Research on English Group Cooperative Learning in Junior High School

徐千惠

【Abstract】At the requirements of the new curriculum reform， group cooperative learning has a fairly significant effect on English teaching in the junior high school， which is conducive to increasing the students the opportunities to practice， improving the students ability to use language， and training students enthusiasm for learning and cooperating with others. Based on the actual situation of English teaching in junior high school， this paper focuses on studying the role of group cooperative learning in junior high school teaching， exploring the characteristics and problems， and attempting to formulate effective measures.

【Key words】English Group； Cooperative Learning； Junior High School

I. Introduction

Cooperative learning has been widely promoted and applied in western countries， and it is popular among students， considered as an innovative and practical way of learning. The method of group cooperative learning is to study and cooperate with each other through the interaction of students and the division of labor and collaboration in the group， which can stimulate mutual thinking and achieve learning proficiency （Wu， 2013）. The reform of basic education puts forward higher requirements for education and teaching， and proclaims that all subjects should take students as the main body and the teachers should comprehensively enhance their abilities and qualities in various fields. Cooperative learning has played an increasingly important role under the requirements of the basic educational reform.

II. The significance of group cooperative learning in junior high school English teaching

Cooperative learning is an efficient teaching method of classroom teaching， and it not only can stimulate students subjectivity， ensure students classroom participation， but also improve the efficiency of learning to great extent， at the same time， cooperative learning can also train students to enhance the ability of cooperation and maintain the harmonious relationship between students.

1. Enhancing cooperative capacity of junior high school students

The concept of modern education advocates that education should provide students with more space for students open， cooperative， and inquiry learning. “English curriculum standards” propose the necessity of the development of students autonomous learning ability and the spirits of cooperation （He， 2014）. Cooperation is one of the basic forms of human interaction， and it is an important driving force for human existence and development. It is incumbent for teachers to train students to coexist and cooperate with each other at an early age.endprint

Group cooperative learning is an effective way to develop artificial intelligence. Members of the group have the responsibility to ensure that each member of the group has a good knowledge of the lesson contents. Only when each member of the group has mastered them， is the teaching task completed. The most important feature of the cooperative activities is that they can mobilize all the students at the same time and exchange and interact with each other. The activity is simple and convenient， but it can be flexible and new；therefore， the enthusiasm of each member is mobilized， and mutual cooperation and help are good for cultivating their team awareness. The application of cooperative learning in English teaching can promote team awareness and cooperation ability among students， and can also play an increasingly vital role in improving students comprehensive use ability of English language.

2. Intensifying the ability of adapting to society for junior high school students

In traditional English teaching， there is a phenomenon of “recognizing knowledge presentation instead of ability cultivation” for a long time. Students lack the opportunity of intuitive exploration， cooperative study and independent knowledge acquisition （Qian， 2005）. Plenty of research has proved that the development of individual behavior is not conducive to participating in the cultivation of high-level thinking ability， and only such a positive emotional experience and thinking can promote the improvement of students overall quality. If the students are not good at cooperation with others， hardly employ different knowledge to improve communication， synthesis， and application， which can not adapt to the requirements of the times. Nowadays， more and more attention has been paid to the ability of cooperation in various fields of society. Cooperation is a more important ability than knowledge， and it has become an important quality of contemporary people， and favored by everyone.

III. Teaching practice of group cooperative learning

1. Grouping reasonably and dividing the work clearly

Cooperative learning must divide groups appropriately， often adopting the group mode including homogeneity and heterogeneity within the group or groups of heterogeneity and homogeneity within the group in the light of the difficulty of cooperative learning task and content， and group members can adjust flexibly. In consideration of the characteristics of junior high school students and English subject， we adopt two forms including seating and learning task combination （Qian， 2005）.endprint

First of all， we divide groups in the light of the seating arrangements. The seat combination refers to the nearby students around the seats form the group， each group containing about four students. The combination of teams does not have to separate students from the hierarchy and readjust the seats， so it is easier to operate.

The group cooperative learning activities should be integrated into the classroom teaching design. English teaching materials are various and the content is close to the students life （Zhang， 2012）. It is a good material for students to cooperate in learning. In the classroom teaching， teachers should be conscious of the content of the teaching， create a convenient group communication situation， and guide students to carry out actively and creatively language communication activities. In group activities， teachers should carefully observe the progress of each group， inspire and guide the interaction between students， and provide timely language， sentence and other help for students speech activities.

Group cooperative learning bases on learning task combination. The group revolves around a specific learning task or a practical problem that needs to be addressed， allowing students to form a study group freely in the light of their own interests， constituting typically 2 to 6 members. In this way， the study group is a homogeneous group， and the personality differences among the group members are smaller， which is more conducive to the efficient completion of the common learning goals.

2. Changing “role view” and becoming a good promoter

In group cooperative learning， the role of teacher has changed， regarded as the guide and promoter of student learning， or sometimes cooperative learning partner. In order to make the cooperative learning group become a real community， teachers should give some instructions about knowledge guidance and skill training of cooperative learning before they can cooperate with each other. In the course of teaching， teachers should carefully observe the cooperation and learning situation of the group members， and take some measures to control the existing problems. Only in this way can we achieve the effect of group cooperative learning.

IV. Problems we should pay attention to in the application of group cooperative learning in junior high school English teaching

1. Paying more attention to the students with learning difficulties and lacking learning interestsendprint

In the process of cooperative learning， some students are silent and they feel inferior to others because of poor learning achievement. Even if they want to participate in group work， they may lose the chance due to the presence of a top student （Ye， 2015）. In this way， the subjectivity of the students with learning disabilities can not be brought into effectively， and cooperative learning can not achieve the brilliant results. Therefore， in the process of group cooperative learning， teachers should focus on creating opportunities for students with learning difficulties so that students with learning disabilities can fully display themselves and participate in classroom cooperation.

In addition， some students are not interested in group cooperative learning， and can not respond positively to teachers call and participate actively in group activities. With regard to the task that teachers allocate and need to complete the explanation， they behave no patience， and only care about their own things rather than the overall task of desertification， lacking of collective consciousness and cooperation spirit. For such students， teachers should take active and patient guidance， letting students not conflict with them， and gradually attend the cooperative learning.

2. Using properly the competition to activate team work

Some research has proved that the combination of competition mechanism and group cooperative learning can give full play to the effectiveness of group cooperative learning. Therefore， teachers can use the competition between groups to activate team cooperation. The specific competition are able to have a variety of forms， such as English story competition， English songs competition， and English solitaire game， selecting the best team in the game from team rankings to mobilize the enthusiasm of each student. It is very necessary for teachers provide lots of indirect guidance. When group members take turns speaking， please record the speech content within the group， so that each group can present distinctive views in the next program.

3. Exploring profoundly the specific meaning of the task

The cooperative learning task can be subdivided into individual tasks， so it is necessary to understand the problem of task very well. But in the actual situation， the groups exploration is not deep enough， can only be understood on the surface of things. That is because a substantial proportion of students can not have a good knowledge of English and relevant language points， and they do not look up information in advance. Therefore， teachers should require students to look up relevant knowledge and information in advance to make the task understood profoundly.

V. Conclusion

Cooperative learning is a complex task that involves many factors， but as long as we conscientiously sum up and explore the problems and tasks and cooperative learning is in accordance with the scientific process， the effectiveness of students cooperative learning will be improved， and the cooperative learning teaching mode will maximize the effect， and really improve the English teaching efficiency.

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