An Empirical Study On Cooperative Learning In Non-english Majors' Listening Class In A Private College

According to Chinese scholar Wang Tan (2002), cooperative learning (CL) isdefined as a kind of teaching theory and strategy which aims to promote studentsinteraction in heterogeneous group, attain the common goal and are awarded on thebasis of the overall achievement of the group. This dissertation reports on a studythat investigates the application of CL approach in college English listening class ofnon-English majors aiming to prove that such a creative and effective teachingmethod can positively stimulate and promote students' interest in learning Englishso as to form a good habit of cooperative learning and furthermore to developstudents' listening comprehension ability.78freshmen from Guangdong Peizheng College of2012-2013academic yearsfrom two different majors i.e. Business Administration and Law of the same Englishlearning start level according to their English scores (ranged from104to107) ofCollege Entrance Examination participated in this24-week experimental research.This paper first illustrates the current situation of non-English majors' collegeEnglish listening class and reviews the definition, essential elements, cooperativemethods, theoretical basis and previous studies of CL. Next, the specificmethodology is described in detail. The instruments containing two questionnaires,pre-test&post-test, College English Test band4of June15th,2013, an interviewand classroom observation are introduced and their implementation are illuminatedin the data-collection procedure including deducting the applicable CL methods inthe tasks from the textbook with a series of tables for self&group assessments.Finally, by presenting results of the interview&classroom observation andanalyzing the data of questionnaires, tests with the help of SPSS18.0package, itshows that CL plays a positive role in improving learning climate and students' social skills. Students' grades in both classes retrogressed by comparingpost-test with pre-test due to the unequal difficulty between two tests, and thecontrolled class even steps backwards significantly. Even though, the Mean, whichof the experimental class is lower than that in the controlled class in pre-test,however, it is higher in post-test. And by comparing their performances in CET-4,the experimental class has developed a little bit more than the controlled class inboth the whole test and the listening part though not so significant.This study finds that CL applied in college English listening class is feasibleand a little effective, and it really demonstrates the student-centered learning model.A listening class turns into information reappeared and reproduced process whichavoids the conventional simplex listening learning model and increases students'interest. Frequently retelling also enhances the confidence of expressing opinions inEnglish. In addition, interactions of group members and kinds of learning materialsolidify English knowledge base and help develop students' social potential. Theauthor also puts forward some pedagogical suggestions for teachers to take intoconsideration or amend when implement CL. However, there are inevitable defectsor problems in the study such as students' not large possession of vocabularyleading to depend on mother tongue during group activities, lack of timely andsufficient evaluation and feedback due to the limited time, and how to moreeffectively develop students' academic achievement in class through a wholesemester need further study.