in groups, and get rewards or credits according to their whole team"s achievements.

Johnson brothers in GCL Center of Minnesota University says that GCL means using groups to enable students to work together to maximize their own and others" learning.

Davidson, once chairman of the International Education Cooperation Research Association, refers that the definition of GCL should include the following seven points: ① team cooperation in completing, discussing and solving possible problems together; ② face-to-face communication between group members; ③ atmosphere of cooperation and mutual assistance in each group; ④ personal sense of responsibility; ⑤mixed grouping; ⑥ direct teaching cooperative skills directly; ⑦ organized interdependence.

Wang Tan, director of the Shandong Institute of educational science, who has been working hard in the study and practice of GCL in the early 21st century. He insists that GCL is a teaching strategy system aiming at promoting students to interact in heterogeneous groups, achieving a shared learning goal and getting rewards based on the overall performance of the team.

Wang Hongyu, an educator in China, believes that GCL is a teaching strategy system that encourages students to learn together in heterogeneous groups and use cooperative interpersonal communication to promote students" cognition and emotion, according to certain cooperative procedures and methods in the classroom teaching mainly relying on the form of cooperative learning.

Lin Shengfu, a Chinese scholar in Taiwan, claims that GCL is an innovative teaching design, with the purpose of making learning activity a common activity, and its success or failure is related to the honor of the group.

According to the definitions of experts at home and abroad, the connotation can be summarized as: ①GCL is a kind of teaching activity based on group activities. ② GCL is a kind of cooperation and mutual assistance among peers. ③ GCL is a goal-oriented activity, which is designed to achieve certain teaching objectives. ④ The main incentive basis of GCL is the overall achievement of each group. ⑤ GCL is the allocation of learning tasks and the control of teaching process by teachers.

To sum up, GCL is a teaching strategy that teachers and students, students and students, and each other complete the learning task together to get rewards based on the overall performance of the group in the teaching process with the basic organizational form of learning group and common goals.

2.2 The theoretical basis of GCL

2.2.1 The theory of “interactive hypothesis”

The "interactive hypothesis" is put forward by Mike Ron(Long 32). He believes that when there is difficulty in communication and understanding, the two sides of the conversation must make changes in such as repetition, interpretation, pronunciation and intonation according to the response of each other to make the language input easy to accept. The hypothesis also emphasizes the importance of comprehensible input, and is committed to studying how to make input comprehensible and thus promoting learners" language acquisition. The theory can well explain that the use of group learning can lead to the improvement of learners’ oral English, because the factors such as repetition, interpretation, correction, adjustment and simplification may make the input of language easier to understand in the process of interaction.

2.2.2 The theory of “zone of proximal development”

The famous former Soviet psychologist Vygotsky (Vygotsky 86) proposed the concept of interactive hypothesis: the distance between the actual level of development determined by solving problems independently and the potential development level determined by the guidance of adults or more capable partners to solve problems. In his view, the zone of proximal development is not only reflected in the teaching of teachers, but also in cooperation with stronger peers. A large number of studies have confirmed the importance of peers in each other"s zone of proximal development. From the perspective of Vygotsky, the influence of cooperative learning on students" academic performance is mainly attributed to the use of cooperative tasks. Therefore, the opportunity for students to discuss, argue, express and listen to others" opinions is a very important component of cooperative learning on their academic achievements. The theory shows that cooperative learning is an effective way to improve students" cognition.

2.2.3 The theory of “constructivism”

"Constructivism" was first proposed by Piaget, a Swiss scholar, and rose in the 1980s. It occupies a pivotal position in the field of contemporary educational psychology. Constructivism holds that learning is a process of actively building knowledge. In the past, the learners have formed rich knowledge and experience that is the basis for learners to understand the new information and the premise of logical reasoning. At the same time, the original knowledge is adjusted and changed because of the new experience. Learners are constructed through repeated and two-way interactions between new and old knowledge and experience. Social constructivist believes that if we want to make people surpass their own understanding, we must see those different understandings and see the multifaceted nature of things. Under the influence of the social constructivism, the educational circle began to introduce the student interaction and heterogeneous groups into the classroom teaching practice. Through cooperation and discussion, the students understand each other"s views and form a more rich understanding (Wuamp; Guan 56).

2.2.4 The theory of “input and interactionist hypothesis”

Krashen(1985)points out that mastering the language is through "Acquisition" rather than "learning". Learning refers to the acquisition of language consciously through teaching. Through communication, we can unconsciously contact the language system and master the language. He emphasized that mastering language is mostly the result of using language in communicative activities rather than that of merely training language skills and learning language knowledge. Long (1983) pointed out that language must be acquired through conversational interaction. He believes that the indispensable mechanism of language acquisition is "modified interaction" that can make input understandable, and comprehensible input is beneficial to language acquisition. Therefore, modified interaction is conducive to language acquisition, especially in GCL.

3. Strategies of GCL in English Class in Junior Middle School

3.1 Establishment of a cooperative learning group

"Cooperative learning" is a mutual assistance learning with a clear division of responsibility in order to accomplish common goals and tasks in groups or teams and a learning method that takes students as the center and takes group as a form of learning together, promoting each other and improving together. (Qiu 32). Reasonable grouping of students according to certain criteria is the premise and foundation for ensuring the effectiveness of GCL in English teaching.

