An Application Of Cooperative Learning To College English Reading

Reading proficiency, as an important aspect of evaluating English learners’comprehension capacity, plays an important role in English learning. English reading is anessential course in college today. Traditional teaching methods are still the mainstreams incollege English reading teaching and the students’ enthusiasm needs to be improved. It isurgent to analyze the characteristics of students’ learning, improve teaching methods andenhance the ability to use language.The author applies cooperative learning to teaching process of English reading.Cooperative learning has been researched for decades in improving learners’ achievementand non-intelligence abilities in various academics. The results show that the learners havemade outstanding achievements in learning, affection and social communication, leading tothe popularization of cooperative learning. However, it was not until the end of1990s thenthis teaching method had been explored in our country. According to the literature, theresearch of cooperative learning is mainly done in primary and secondary schools, whilethere is little research concerning college English teaching, especially in English readingteaching. It is indispensable to explore whether cooperative learning can enhance collegestudents’ reading proficiency.The author mainly studies two research questions:1.Whether students’ English readingproficiency will be improved in cooperative learning class.2. Whether students’ Englishreading interests will be improved in cooperative learning class.In order to testify the research, the author conducted an experiment on the teaching ofEnglish reading, the subjects are64sophomores from Management Department, Art andScience College of Bohai University. Two classes of the same English level were chosen,one experimental class, the other control class. Cooperative teaching reading was used inthe experimental class, while traditional method was used in the control class. The authoremploys tests, questionnaires to carry out the experiment. The conclusion is drawn:(1)Students’ English reading proficiency has been improved efficiently under the guidance ofcooperative learning;(2) Cooperative learning has improved students’ interests in Englishreading.