A Comparative Study On The Application Of Cooperative Learning Methods Between Junior High School English Novices And Expert Teachers

Cooperative learning is one of the most important learning methods in English class.Relevant studies have confirmed its positive impact on English learning,such as improving students' interest in English learning,promoting students' communication in English,and cultivating students' cooperative spirit,etc.Therefore,group cooperative learning method has been widely used in English teaching.However,how to implement it effectively has become an urgent problem for many English teachers.This study,based on social constructivism theory and activity theory,made a comparison and analysis from the micro level on the process of applying group cooperative learning method between expert and novice English teachers in junior high school.In this study,five English novice teachers and five English expert teachers in junior high school were selected as the research subjects.The comparative study was conducted from three stages which are preparation stage,activities organization stage and evaluation stage.The study aimed to answer three research questions:(1)In the preparation stage,what are the similarities and differences between the two types of teacher when they use group cooperative learning methods?(2)In the organizational stage,what are the similarities and differences between the two types of teacher when they use group cooperative learning methods?(3)In the evaluation stage,what are the similarities and differences between the two types of teacher when they use group cooperative learning methods?This study drew three sources of data to explore the research questions: classroom observation,supplemented by questionnaire responses and semi-structured interviews.The data was analyzed through qualitative and quantitative analysis.The major findings of the study are as follows:(1)In the preparation stage,obvious differences exist between the two types of teacher in group construction.Expert teachers mainly used precise grouping,while novice teachers mainly used random grouping.There is no obvious difference between the two types of teacher in their introducing methods.(2)In the organization stage,obvious differences in the types of the activities the teachers designed and applied in their teaching.Novice teachers mainly focus on three types of activities:role-playing,game interaction and problem discussion while expert teachers mainly focus on inspection feedback,production and problem discussion.The time of group cooperative learning distributed by novice teachers is less than expert teachers.In the class of both novice teachersand expert teachers,students' participation attitude is both very positive.But the students' participation breadth in the expert teachers' class is better than novice teachers' class.Both types of teachers will be the participants to guide students in the process of group cooperative learning.(3)In the evaluation stage,novice teachers mainly used summative evaluation while expert teachers mainly used process evaluation.Both types of teachers pay attention to teacher evaluation and students mutual evaluation,and all of them lay emphasis on overall evaluation.Based on the findings above,the following suggestions are tentatively provided: junior high school English teachers should pay more attention to the group construction.Novice teachers should not only base on their own experience,but also on the actual situation of students.Both kinds of teachers can guide students by creating situations more frequently and combines other types of activities to draw students' attention.Novice teachers should improve the breadth of students' participation.Establishing a reasonable evaluation system is also important.At the same time,novice teachers and expert teachers should communicate with each other and learn from each other.