（课程与教学论专业论文）合作学习在中等职业学校英语课堂中的应用研究.pdf

学校代码：10346 学科、专业代码：040102 研究生学号：y20060262 题目： an investigation into the application of cooperative learning in english classes of a secondary vocational school 合作学习在中等职业学校英语课堂中的应用研究 论文评阅人： 盲审 盲审 盲审 论文答辩委员会 主席（姓名、职称） ： 委员（姓名、职称） ： 学位授予单位： 杭州师范大学 论文答辩日期： 2009 年 6 月 10 日 独创性声明独创性声明 本人声明所呈交的论文是我个人在导师指导下进行 的研究工作及取得的研究成果。尽我所知，除了文中特别以 标注和致谢的地方外，论文中不包括其他人已经发表或撰写 过的研究成果。对本研究做过贡献的老师和同学均己在论文 中作了明确的说明并表示了谢意。 日 期： 导师签名： 本人签名： 关于论文使用授权说明关于论文使用授权说明 本人完全了解杭州师范大学有关保留、使用学位论文的 规定，即：学校有权保留送交论文的复印件，允许论文被查 阅和借阅;学校可以公布论文的全部或部分内容，可以采用 影印、缩印或其他手段保存论文。 日 期： 导师签名： 本人签名： an investigation into the application of cooperative learning in english classes of a secondary vocational school 合作学习在中等职业学校英语课堂中的应用研究合作学习在中等职业学校英语课堂中的应用研究 chen xiaoli supervisor associate professor chen jun a dissertation submitted as a partial fulfillment for the degree of m.a. in education hangzhou normal university hangzhou, china june, 2009 杭州师范大学硕士学位论文 合作学习在中等职业学校英语课堂中的应用研究 v 摘要摘要 近年来，我国中等职业英语教学取得了巨大的进步，但现有的英语教学方式 和水平与我国社会经济发展对人才的需求之间仍然有不少差距。如过分注重词 汇、语法等语言知识的讲授，忽视语言应用能力的培养等。 “英语难教” 、 “英语 难学”一直是中等职业学校英语教师、学生面临的难题。传统的课堂教学以教师 为中心，学生是被动接受者，他们的活动受到了极大的限制，学习英语的积极性 不高， 成绩普遍较低。学生们需要尝试运用一种更为适合他们的学习策略来学习 英语，提高学习兴趣和学习成绩。多年来，广大教育工作者也一直在努力探寻着 新的教学方法来改变这种局面。 为此，笔者将合作学习引入了中等职业学校的英语课堂当中。合作学习作为 一项成功的学习策略，被众多的国内外教育专家所提倡，甚至被誉为“近十年中 最重要也是最成功的一项改革”(vertmette，1998)。在合作学习中，各小组由 不同能力层次学生组成，他们运用多种学习活动来加深对所学科目的理解。每一 个小组成员不仅要保证自己学会而且要帮助其他组员共同学习， 这样就为每个人 提供了走向成功的氛围， 使各组员通过完成各自的任务进而所有成员共同完成任 务。 虽然合作学习已经不是一个新的理念，并且在理论还是实践上都引起了关 注，但是大多数的研究还局限于小学，初中和大学，关于合作学习的研究在中等 职业学校的英语课堂里还是非常少，合作学习还未在中等职业学校广泛应用。 本文目的在于探究合作学习模式在中等职业学校英语课堂（非英语专业）中 应用的实效性，模式能否改善中职英语课堂的整体气氛，提高中职学生的英语水 平。倍受国内外专家提倡的“合作学习” ，是否适用于学生基础差的中等职业学 校英语课堂教学?能否提高中等职业学校学生的学习英语的积极性和英语成绩? 是笔者在本论文中研究的主要问题。如果探究结果是积极的，那么中等职业学校 的很多问题将会迎韧而解。如果探究结果未取得肯定的效果，那就意味着还要寻 求更可行的方法去解决这些问题。 为了探讨在课堂教学中运用合作学习对提高学生英语能力的作用， 基于合作 学习理论，笔者从 2008 年 9 月到 2009 年 1 月在所教的英语课堂上进行了为期 17 周的合作学习教学实验。实验的对象是桐乡中等职业技术学校 2008 级非英语 专业两个班的学生，实验班和控制班各有 32 名。该研究的数据均来源于语言测 试（前测和后测） ，问卷调查，访谈和课堂观察。 通过 spss 15.0 实验数据的分析与研究, 得出以下结论：实验班学生的英语 水平明显高于对照班， 在中等职业学校的英语课堂中开展合作学习能够增强学生 的自信心和改善课堂的学习气氛，发展学生的综合语言运用能力，增加学生参与 杭州师范大学硕士学位论文 合作学习在中等职业学校英语课堂中的应用研究 vi 课堂的机会，真正实现学生的主体地位。 笔者希望以上研究结果对中等职业学校的英语教学有所帮助。同时，也为以 后进一步研究中等职业学校中的合作学习等方面提供更大的空间。 比如在改善英 语课堂的气氛方面。 关键词：关键词：合作学习；中等职业学校；英语课堂；应用 杭州师范大学硕士学位论文 合作学习在中等职业学校英语课堂中的应用研究 vii abstract english teaching and learning in secondary vocational schools has made great progress in recent years. but we should also realize that the development of our current english teaching cannot meet the needs of the economical and social development. we pay too much attention to the teaching of knowledge about language and neglect the training of language skills. the challenge of teaching english and learning english has been one of the general problems facing the english teachers and students from secondary vocational schools. the traditional english classroom teaching is teacher-centered and the students learn english passively. most of the students activities are limited and their learning enthusiasm is not high. students need to be exposed to appropriate learning strategies to raise their interest and achieve success in english learning. for many years, educators and teachers have worked hard to seek new and effective methods to reform the traditional teaching mode. the author of this thesis introduces the theory of cooperative learning into the english classroom in a secondary vocational school. cooperative learning is generally considered as a successful teaching strategy. it is recommended and supported by many domestic and foreign experts and it is even described as “the most important and successful teaching reform in the last ten years” (vertmette, 1998). in the small groups with students of different language levels and abilities, a variety of learning activities are used to improve their understanding of a subject. each group member is responsible not only for learning what is taught but also for helping group members to learn, thus creating an atmosphere of cooperation and achievement. students work through a task until all group members