The use of Cooperative Language Learning to improve Chinese students’ listening comprehension

刘欣 栾丽梅

I. Introduction

Cooperative Language Learning （CLL） is an approach to improve students listening comprehension. It is a well-attested fact that listening is not only a skill area in language performance， but also a critical means of acquiring a second language（L2）（Rost，1990：7）. Therefore， how to improve Chinese students listening comprehension is a crucial question we should consider. In fact， if we use the CLL properly in listening class， it must be an effective means. In this essay， I will talk about the current situation in China；discuss the use of CLL in learning and how to use it in the class.

II. The current situation of English teaching in China

In China， the English teaching system is different from those in other countries. To further their study， Chinese students have to face many decisive English examinations， which are rarely related to their daily life. In order to pass the exams， students pay much attention on “English examination knowledge”. Under this circumstance， many problems come into being. Firstly， English as a second language （L2）， students cannot use it in their daily life. When students talk with their foreign teachers， they always need them to slow down， pause and pronounce things the same way they have been taught. In addition， the class learning is inefficient. With so much homework to do， learners cannot concentrate on the class learning. Furthermore， during English examination， students always feel nervous when they do some listening. As Scrivener（2011：2509） studies， “While listening， they always struggle to listen to everything， and to remember all they heard”.

III. The possibility of using Cooperation to improve listening comprehension in class

Johnson et al.（1991：25） found “there is considerable research demonstrating that cooperative learning produces higher achievement.” This research shows CLL is an effective method for us to solve many problems appearing in our English listening teaching. At first， CLL can make students working together to maximize their own ideas and join in the lesson actively. When students face a challenging listening material individually， the task might become discouraging. However， cooperation plays a central role in making the listening activity more motivating and interesting. Besides， the process of CLL also provides a real listening situation where they use their own words to express what they have known. Even if they do not know some vocabularies， they also can guess the meaning from speakers gestures， facial expressions， etc.

“CLL also can help the teacher build positive relationships between students.”（Richards et al 2001：192） In class， teacher is not the manager and leader any more， they are helpers who listen to students talking and give them some instructions. Whats more， CLL also can help teacher use class time effectively. On average， there are over 40 students in a class. How much time will you have to speak to individuals？ Putting them into pairs or small groups and getting them to talk to each other can solve it easily.

However， there are still many typical problems founded in CLL application.

1. Group size

Group size is an important part of cooperation wok. And according to the research the best group number is 2-4， how to successfully design group works in practice？

Actually， to make the teaching more efficient， the teacher can divide students into many groups based on their task. And then，“make known to student on their roles in group： each group member has a specific role to play in a group， such as noise monitor， turn-taker monitor， recorder and so on.”（Richards et al.，2001：197） In this way， teacher can save lots of time managing the conversation between them.

2. Classroom management

After the division of the class， how to let them finish your task in the required time and successfully follow your next instructions？

The skills of creating and managing a successful class may be the key to the whole success of a course.（Scrivener 2011：54） Teacher should deal with the management problems flexibly. As and when the time designated for certain task is up， teachers should give their students some signals such as gestures or hand signal， or teacher can stop them and explain the reason. Teachers should also have to pay attention on their instructions. The clearer instructions are， the easier students can follow.

IV. Conclusion

To summarize， based on Chinese current situation， CLL is an effective approach to improve Chinese students listening comprehension， using CLL（Cooperation Language Learning）in the class not only just stimulate the students motivation， participation and contribution， also help teacher improve their work efficiency and achievement.

References：

[1]Johnson，D.（1991）.Active learning：Cooperation in the college classroom.Interaction Book Company.

[2]Richards，J.C.&Rodgers，T.S.（2001）.Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching.Cambridge：Cambridge University Press.