Cooperative Learning as a Sociocultural Practice

I. Title - Cooperative Learning as a Sociocultural Practice

II. Author - Xiaoping Liang

III. Author's Purpose for Writing - To determine whether Chinese-born ESL students see the benefits of cooperative learning

IV. What are the points made in the review of the literature? Research has shown benefits of cooperative learning for second language learners. It is unclear whether students can see the benefits.

Do they support the need for the study? Yes

V. Author's inquiry questions - How do Chinese immigrant students perceive their cooperative learning experiences in ESL classes? How do they act upon cooperative learning activities in these classes?

VI. Author's Methodology - Explore cooperative learning as a potentially dilemmatic sociocultural practice

A. Who is being studied? Chinese students in a Vancouver, B.C. high school

B. Over what length of time? Two years

C. What data is being collected? Attitudes toward the cooperative learning experience

D. How is it being analyzed? Through statistical analysis

E. Any other interesting or pertinent data - These students tended to divide up the task instead of actually working together

VII. How the author collected information - interviews, naturalistic observation

VIII. What the author discovered or conclusions/implications - These students were observed supporting each other. They had mixed reactions. They liked the idea that they could have a larger pool of ideas and get a task completed faster, and practice English more, but they also reported that it could be hard to reach a consensus, that many did not do their part, and that it meant that they spoke L1 too often/