successfully understand and complete it. although cooperative learning is not a new concept and it has already aroused great enthusiasm in both theoretical and practical researches, most of the practices of cooperative learning are in primary schools, middle schools and colleges, while the studies and experiments in secondary vocational schools are fewer. we still cannot see its wide implementation in secondary vocational school classes. this thesis attempts to disclose whether the cooperative learning in english classes of tongxiang secondary vocational school makes a remarkable positive difference between the subjects who participate in the experiment with cooperative learning and those who learn english with the traditional instruction. if the experimental result is positive, the problems of english class teaching will be 杭州师范大学硕士学位论文 合作学习在中等职业学校英语课堂中的应用研究 viii hopefully solved with the extended application of cooperative learning in secondary vocational schools. and the strategy of cooperative learning will be encouraged and popularized to facilitate the development of english learning and teaching in secondary vocational education. if cooperative learning is proved to have no positive effects on english class, it means that further exploration should be made to look for other possible solutions to the problem of english class teaching. based on the theories of cooperative learning, the author conducted one term teaching research. the cooperative learning experiment was done from september 2008 to january 2009. the subjects are non-english majors from two classes of the 2008 cohort in tongxiang secondary vocational school. both the experimental class and the control class have 32 students respectively. this thesis proposes a feasible model, procedures and application of cooperative learning. the data are collected through language tests (pretest and posttest), questionnaires, interviews, and classroom observation. at the end of the research, according to the quantitative analysis of statistics using spss 15.0, the findings indicate that cooperative learning is more effective than teacher-centered instruction in promoting the learners academic self-esteem, and the atmosphere in the experimental class is more relaxed and active than the control class. it is hoped that the above findings will be useful for secondary vocational school. meanwhile，it makes more room for further research, such as the specific strategies to improve the atmosphere in the english class. key words: cooperative learning; secondary vocational school; english class; application 杭州师范大学硕士学位论文 合作学习在中等职业学校英语课堂中的应用研究 ix contents 摘 要摘 要 abstract. list of tables. list of figures. chapter 1 introduction.1 1.1 research background1 1.2 research questions.2 1.3 purpose and significance of the study2 1.4 the structure of the thesis3 chapter 2 literature review4 2.1 the definition of cooperative learning4 2.2 the essential elements of cooperative learning5 2.3 major theoretical foundation of cooperative learning7 2.3.1 developmental theory 7 2.3.2 group dynamics theory9 2.3.3 language acquisition theory9 2.4 typical cooperative learning methods11 2.5 the current research status of cooperative learning in china and abroad12 2.6 comparing with teacher-centered method and traditional learning group13 2.6.1 comparing with the teacher-centered method13 2.6.2 comparing with the traditional learning group14 chapter 3 research methodology and implementation17 3.1 subjects.17 3.2 instruments.18 3.2.1 language tests.18 3.2.2 interviews.19 3.2.3 observations of english class 1 9 3.2.4 questionnaire.19 杭州师范大学硕士学位论文 合作学习在中等职业学校英语课堂中的应用研究 x 3.3 preparation for experiment -preparatory phase (forming groups) 19 3.4 five steps of the experiment22 chapter 4 results and discussion28 4.1 comparison of english achievements before and after the experiment28 4.1.1 analysis of the pretest 2 8 4.1.2 analysis of the posttest29 4.2 classroom observations of students participation30 4.3 interview results and analysis32 4.4 analysis of the questionnaire34 4.5 obstacles to implementing