安徽电大英语本科毕业论文(教育方向)-项目设计.doc

Anhui Radio & TV University Practical Project Design Project Title:The Application of Cooperative Learning Method and Students Writing AbilityName: Wan XinwuNumber: 20071340130192School: Chaohu Radio & TV University Major: English (education-oriented)Tutor: MrYu Date: November 28, 2008 Tel:Email:Project Title:The Application of Cooperative Learning Method and Students Writing AbilityInvestigator: Wan XinwuChaohu Radio & TV UniversitySubmitted on November 28, 2008In fulfillment of the course “Practical Project Design”AcknowledgementI would like to express my great gratitude to Chaohu Radio and Television University and those who have offered me the help in accomplishing this project.First of all, I am mostly indebted to my supervisor, Mr.Yu,without whose support, constructive suggestions and brilliant academic guidance this project would not implemented.I am also very grateful to my colleagues for their time spent in typing and recording a period of my class.No amount of thanks will be adequate for my students, without whose willing participation in the project implementation it would have remained on paper.Last but not the least, big thanks go to my wife, who has shared with me my worries, frustrations, and hopefully my ultimate happiness in eventually finishing this project. AbstractThe present study presents a detailed report of a project implemented to solve the problem that many of my students have no interest in writing, and they are poor in it . It is hypothesized that the students writing ability can be improved by applying the cooperative learning method (CL) accordingly. This hypothesis is verified by a four-week practice of well organized writing activities.Methodologically, four methods are used, and they are analytic method, cause analysis, brainstorming activation and questionnaire survey.It is proved that cooperative group writing is effective in improving English writing teaching and learning. Main Headings of the Project Report1. Introduction12. Summary of the Preliminary Research12.1 Problem identification12.2 Problem analysis12.3 Project objective32.4 The project hypothesis32.5 Project rationale32.6 Possible solutions42.7 Classroom organization treatment53. Full-Scaled Implementation of the Solutions63.1 From questionnaire surveys63.2 From the observations on students performance73.3 From the comparison of the writing between the groups74. Writing Activity Design75. Data Analysis and Findings125.1 Comparison between control group and target group125.2 The post-trial questionnaire136. Project Evaluation157. Problem Unsolved178. Suggestions for Further Studies179. Conclusion18References:18Appendix A: The timetable of the project19Appendix B: The questionnaire for problem analysis20Appendix C: Teaching notes22Appendix D: Four writing exercises for the target group23Appendix E: Teaching diaries25Appendix F: The post-trial questionnaire26Process Report281. IntroductionI have been teaching the students who are in their third year of a senior school. In my teaching.Ive found there are some problems in writing. Now Ill finish my study in Chaohu TV University and I hope I can solve the problems that have troubled me for some time through the action research so that I can apply my knowledge theory into practice, which I learned from Chaohu TV University.2. Summary of the Preliminary ResearchThis part of my study was conducted during Sept.1Oct.5, 20082.1 Problem identification I identified a problem based on my teaching experience. That is: many of my students have no interest in writing, and they are poor in it.2.2 Problem analysisIn my teaching, the problem identified was really a serious problem. My preliminary research confirmed that there were three main reasons that accounted for students poor writing ability.Firstly, many students lack some English writing techniques.Secondly, some students think it takes long to improve their writing, so they prefer to spend their limited time on vocabulary and grammar. Thirdly, many students feel overloaded because of their heavy assignments. They often finish the writing task I ask them to do in a rush without thinking for a second time.I examined my problem scientifically to see whether it is researchable. I discussed and agreed with my tutor, Mr. Yu. At the same time, I worked out the timetable of my project. (to see Appendix A).2.2.1 Analytic methodMost of my students can not write a good composition，which made me think of other side of the issue：Some of my students can write a really good composition. Why most cant, while some others can? What about most of my colleagues students? Is it also in the same case? If, on the other hand, most of my colleagues students can or at least can do well in sentence making and translation in their classes, then my problem was actually caused by myself, not by my students. Perhaps I didnt do enough writing practice in class, or I didnt emphasize the knowledge and techniques of English writing, or my teaching of writing class is not helpful or efficient.2.2.2 Cause analysis In this situation, I asked myself a series of questions and tried to provide some answers to them. Why most of my students cant write a good composition? In order to know more about this issue, I designed a cause exploration procedure like this:The teachers sideIs it because I dont give them enough writing practice or helpful guidance?Probably yes.Is it because the teaching step is poorly designed?Probably yes.Is it because my voice is not loud enough?Maybe.The students sideIs it because they have too much homework to do and they have no time for writing?Yes,Is it because they have no interest in English writing? Do they think it boring, not creative work? MaybeIs it because