A Study On Student Engagement In EFL Cooperative Learning In Junior Middle Schools

Under the promotion of the new curriculum,more and more primary and secondary school English teachers are keen on using cooperative learning(CL)in teaching.However,in teaching practice,the low student engagement of individual learners in the group leads to the low teaching efficiency of CL in English class.The study on CL has been carried out for nearly 40 years.Most of the relevant studies focus on students in colleges and universities,and the study on the English learning engagement under the CL teaching mode is even less paid attention.Therefore,it is urgent to investigate and study the related aspects.This study makes an in-depth analysis and discussion on students’ engagement level and its affecting factors in EFL CL in junior middle schools.This study analyzes the characteristics of cooperative learning English class,the three dimensions of student engagement and the affecting factors.Three dimensions of student engagement are: cognitive engagement,emotional engagement and behavioral engagement.In order to have a deeper understanding of student engagement and the factors affecting student engagement in EFL CL in junior middle schools,this study intends to explore the following two research questions:1.What is the level of students’ cognitive engagement,emotional engagement and behavioral engagement in EFL CL in junior middle schools?2.What are the factors that affect student engagement in EFL CL in junior middle schools?This study adopts questionnaire survey and interview as the instruments to collect data.713 students from junior middle school(HNMS)in Yunfu City,Guangdong Province participated in the study.The results of this study reveal that junior middle school students have a good engagement in EFL CL.In the three dimensions of student engagement,students’ behavioral engagement level is the highest with girls’ student engagement higher than boys’ and Grade 7 higher than Grade 8 and Grade 9.Factors affecting student engagement in CL includes teachers,peers and class climate.Implications for improving student engagement in CL are put forward in this study.