cooperative learning in english class36 4.6 summary.37 chapter 5 conclusion38 5.1 conclusion of the research38 5.2 limitations of the research39 5.3 suggestions for further research39 bibliography.42 appendices.46 appendix.46 appendix .47 appendix .48 appendix .49 appendix .50 appendix .52 appendix .53 appendix .61 papers published during postgraduate study.68 acknowledgments.69 杭州师范大学硕士学位论文 合作学习在中等职业学校英语课堂中的应用研究 xi list of tables 1.table 2.1 comparison between the traditional learning group and cooperative learning group 2. table 3.1 investigation of students personal information 3. table 3.2 how the thirty-two students are divided into eight groups 4. table 3.3 the checklist of “how well did i do in helping our group?” 5. table 3.4 the checklist of “how well did our group do?” 6. table 3.5 task paper 7. table 4.1 comparison of students english scores between the two classes 8. table 4.2 comparison of students english scores between the two classes 9. table 4.3 classroom observation for the frequency of students participation 10. table 4.4 the outcomes of the questionnaire list of figures 1. figure 3.1 the model of the teacher and four- students group 2. figure 3.2 a group model of cooperative learning 杭州师范大学硕士学位论文 合作学习在中等职业学校英语课堂中的应用研究 1 chapter 1 introduction 1.1 research background nowadays with the rapid development of economic and international exchanges, english has played an important role in peoples daily life in china. the ability to communicate with others with correct and fluent english has become one of the basic demands for most of the positions. in most secondary vocational schools, english is a compulsory course. the author has taught english to the students in a secondary vocational school for six years. much to her disappointment, the climate of english classroom, in general, has been unpleasantly boring-the majority of the students keep silent, or take a nap, or talk with each other in class, with few active students answering questions raised by the teacher. during october of 2008, the teacher had observed twenty english lessons given by ten of her colleagues in tongxiang secondary vocational school. from the observations, the teacher found out, as expected, similar problems existing in her classes. as is well known, the quality of secondary vocational school students has been downgrading year by year. these students who enrolls in a secondary vocational school have already lost the opportunity to receive education from senior middle schools. large numbers of them are forced to enter a secondary vocational school for the sake of their parents who take a secondary vocational school as the “kindergarten” for their spoiled teenagers to be taken good care of. these students are often looked down upon in their junior middle schools. thats to say, teachers of the secondary vocational school, to a certain extent, face the reality of instructing “problem” students. being free from the pressure of competing for further education, and low self-confidence derived from poor achievement, the students can hardly speak a complete english sentence correctly after three years english learning in the junior middle school. their english foundation is rather poor and they mostly take no interest in english in a secondary vocational school. they are often stuffed with boring lectures in a ladder like classroom. too many language points make both students and the teacher out of breath. things often go on like this: the teacher is engaged in translating the teaching material word for word to the students, and even in teaching english dialogues and listening, he does the same thing, while those 杭州师范大学硕士学位论文 合作学习在中等职业学校英语课堂中的应用研究 2 students are taking a nap during the class, or chatting with each other, or reading journals. facing this worse-foundation students, teachers have to adjust the original teaching methods and try new ways to achieve the english teaching goals of secondary vocational school. cooperative learning is a successful teaching strategy in which small teams, each with students of different levels of ability, use a variety of learning activities to improve their understanding of a subject. each member of a team is responsible not only for learning what is taught but also for helping teammates learn, thus creating an atmosphere of achievement. students work through the assignment until all group members successfully understand and complete it. however, can the application of cooperative learning really work in english teaching for secondary vocational school students? 