A Study On The Application Of Cooperative Learning To English Major Intensive Reading Course

The21stcentury is an era of information globalization and internationaleconomic integration, which makes new and higher requirements of Englishprofessionals—they should not only master a language or skills, but should beexcellent with the following features: solid basic language skills, broad range ofknowledge, specialized knowledge, strong capability and good quality. Englishintensive reading course (i.e. basic English course) of English major, as one importantrequired course of all the basic courses established for college English major, plays adecisive and irreplaceable role in cultivating complex talents aimed at the21stcentury.However, there exist kinds of problems in the current traditional English IntensiveReading class, such as old teaching mode, single teaching methods, conservativeteaching idea, arduous teaching tasks and tight class hours, etc., which leads to thephenomenon that students lose interest and feel stressed in the learning of intensivereading course, thereby their learning effect greatly reduced. All of this, consequently,affects the teaching quality and effectiveness of English intensive reading course.Therefore, the author holds that the cooperative learning strategy is the key to solvethe above problems.Cooperative learning (CL) is recognized as a type of innovative and effectivesystem of learning theories and strategies, for it is aimed to develop learners’communicative competence and cooperative skills, to improve the classroomatmosphere and to raise their achievements. Cooperative learning introduced inEnglish Intensive Reading class, can change the traditional “teacher-centered”classrooms into the “student-centered and teacher-leading” ones. Besides, it helps toactivate the classroom climate and to inspire students’ interest and initiative in thelearning of English intensive reading course, which, ultimately, effectively enhancesthe English teaching quality and facilitates the realization of the teaching goals.This paper, in the first place, makes an introduction of the research significanceincluding the theoretical and practical significance, and then explains cooperative learning strategy from the aspects of its definition, essential elements as well as itshistorical study. A brief description is given about the concept and characteristics ofintensive reading course of college English major. Afterwards, some majororganizational forms of applying cooperative learning to English intensive readingclass, and its potential advantages together with theoretical basis are comprehensivelyanalysed. Based on the study on the cooperative learning strategy and Englishintensive reading course, the author, using questionnaires, makes a survey on how thesubjects perceive and comprehend the cooperative learning method in the perspectiveof its five basic factors. And the results show that students have basically understoodthe connotation of cooperative learning theory, but do not fully realize the importanceof the element of individual accountability. Therefore, the author believes that theteacher should strengthen the theoretical education to students, so that they can have amore compound and comprehensive perception of cooperative learning and its value.Then, the author, by making interviews to the English intensive reading teachers andsome of their students, learns about the current teaching situation of English intensivereading course and problems existing. For example, most teachers still adopt thetraditional teacher-centered teaching mode in their intensive reading classes; studentsin such classrooms feel oppressive and constrained, and have low confidence andefficiency in learning this course. What’s worse, few opportunities are provided forthem to make interations with their teacher and classmates, to take part in classactivities and practise oral English. As for these problems mentioned above, theauthor makes reason analysis. Besides, the author makes an investigation into howwell cooperative learning is applied in the intensive reading class, and whether itachieves good efficiency, and then gives a detailed and careful analysis of the datacollected. The survey results indicate that the application situation of cooperativelearning seems good, and it does make impact on improving the class climate andstrengthening students’ interest and confidence in learning the intensive readingcourse. What’s more, students gain more chance to participate in class activities andpractise spoken English. At the same time, some problems that need to be paidattention to appear during the application process of cooperative learning in theintensive reading class. For example, the cooperative learning content selection andthe activity design are not scientific enough; grouping of cooperative learning groupsis still unreasonable; the role division within the cooperative learning group seems not clear enough to all group members; the teacher is not sure about his or her roleposition in the class when using cooperative learning method. While, if theseproblems are not resolved timely and reasonably, cooperative learning under thissituation, will become a mere formality, and will not acquire better effect. What’sworse, it will even drain students of their enthusiasm in the intensive reading class,and the teaching quality and the learning effectiveness of students will also beaffected. Finally, based on the elaboration and analysis of the problems occurringduring the application process, the author comes up with several suggestions on howto solve these problems and improve the application of cooperative learning inEnglish intensive reading class.