Effects Of Cooperative Extended Learning On Primary School Pupils’ Listening And Speaking

English listening and speaking are not only very important language skills but also basic means to comprehend and use the language,the teaching of English listening and speaking certainly deserves enough attention.However,because of the limits of some subjective and objective teaching factors,the teaching of English listening and speaking has not been paid due attention in primary schools.The teaching hours laid aside for teaching English listening and speaking course are not enough.Pupils fail to have enough opportunities to participate in English listening and speaking activities.English listening and speaking course designs,if there are,are usually restricted in classroom environments.School pupils practice their listening and speaking mostly by reading aloud and imitating,etc.The possible solutions to these problems may lie in the innovation of teaching modes that focus on motivating pupils’ enthusiasms in English listening and speaking,which is a task that deserves primary school English teaching to fulfill.Based on the relevant theoretical framework of cooperative learning,this study conducted a four-month long teaching experiment of English listening and speaking,participated by 85 pupils of two Grade Five classes in a primary school of Suzhou,one of which was selected as the control class consisting of 42 pupils and the other as the experimental class composed of 43 pupils.For the extended learning of English listening and speaking,the control class adopted the individual-based self-study,while the experimental class applied group cooperative learning.By using listening and speaking tests,questionnaires and interviews,the study investigated into the effects of cooperative extended learning on pupils’ listening and speaking.Using Excel and SPSS 25.0 to analyze listening and speaking test scores questionnaire data and interview recordings,the study found that,in comparison with the individual-based self-study for extended learning,group cooperative extended learning exerted significant effects on pupils’ effective learning of listening and speaking.Firstly,group cooperative extended learning helped to remarkably improve pupils’ listening test scores.Secondly,group cooperative extended learning helped to greatly improve pupils’speaking test scores.Thirdly,group cooperative extended learning exerted significant effects on improving pupils’ attitudes towards English listening and speaking and on motivating their enthusiasms and self-confidence,but no concrete effects were found on improving their learning motivations.Furthermore,group cooperative extended learning obviously increased pupils’ active participation in classroom learning,helping to improve their learning process of English listening and speaking.The study findings might provide possible enlightenments and references for primary school teaching of English listening and speaking in the aspects of developing textbook-and-Internet based extended teaching resources,organizing different extended learning activities,enriching possible teaching contents,and above all,innovating teaching approaches,all of which are aimed at,on the one hand,effectively arousing primary school pupils’ active participation in the learning process of English listening and speaking,and on the other hand,practically improving the teaching efficiency of English listening and speaking.