they think it more rewarding to do grammar and vocabulary exercises than to do writing work which they think needs long time to improve?Yes.Is it because they are not confident enough and afraid of making mistakes and they dont write at all?MaybeIs it because they pay too much attention to the language and are too hesitating to write a good composition while writing?Probably yes.Is it because they dont know what to write about the topic?Probably yes.Is it because they lack the knowledge and skills of writing? Probably yes.There are 55 students in my class. The class size of over 50 students may have some negative effects. The classroom is too noisy. Of all the causes, I believe that the teacher is mainly responsible for the failure. I want to know what my students think about the problem.2.2.3 Brainstorming activation I talked and discussed the problem with my students and with my colleagues. They gave me a lot of advice and help so that I pondered the problem more deeply and carefully. After a lengthy problem analysis, I determined to launch a project to overcome the problem.2.2.4 Questionnaire surveyTo get more detailed and more exact opinions from all the students, I designed a questionnaire (to see Appendix B). And I tried to make it as scientific and effective as possible. At first I asked four students who were of different English levels to try out the questionnaire. Then I modified some of the items. After that I gave out my questionnaires to my students and gave them fifteen minutes to finish it. 52 students returned their questionnaires which were left anonymous.After I collected the questionnaires, I made some statistical evaluation. The result was that 42 of the students (about 80 % of the students) thought they dont have good writing habits and 38 of the students (about 75 % of them) said they wanted to learn some skills of good English writing, which I thought refers to the English writing skills.2.3 Project objectiveThe project objective is to improve my students writing ability.2.4 The project hypothesisIt is hypothesized that students writing ability can be improved through Cooperative Learning activities.2.5 Project rationale2.5.1 Cooperative learning method (CL)David W. Johnson and Roger T. Johnson (1998) state that the cooperative learning is a structured form of small group based on interdependence, accountability, social skills, and group processing where students work together to achieve a common goal-mastery of a concept, solution of a problem, or accomplishment of an academic task and in doing so, maximize their own and each others learning. The most important is that this method is student-centered. The role of the students is no longer a passive receiver. During the activities, students help each other discover ideas and make suggestions for each other. Such kind of involvement will help motivate the students and encourage them learn actively. Besides, it will create a light atmosphere in the context of class. The aim of this method is to achieve the best writing possible.The goal of cooperative learning was different in the experimental class and control class, which should be applied into teaching practice. The students in control class studied and finished assigned writing tasks individually to achieve goals. But in the experimental class the students worked hard in cooperative groups to achieve common group goals. The purpose of cooperative learning groups is to make each member a stronger individual in his or her own writing. 2.5.2 Traditional training of types of writingBasic writing abilities include the abilities to analyze the topic, to gather ideas, to organize ideas, and to revise articles. Traditional training of types of writing focuses on writing skills and the teacher usually use the following three methods to guide students writing.Firstly, let students read the sample article again and again, because sample articles can show students what to write about and how to write.Secondly, students follow the examples then write their own articles after listening to or retelling a sample.Thirdly, the teacher analyzes in details the content and the structure of the composition to be written, then lists the outlines and lets students try to complete a whole article according to these outlines.2.6 Possible solutions（1）Raise my students interest in English writing. (For example, by guiding them to write letters to their pen-pals and keep English diaries.)（2）Adopt new teaching method here, that is, the Cooperative Learning Method (CL) and try to make my class as interesting as possible.（3）Organize the classroom in a suitable way for cooperative learning.(4) Tell my students if they attach great importance to English writing and hold a positive attitude, they will soon make rapid progress.（5）Choose topics in real life for students to write about and demand them to write one or two compositions every week.