1.2 research questions this research was conducted to find out answers to the following questions: (1) can the cooperative learning approach improve the students english proficiency, learning attitude, confidence and interest? (2) can the cooperative learning approach provide a better environment in the experimental class? is the experimental class more relaxed and active in learning than the control class? 1.3 purpose and significance of the study a lot of researches have been done in western countries and china. most of the practices of cooperative learning are in primary schools, middle schools and colleges, while the studies and experiments in secondary vocational schools are fewer. although cooperative learning is not a new concept and it has already aroused great enthusiasm in both theoretical and practical researches, we still cannot see its wide implementation in our secondary vocational school classes. this thesis attempts to disclose whether cooperative learning in english class of tongxiang secondary vocational school makes a remarkable positive differences between the subjects who participate in the experiment with cooperative learning and those who learn english with the traditional instruction. if the experimental result is positive, the problems of english class teaching will be hopefully solved with the extended application of cooperative learning. and the strategy of cooperative 杭州师范大学硕士学位论文 合作学习在中等职业学校英语课堂中的应用研究 3 learning will be encouraged and popularized to facilitate the development of english learning and teaching in secondary vocational education. if cooperative learning is proved to have no positive effects on english classes, it means that further exploration should be made to look for other possible solutions to the problem of english class teaching. 1.4 the structure of the thesis this thesis is intended to research on the effectiveness of the implementation of cooperative learning in secondary vocational school english classes. the contents of the thesis will be presented as follows. chapter one briefly introduces the current situation of english teaching in secondary vocational schools, which tells how and for what purpose the studies are carried out. chapter two is literature review. in this part, the author gives a brief review on the cooperative learning, including the five essential elements of cooperative learning, the theoretical foundation of the research, and the typical cooperative learning methods as well as how to conduct it, followed by the review of previous studies abroad and in china. meanwhile, the comparing with teacher-centered method and traditional learning group is also presented. chapter three is the methodology describes what this research aims to investigate, who participates in the research，what kind of research methods are employed, and how the data is collected. chapter four gives the analysis of the data collected from the language-tests, the questionnaire and the interview, and also classroom observations for their participation, reports the results from the analysis by using spss 15.0. chapter five is the conclusion in which the author summarizes the major findings of the research, points out its limitations, and offers suggestions and recommendations for further research. 杭州师范大学硕士学位论文 合作学习在中等职业学校英语课堂中的应用研究 4 chapter 2 literature review this chapter is an overview of cooperative learning. “during the past 90 years, over 575 experimental studies and 100 correlative studies have been conducted by a wide variety of researchers in different decades with different subjects, in different subject areas, and in differ