中学英语教学中的合作学习毕业论文.docx

1、中学英语教学中的合作学习毕业论文中学英语教学中的合作学习 -毕业论文【标题】中学英语教学中的合作学习 【作者】周 巧 【关键词】合作学习;中学英语教学;小组活动 【指导老师】王露 李芬芳 【专业】英语 【正文】 I. Introduction Cooperative learning is first advocated and carried out by famous American educator David Koonts. It became a creative and effective teaching theory and strategy in 1970s and 198

2、0s. The strategy of cooperative learning was developed as a means to reduce competition in American schools, which James Coleman (1959) identified as a negative component of the education system. It is a structured, systematic instructional strategy in which small groups work together toward a commo

3、n goal. Cooperation, is working together to accomplish shared goals.1 Within cooperative activities individuals seek outcomes that are beneficial to themselves and beneficial to all other group members. Cooperative learning is the instructional use of small groups so that students work together to m

4、aximize their own and each others learning. The idea is simple. Class members are organized into small groups after receiving instruction from the teacher. They then work through the assignment until all group members successfully understand and complete it. Cooperative efforts result in participant

5、s striving benefit so that all group members gain from each others efforts (your success benefits me and my success benefits you), recognizing that all group members share a common fate (we all sink or swim together here), knowing that ones colleagues (we can not do it without you), and feeling prou

6、d and jointly celebrating when a group member is recognized for achievement (we all congratulate you on your accomplishment!).2 With the development of the society and economy in China, the second round education reform has set an even higher demand as well, which makes teaching more challenging. Te

7、achers have to focus their attention not only on teaching materials, but also on efficiency of teaching. More and more teachers are trying to use effective teaching approaches in their classroom so as to find better ideas for meeting these challenges. Therefore, cooperative learning approach is wide

8、ly adopted in Chinese middle schools. In the traditional approach to English teaching, most class time is spent with the teachers instructing and the students watching, listening and writing. Students work individually on assignments and cooperation is discouraged. Such teacher-centered instruction

9、methods have repeatedly been found inferior to instruction that involve cooperative learning, in which students work in groups on problems under conditions that are sure both positive interdependence and individual accountability. Different from the traditional teacher-centered instruction in which

10、teachers address the whole class at the same time and the interaction between the instructor and the students are rare, “Cooperative learning is a teaching strategy involving students participation in small group learning activities that promote positive interaction.”3 Students are encouraged to sol

11、ve problems, answer questions of their own, discuss, explain, debate or brainstorm in their teams during class. Team members learn to cooperate and work together toward a common goal. II. Literature Review A. The Connotation of Cooperative Learning According to the study of cooperative learning expe

12、rts all over the world, it involves following points:4 (1) Cooperative learning, is a teaching activity which takes the group activities as the main body. (2) Cooperative learning, is a mutual assistance activity of companion. (3) Cooperative learning, is a goal-oriented activity. (4) Cooperative le

13、arning, is taking the overall performance of each groups achieves as the reward basis. (5) Cooperative learnings learning assignment and teaching procedure, assigned and controlled by teachers.5 To sum up, cooperative learning is a learning strategy as well as a means of classroom orgnization, in wh

14、ich students learn in small groups to achieve the common goals and get shared reward. In order to maximize their achivement, group members often help each other and contribute their most to the group. B. The Key Elements of Cooperative Learning All the cooperative learning approaches share the follo

15、wing basic elements: positive interdependence, face-to-face interaction, individual and and group accountability, interpersonal and small group skills and group processing.(Johnson & Johnson, 1993) 6 The first element is positive interdependence. It is a kind of feeling that all group members are li

16、nked together. One can not succeed without the success of others. Thus, in order to achieve the group goal, group members have to help each other and contributes ones own efforts to the group. Positive interdependence helps students see that their work can benefit others and others work can benefit

17、them. This is the essential element of cooperative learning. The second element of cooperative learning is face-to-face interaction. It means that the fundamental form of cooperative learning is group work, in which students communicate and interact with each other. They collect materials and solve

18、problems to accomplish tasks together. By sharing resources, providing helping, supporting and encouraging, they achieve their goals. The interactive activities include explaining how to solve problems, teaching academic knowledge, checking understanding, discussing and changing concepts and ideas b

19、eing learned. The third element of cooperative learning is individual accountability. It means that in order to achieve the group goal, each member should be clear what his responsibility is. Individual accountability exists when the performance of each individual is assessed and the results are giv

20、en back to the group. It ensures that group members cannot be free riders. Each should contribute his share. Only in this way can each member maximize his learning and benefit from cooperative learning. The fourth element of cooperative learning is interpersonal and small group skills. Cooperative l

21、earning is a kind of self-learning conducted in the form of group work. Students need to interact with each other, so interpersonal and small group skills are need. However just putting students together and telling them to cooperate can not guarantee what they can do as the teachers expects. So the

22、 social skills must be taught to the students just as purposefully and precisely as academic skills. Leadership, decision-making, trust-building, communication, and conflict-management skills empower students to manage both teamwork and taskwork successfully. Since cooperation and conflict are inher

23、ently related, the procedures and skills for managing conflicts constructively are especially important for the long-term success of learning groups. The fifth element of cooperative learning is group processing. It exists when group members discuss how well they are achieving their goals and mainta

24、ining effective working relationships. Groups need to describe what member actions are helpful and unhelpful and make decisions about what behaviors to continue or change. Continuous improvement of the processes of learning results from the careful analysis of how members are working together and de

25、termining how group effectiveness can be enhanced. C. The Basic Theories of Cooperative Learning There are at least three general theoretical perspectives that have guided research on cooperative learning: social interdependence, cognitive development, and behavioral learning theory. By far the most

26、 important theory dealing with cooperation is social interdependence theory. 7 Social interdependence theory came from the Gestalt psychology in early 20th century. K. Kafka as one of the founders of this theory thought that the group was a power unity in which group members interdependence could ch

27、ange, and the interdependence of members had its differences. K. Lewin, one of his colleagues elucidated the above viewpoints, and he considered that the essence of one group was the interdependence formed by the group members when they have the same goals.8 This essence resulted groups as a whole,

28、and if any member or sub-group of the group had changed, it would affect the other members of the groups or other sub-groups to change; the intensive conditions in group members can trigger the incentive to complete the common goal. Lewins student M. Deutsch put forward the cooperation and competiti

29、on theory from the perspective of objective structure in the end of the 1940s, defined three kinds of objective structure: (1) The cooperations objective structure: personal goal orientation efforts can help others achieve their goals. (2) Competitions objective structure: personal goal orientation

30、can hamper others to reach a goal. (3) Personal objective structure: personal goal orientation efforts have nothing to do with others achievement to their goals. Deutschs students Johnson Brothers integrated and developed this theory and formed the social interdependence theory. This theory is that

31、positive interdependence (cooperation) produces the promoted interaction, and group members will encourage and facilitate each others learning efforts; negative interdependence (competition) produces the opposed interaction, and group members will not encourage others learning effort and discourage

32、them; in the absence of interdependence circumstances, there is not any interaction between individuals and each one works independently and without interference. From the perspective of social interdependence theory, the core of cooperative learning theory can be expressed by very simple words: when all the people gather together for a common goal to work, they depend on the strength of unity. Depending on each other provided the power for individuals they can: (1) mutually encourage, and be willing to do anything for the su