On The Transformation Of Students With Learning Difficulties In Junior English Learning Via Cooperative Learning--An Empirical Study

With the rapid development of our society and the furthering of English curriculum reform,English teaching and learning has more and more challenges,and there are in China a considerable number of students with learning difficulties(LDs).How to help these students out of trouble has aroused many people's attention,and the author tries to apply Cooperative Learning(CL) in junior English classroom to transform this group of students.Based on the analysis of the current situation and causes of LDs in English learning and on the theoretical basis of CL theory,the thesis explores the effective application of CL to the transformation of LDs in junior English teaching and learning,which is testified by such research methods as teaching experiments,questionnaires and interviews.The empirical study was conducted from March,2008 to July,2008. The participants in this research were seventh-grade LDs in English learning from Class 1 and Class 2 in the High School Attached to Changsha College,Hunan Province.Both classes had the same conditions except the empirical class was exposed to CL.In the empirical class the implementation of CL based on the features of LDs was as follows:(1) forming cooperative learning groups based on LDs' peer relationship to build an equitable,harmonious environment;(2) planning and giving effective cooperative learning lessons,setting up multiple-leveled group tasks to stimulate LDs' higher participation and to help them experience the happiness from learning;(3) integrating a variety of assessments into everyday instruction to improve LDs' performance.The results of the study show that 91.7%LDs indicated a preference to English learning through CL and spent more time learning;83.3% LDs' higher participation was stimulated;87.5%LDs in the empirical class improved strikingly their academic achievement compared with the control class,and the mean score of LDs in the empirical class increased by 10.71 points and was in the lead by 9.14 points,and so on.Therefore, it is proved that the effective application of CL approach in junior English classroom has a positive effect on the transformation of LDs. And it is also found in the study that about 12%LDs made unsatisfactory progress because of different reasons,which needs further research.The present study explores the effective application of CL to the transformation of LDs,which will provide some enlightenment when people do researches on CL and the transformation of LDs.