English Language Acquisition

Paper Summary:

In this article, the writer points out that research study has shown that cooperative learning environments are more conducive to English language learning than are other learning environments. The writer explains that, in other words, it is easier for students to learn the English language in a relaxed cooperative learning situation than in the formal classroom instructional environment. This work attempts to discover, through a qualitative review of literature and a qualitative method of applied case study through the instrument of the survey/questionnaire, to understand this phenomena in the acquisition of the English language by students in the school and classroom environment. The writer concludes that the cooperative classroom in English language learning has been shown to be effective in a student's acquisition of the English language.

Outline:
Introduction
Statement of Problem
Literature Review
Research Objectives
Hypothesis/Research Questions
Research Design
Assumptions and Limitations
Data Analysis (Questionnaire - Primary Data)
Limitations/Research Ethics
Conclusions

From the Paper:

"It is assumed that the teachers in the survey know what cooperative learning actually is and that the teacher has used it consistently for at least one semester of the school year prior to the conduction of this study. It is further assumed that the students interviewed in this survey are not schooled in what cooperative learning actually is in terms of theoretical framework and case study research or techniques or methods of delivering instruction and that their view will be unclouded by this aspect of the learning environment. Limitations exist in this study in that there may be other varying factors that influence the acquisition of the English language, however this research proposal has attempted to allow for that in the instrument used for gathering data or the survey/questionnaire through asking relevant questions as to the home environment and other factors in the life of the student that might be the factor for more success in language acquisition in the school environment."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Spencer, Kagan (1995) We Can Talk: Cooperative Learning in the Elementary ESL Classroom. ERIC Digest. Online available at: http://www.ericdigests.org/1996-1/talk.htm.
• Krashen, S.D. (1982). Principles and practice in second language acquisition. Oxford, England: Pergamon.
• Swain, M. (1985). Communicative competence: Some roles of comprehensible input in its development. In S.M. Gass, & C.G. Madden, (Eds.), Input in second language acquisition (pp. 235-53). Rowley, MA: Newbury House.
• Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes (M. Cole, V. John-Steiner, S. Scribner, & E. Souberman, Eds. & Trans.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press
• Atkinson-Abutridy, J., Ferreira-Cabrera, and Riquelme, V. (nd) Cooperative Learning on Autonomous Agents Acquiring Common Language for Action and Perception. XX International Conferences of the Chilean Computer Science Society) p. 83

More papers on English Language Acquisition:

• Research Paper # 75751 : "English Language Learners"
• Research Paper # 93827 : "Urban English Language Learners (ELL)"
• Essay # 32686 : "Theories of Second Language Acquisition"

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