Cooperative learning in china's efl and efl settings

Resumen

Research on the efficacy of instructional approaches has been of great interest to researchers, scholars, instructors, and policy and planning makers in foreign language education. Cooperative learning, originated in the United States, is one of the most popular and well-researched instructional approaches among them. Educational researchers presented different definitions of cooperative learning based on their own research. No matter which definition one employs in classroom contexts, instructors might struggle with the implementation of this approach. The application of instructional approaches is far from satisfactory though the voice of China in instructional approaches began to be noticed and spread home and abroad like the Production-oriented Approach by Wen (2015) and the Language and Intercultural Critical Thinking Integrated Approach by Sun (2011) and the Declaration of Top-tier Undergraduate Education co-issued by about 150 Chinese higher institutions on June 22, 2018 in Chengdu, China. Instructional pedagogies develop as modern information technology evolves. A large number of exploratory and empirical studies on cooperative learning were conducted as newly-emerging technologies placed an important role in classroom settings. In the research, it was hypothesized that cooperative learning, evolving from an approach to a strategy, would facilitate the teaching and learning in China’s EFL and ESL settings. This dissertation reviewed and analysed important contributions to the evolution of cooperative learning made by researchers, educators and foreign language instructors. It also presented the history of English language education in China as well as foreign language education policies and planning in China since the world-known “reform and opening up”. This research aimed to assist researchers, instructors, and planning and policy makers in foreign language education, to view the importance and efficacy of placing emphasis on instructional approaches. This dissertation consisted of six parts, including the framework of the research, the state of the art, the research hypothesis, the methods, the theoretical framework and the evolutions of cooperative learning, and its effects on China’s EFL and ESL reforms. China’s educational practice and research is conducted in plurilingual and intercultural contexts, which have enriched the world’s foreign language education especially after China’s entry into the new centuries. The research will draw the attention to research on the efficacy of approaches in foreign language education, rethink the optimized instructional approaches, the relationship between instructional approaches and learning outcomes and help readers from other countries to learn about the history, the current situation and to predict the future of China’s foreign language education.