The Application Of Cooperative Learning To The Teaching Of College English In China

College English teaching aims at developing the learner抯 communicative competence. Obviously, developing the learner抯 communicative competence largely depends on the practice of classroom teaching in China. However, the present situation of college English teaching is not satisfactory in which teachers pay much attention to the teaching of the learner抯 linguistic knowledge, whereas little attention to the development of their communicative competence. As a result, quite a few students who have learned the foreign language for several years could hardly express everyday notions in the target language. In the new century梩he information age, cross-cultural communication through the medium of English will take place far more frequently. Consequently now more and more corporations demand the learners to have a better command of English not only in reading and translation, but also in speaking and I writing. The current teaching methods employed in CET seem lagged behind the requirement. To meet the challenges of the new century, we are much in need to improve the current teaching methods. This paper focuses on introducing an approach 桟ooperative Learning(CL) and its feasibility of implementing CL in College English Teaching in China. CL is very popular in western countries, but it seemed rarely been adopted in FLT inn China. It is a new approach in the repertoire of education practice. A great bulk of research plus present study has proved to be and effective attempt in maximizing opportunities for cooperation to yield better learning outcomes by all learners: in x Application of Cooperative Learning to the Teaching of College English 69 achieving better affective state in learners, and in helping learners to become more autonomous which is considered as an ultimate goal of education. The learners? motivation, interest in language learning, self-esteem and task perseverance can all be enhanced after the treatment of CL. CL values the relaxed and cooperative learning environment. Positive results achieved in the study may lead to opportunities of implementing CL in CET. The recent publication of a new textbook and its widespread adoption in College English have also offered an opportunity of applying CL to CET. Nevertheless, there are some limitations in implementing CL in CET. Major challenges result from the dominating product-oriented educational policy and practical obstacles in the low-resourced Chinese context. This dissertation consists of five chapters: Chapter One introduces the reality of college English teaching and two major methods dominating CET: Language-Point Approach and Sentence-Text-Analysis Approach. Chapter Two discusses the concept of CL, its theoretical basis and its relevant language theories. Chapter Three describes the implementation of CL in dealing with Intensive Reading, Exercise and Extensive Reading in CET, and some possible problems may occur in the course of implementing CL in language learning. Chapter Four analyzes the possible opportunities and challenges of implementing CL in CET. The recent publications of a new textbook and its widespread adoption in College English teaching have offered an opportunity to apply Cooperative Learning. Chapter Five serves as a conclusion. We summarize the theoretical significance of Cooperative Learning(CL). And we also point o...