3.1.1 The criterion of grouping

1. Heterogeneity in group and homogeneity among groups. Heterogeneity in group refers to great difference of the group members’ gender, personality, interest, ability, academic achievement and growth background. So students can learn from each other’s strengths and make progress together. Rather, homogeneity among groups creates conditions for fair competition among teams so as to stimulate students’ learning enthusiasm and lighting spirit.

2. Appropriate size of group. Research shows that when the number of groups is 3-6,everyone speaks; when the group is 7-10,almost everyone speaks, the quiet people say less, and 1-2 people may not speak at all; when the group is 11-18,5-6 of them speak very much, of which 3-4 occasionally insert one or two sentences; when the number of the group is 19-30,3-4 of them will occupy almost all the speaking time; when the size of group is 30 or more, no one is willing to speak(Chen 5).This shows that in English teaching, the number of each group is best of 4-6,which can not only guarantee the participation of each number to the task of the group, but also avoid the phenomenon that the number of students in the group is too large to make up the number of the students.

3. Relative stability and dynamic change. Fixed group members have a strong effect on enhancing group cohesion and cooperation. However, if the members are too familiar with each other, they will have interdependence psychology and dodge their own responsibility when completing their tasks, which will reduce the vitality of the group. Therefore ,in the course of junior middle school English teaching, while maintaining the stability of the group members, it is necessary to adjust the team members dynamically according to the selection of the topic discussion and the change of the learning task in order to expand the information channels of the students. The way will also keep the learning group fresh and energetic.

3.1.2 Division of roles

The roles of GCL is mainly composed of team leader, recorder, supervisor, communication and reporter. The group leader’s task is to arrange and divide the tasks and effectively evaluate members’ speeches and discussions. Recorder is to record in detail the contents of the group’s speech and discussion, and organize main points arranged for preparatory work for the reporter. The main job of supervisor is to maintain the group discipline, and check whether members have participated in the speeches and discussions and tasks have been completed on time. The main task of communication staff is to solve the difficult problems that cannot be solved in the group cooperative learning process by consulting with other groups, or asking the teacher for help, The main task of the reporting staff is to demonstrate and report the results. In the process of discussion, teachers should also play a coordinating role encouraging students to choose their own roles freely and democratically, while taking into account the overall development of the students by certain methods and techniques. They should let the troublemakers be supervisors; let students who love speaking as the recorder, and let the less talkative students serve as the reporting staff. Such a way of division of roles enables students to exercise their abilities in all aspects.

3.2 Training of cooperative learning skills

Group cooperation skills are formed in members’ mutual communication and interaction in group cooperative learning, The development and effective implementation of group cooperative learning are inseparable from the promotion of group cooperative learning skills, Teachers must pay attention to training students’ cooperative skills so as to improve efficiency of GCL to achieve good teaching results.

3.2.1 The cultivation of consciousness of cooperation

Teachers should make students understand the importance of cooperation, which is not only reflected in the present stage of learning, but also closely related to their future life and work. At the same time, let them understand that team cooperative learning is both individual and collective behavior. In order to achieve this goal, teachers can design a series of systems of rewards and punishment based on team learning, let the members of the group work out the learning goals, make a special English group name for every group, and carry out the competition between groups. Through these activities, students could have a sense of group belonging, a sense of collective honor and a sense of pride in obtaining compliments from other members and teachers. This makes every student feel the joy of cooperation and gradually cultivates the students’ sense of cooperation, thus laying a good foundation for the English cooperative learning. This is very beneficial for them to form good cooperative relations, mutual aid awareness and the smooth development of group activities.

3.2.2 Training of cooperative skills

In English classroom teaching in junior middle school, training students" cooperative skills requires teachers" overall planning. They should carry out basic skills training and focus on implementation skills to let the students understand the necessity of the training of cooperative skills. Training of cooperative skills should be carried out in the following aspects:

1. Listening. Listening is one of the ways of communication in group cooperation. When a member of group speaks, other should listen carefully and express their opinions through facial expressions and eye contact. We should summarize the key points for the content of others" speeches, and understand what others speak and whether they are consistent with own views. Teachers should teach students that it is impolite to interrupt others when listening .Students should express their own ideas until others have finished speaking.

2. Expression. In the process of English GCL, team members must be able to use English to express their views and opinions clearly and accurately so that others can understand them. As an English teacher, it is necessary to make good expression paradigms and guidance in daily class and provide more opportunities for students to express .At the same time, students should be asked to think carefully and organize words well in English before they express their ideas. If necessary, they can write the drafts, record the key words.

3. Coordination. The skills include putting forward pertinent suggestions, reminders, revisions and supplements to others; with the further development of GCL, members of the group should review each other"s behavior and fully absorb advantages of other members of the group. They also should do necessary rectification and improvement of the way of discussion and behavior and conduct group members who deviate from the discussion, violate discipline or deviate from the discipline, conduct the necessary guidance.

3.3 Training of English language skills

Students" English level in junior high school is still in the primary stage, and their ability to express their views or opinions clearly and accurately is not mature enough. The lack of English language skills has become the main obstacles and bottlenecks of effective GCL in English classroom. In order to promote the efficient development of GCL in English class, and realize the aim of improving students" comprehensive use of language ability according to the New Curriculum Standard, English teachers should strengthen the training of students" basic skills in English communication.

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