Cooperative language learning as innovation : local English teachers at an international high school in Shenzhen

Abstract

In recent years, ever-more non-English-speaking countries have attempted to adopt cooperative language learning as a pedagogical innovation to enhance students’ academic and interpersonal gains. However, the research which aims at understanding local English teachers’ beliefs and practices about implementing cooperative language learning and how they perceive the factors that shape their implementation in secondary-level schools in China is comparatively rare. This study was thus undertaken to understand and explore the local English teachers from an international high school in Shenzhen who have implemented cooperative language learning for at least one academic semester. A multiple source of data, including the pre-observation interviews, classroom observations, soft materials used in observed lessons and post-observation interviews, were generated from three-phased data collections. The results and findings revealed that: 1) Local English teachers generally held positive beliefs about adopting cooperative language learning to reform language classroom as it promoted active learning and positive environment for peer communication, but they had different expectancies of cooperative learning’s integration into their curricula, and they were facing challenges from different student characteristics; 2) Local English teachers’ practical use of cooperative learning was generally in line with their beliefs, but presented a tendency of equating cooperative language learning with conventional pair/group work due to their misconceptions of cooperative learning principles; 3) Local English teachers’ perceived factors affecting their implementation were diversified, including the school policy and management, high-stakes examination pressure, class time pressure, fixed seating arrangements, etc.