A Study Of Group Cooperative Learning In Junior English Teaching In Remote Areas Of China

Group cooperative learning is an effective teaching and learning approach,which conforms to the New National Standards of English Course.It encourages students to help each other while study so as to progress together.Group cooperative learning offers every student an opportunity to express himself and make a contribution to his group.It can foster students’ language skills,abilities of cooperation and social communication.Furthermore,group cooperative learning,helping to implement the new curriculum reform,is an effective teaching strategy to cultivate students’ core competence.With all these benefits,group cooperative learning is widely used in junior school English teaching.Numerous experts and teaching instances have verified the importance and effectiveness of group cooperative learning.However,there are few studies on the application of group cooperative learning in remote areas.Compared with students in wealthier and more educated places,students in remote areas significantly differ in cognitive competence,English foundation,linguistic performance and ways of thinking.Therefore,this thesis studies the application of group cooperative learning in junior school class in remote areas,in order to study the effectiveness of group cooperative learning in remote places and propose suggestions to optimize group cooperative learning.In this thesis,the present situation of English teaching in junior high has been analyzed,and then the concept of group cooperative learning and the theory of group learning have been discussed with reference to the theory of constructivism,the theory of golden section method and the theory of Group Dynamics.The subject of the study is two classes in Zhang JiaJie Min Zu Middle School-one being the control class,and the other being the experimental class.The two teaching methods-group cooperative learning and traditional English teaching-being applied,this study records and analyzes the grades of mid-term and final examinations and teaching episodes in the two classes so as to find out the differences between group cooperative learning and traditional English teaching practiced in remote areas.In order to get students’ evaluations of group cooperative learning in junior English teaching,a questionnaire was administered to the experimental class.Three years’experiment and research has proved that the experiment class made greater improvements in English study than the control class in remote areas.It shows that group cooperative learning can stimulate students’ interests in English learning,improve students’ language application ability,foster students’ cooperative consciousness and communication ability,contributing to better cultivation of students’core competence in English study.Therefore,it is feasible and effective to implement group cooperative learning approach in English teaching in remote areas.Finally,the thesis provides specific advice to optimize group cooperative learning,aiming to help junior school English teachers in remote areas to better practice group cooperative learning in junior English teaching.Nevertheless,with consideration of the limitations and insufficiency of the study,the research needs further development and improvement.