An Empirical Study of Cooperative Learning of College English Reading
作者：赵俊海
来源：《云南教育·高等教育研究 》2010年第02期
        Abstract: With the aim of applying cooperative learning to improve the university students’ reading efficiency, we conducted a teaching experiment of cooperative learning. The results of the achievement test, interview and attitude investigation indicated that students exposed to the cooperative instructional methods reported significantly more favorable attitudes toward classroom instruction. Cooperative instruction not only improved the reading efficiency of the learners but also cultivated their team spirit and leadership.
cooperative        Key words: non-English major students; cooperative learning; college English reading; effect
        Reading is one of the important parts of English language learning. It is a form of linguistic input and therefore reading is a receptive skill. English reading for university students is not only an approach to obtain up-to-date information, but also an important way
to broaden their mind. However, reading for university students is often quite difficult and their reading abilities are far from satisfactory. Poor reading hinders university students from improving their English proficiency and many students give up learning English due to reading difficulties. Because the current English teaching is scheduled in the first two years of university study and the students have to deal with listening, speaking, reading and writing simultaneously within this period, traditional reading teaching and learning strategies cannot help students master reading techniques and improve their reading efficiency. The situation makes it urgent to find proper and applicable methods to improve students’ reading abilities.
        In this study, the author conducted a ten-week English reading cooperative learning in a first-year non-English major class consists of two majors (the students who are majored in the Lao and the Burmese) with a total of 48 students. Among them, forty are girl students, eight are boy students. The purpose of the study is to help the students improve their reading efficiency through cooperative learning and to investigate university students’ attitudes towards cooperative language learning. It is also aimed to carry out so
me useful exploration into cooperative learning in university English teaching.
        1.Methodology and learning steps
        The STAD model was employed in the survey.STAD was developed by Slavin (1995) and his associates at John Hopkins University. It has been used in such diverse subject areas as math, language and social studies. In STAD, students are assigned to four-member learning groups that are mixed in performance level, gender, and ethnicity. STAD has five major components: class presentation, group study, quizzes, individual improving scores, and team recognition. (Slavin, 1995) Cooperative learning begins with the presentation of material, usually in a lecture-discussion format. Students should be told what they should learn and why it is important. During group learning, group members work cooperatively with given worksheets and answer sheets. Next, each student takes a quiz independently. The teacher rates students’ scores and gives feedback information about students’ achievement. The awards the learning groups receive will be varied according to the progress they make within certain cooperative learning periods.

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