| The present study focuses on college EFL students' perceptions of CL, including three questions as follows:1. Perceptions of various teaching strategies and learning techniques of CL;2. Perceptions of achievement resulting from CL;3. Perceptions of the affective factors resulting from CL.And the author takes a further study on whether these perceptions differ across the variables of gender and prior levels of academic achievement.The author investigated 196 EFL learners (5 classes) in a university of medical science, who had been chosen to have EFL class with CL methods and to experience all kinds of teaching strategies and learning techniques in one academic year. The author analyzed students' perceptions of CL in EFL class by questionnaire and interview. The present questionnaire was modified from Phipps' questionnaire. Whereas, the present questionnaire not only included EFL learners perceptions of different teaching strategies and learning techniques, but also included other three dimensions: 1) EFL learners' perceptions of academic achievement promoted by CL; 2) EFL learners' perceptions of different affective factors resulted from CL; 3) their perceptions of CL in general, [heir EFL teachers interviewed ten students to view out their opinions in every experimental class every half a semester. Three of the most striking findings from the study are summarized as follows:Firstly, EFL learners perceived that those cooperative teaching strategies which could promote individual accountability, improve interpersonal skills, and promote group processing were quite effective and motivating, but those teaching strategies which could promote positive accountability and face-to-face interaction were comparatively !ess effective.On the other hand, female's and male's perceptions of "shared midterm exam grade" are different. Female students preferred not to share midterm exam grade with group-mates, while male students perceived it a comparatively effective way in CL, In addition, it seemed that low achievers liked to be assigned roles in classroom activitiescomparatively more than high achievers.Secondly, in general, students had conservative attitudes towards the achievement resulted from CL. Students were positive about others' and their own contribution to CL. However, most of the students considered that low achievers contributed comparatively less to the group work in CL, and high achievers contributed quite a bit to CL. Moreover, both males and females considered that they themselves contribute more than the opposite side.Thirdly, most of the EFL learners perceived that CL could promote positive affective factors. Males perceived CL to be comparatively more interesting than females, and they output a lot more in CL than females. Low achievers perceived that they obtained input comparatively more in CL than high achievers. |
