The Application Of Cooperative Learning In Senior English Classroom Teaching

In recent years, the development of society calls for constant advance in EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teaching in our country. The new round of basic education curriculum reform with the aim of students' development is pushing forward the reform of classroom teaching and the change of students' behavior. The focus of language instruction has been shifted from teacher-centeredness to learner-centeredness and language learning has become a process of developing learners' positive affection and their autonomous learning.Cooperative learning is a theoretic and strategic system applied by many countries in the world and at the same time one of the learning modes initiated by the new round of current basic education curriculum reform. Based on the literary review at home and abroad and English Curriculum Standards, the author believes that the implementation of this teaching strategy can successfully solve the practical problems of teaching, improve the quality of teaching and train more talented people with fully development in knowledge and the ability.The author chose two parallel natural classes from Fujian Gutian No. 1 Middle School for the experiment. The traditional method is used in the Control Class, Class 10 of Senior Grade 1 while cooperative learning is employed in the Experimental Class, Class 9 of Senior Grade 1. The methods of questionnaires, language tests, interviews and classroom behaviors were used to examine the effects of using cooperative learning in the course. The results of one year's practice show that cooperative learning helps to increase opportunities for students to use the language, stimulate students' motivation in learning, cultivate students' ability to cooperate in learning and their ability to communicate, and promote students' academic achievement. Based on the situation of foreign languages teaching in China and the existing CL models, the author makes some suggestions on the application of these models in different teaching contexts. As an effective way of teaching, CL is ensured to have further popularity and bring more benefit in Chinese educational reform.