（6）Give corrections and encouragement in time. Dont push them too much, any of their achievements should be affirmed.2.7 Classroom organization treatmentThis treatment lasted 4 weeks. During this period of time, learning tasks, the number of assignments and the teacher are all the same in experimental or target class and control class. However, the different teaching methods were employed in the two classes. Table 1 showed the major differences between the two different teaching methods.Table 1 Comparison of the Two Different Teaching MethodsMethodsCooperative group writingTraditional approachType of classExperimental classControl classClassroom organization Cooperative groupsIndividualLearning goalCommon group goal Individual goalCooperative skill trainingMore cooperative skills trainingNo cooperative trainingRole of teacherFacilitator, observer and helperA director, a transmitterRole of learnersCenter of classroom instructorA passive roleInstruction procedureMore interaction between learnersLittle or no interaction between learnersThe classroom organization in the experimental class was quite different from that in the control class. In the control class the students wrote their compositions individually while the students in the experimental class did in cooperative groups. In the target class the whole class (55 participants) was divided into 11 heterogeneous groups and each group consisted of 5 students, with writing proficiency, sex and character of the students taken into account. When assigning students to groups, two rules should be observed: (1) each group was composed of students whose writing proficiency ranged from low to average to high, usually including one high-achiever, two or three average-achievers and one or two low-achievers. In other words, the members of a group should be heterogeneous so that each subject can get help and support from their peers and maximize each others contribution. And this kind of help is known as scaffolding in constructivism. (2) the average writing proficiency of all the groups is nearly the same.In each group there was a participant who worked as the leader of the group. The leaders main task was to ensure that group discussions were focused and productive and to make sure that each member in the group had equal participation. The members in each group acted as leader in turns.3. Full-Scaled Implementation of the SolutionsThis part of study was conducted during Oct.6 2008Nov.2 2008My students are senior three students, who are facing graduation.It took me four weeks to implement my project. For each week I am scheduled to do the following:(1) Teaching notes ( to see Appendix C )(2) Students writing exercises and homework. (to see Appendix D )(3) Diary-keeping: students responses and my own observation. (to see Appendix E)I want to know if the hypothesis has been proved by the four weeks activities with the target group, that is, whether my students compositions improve or not. I have three sources of data that help me to find it out. All the details of my project implementation were carefully maintained.The methods to obtain the following results: 3.1 From questionnaire surveysI did questionnaire survey on my students when I did my problem analysis. From the questionnaires I know that I should give them more help in writing especially train them to master some basic writing abilities. After this project was implemented, I also did some questionnaire surveys, from the post-trial questionnaire ( to see Appendix F) I know my students are pleased with those writing activities I have done with them and they say they need more activities like those.3.2 From the observations on students performance I took in my diary More students began to participate in the activities in class and the classroom atmosphere was livelier than before. Many of them didnt feel that writing was so difficult as before. They became confident again. Some students (who seemed to have few ideas) said they wouldnt worry that they had nothing to say, because they had learned some ways of gathering ideas.3.3 From the comparison of the writing between the control group and the target groupExamining the students compositions between the control group and the target group, I found that the target group was much better than the control group. They selected the ideas that were closely related to the topics. They used more cohesive devices in their writings and the sentences and paragraphs developed more coherently. And they arranged their ideas in a more logical way; also they made fewer mistakes in spelling, grammar and vocabulary.For the above analysis I draw a conclusion that students writing ability can be improved.4. Writing Activity DesignMy hypothesis is that students writing ability can be improved by cooperative learning activities. So I have designed 4 cooperative learning activities in which students are trained to master some fundamental English writing skills, which aim at improving, step by step, students skills to familiarize the topic, to gather, discuss and organize ideas and to draft and redraft the writings, with one focus for each activity respectively. And these activities are reported as follows:Week 1 Activity 1: Focusing on gathering words and expressionsThis activity is based as in Senior High English Module 5 Unit 13 Lesson 4 “First Impressions & Communication Workshop”Topic: An invitation to a birthday party Purpose: to get the features of good writing and familiarize themInstructions: Students listen to the teachers introduction and brainstorm.For students: You are going to read two pieces of model writing. First you judge which is better, then discuss with your partners or group members and them make a list of the features of the good writing, finally fill in the tables given by the teacher.For teacher: Firstly, I help the students gather adequate words and expressions as what is to write. In order to motivate students, I choose the topic for writing. Secondly, I make a clear introduction about the writing content and requirement. And I present writing models to the students, which are usually original reading material. Have them make full use of the reading materials, which can be used as model composition.Procedure:Firstly, I ask the students to collect some phrases and expressions related to the birthday party.Secondly, I ask the students to answer the following questions 1) When will your father celebrate the party ?2) Why will your father celebrate the party ?3) How will your father celebrate the party ?4) Where will your father celebrate the