Chapter Two Literature Review

This chapter is a detailed review of CL which consists of three parts。 The first part devotes to the theoretical bases including social interdependence and motivational theory。 The second part is an overview on the CL from different aspects as its definition, development and basic elements。 And the final part concerns the previous study of CL abroad and at home。

2。1 Theoretical Bases of Cooperative Learning

CL is regarded as one of the most efficient teaching strategies and has been used in English writing teaching for many years。 One considerable reason for its popularity is the steadily scientific theoretical bases。 Some major theories are introduced as the following:

2。1。1 Theories of Social Interdependence

The theory of social interdependence derived from Group Dynamics in early twenty century。 Kurt Koffka, one of the representatives of Gestalt Psychology originally regarded the group as a dynamic whole。 In 1920s, Kurt Lewin, who was called as the founder of Group Dynamics, redefined Koffka’s viewpoint and signified that the core of learning within a group was the interdependence among the group members, more importantly, it was the inherent state of tension that motivated the group members to achieve the common goal。 Later on, Morton Deutsch formed a goal structure theory of cooperation and competition based on the theory of Group Dynamics。 In Deutsch’s theory, inpidual goals in groups could be promotive or negative interdependence which were affected by the situation。 If under a cooperative circumstance, the goal of inpiduals would be similar with others’ and helpful in realizing another one。 However, in competitive environment, the goal of each member showed as negative interdependence。 As the students of Morton Deutsch, David W。 Johnson and Roger T。 Johnson expanded their teacher’s theory and formulated the theory of social interdependence。 Social interdependence exists when the accomplish of each inpiduals goals is affected by the actions of others (Dutsch, 1949, 1962; Johnson, 1970; D。 W。 Johnson & R。 Johnson, 1989)。 There are two types of social interdependence, positive (cooperation) and negative (competition)。 

Positive interdependence exists when inpiduals perceive that they can reach their expected goals if and only if the other inpiduals with whom they are cooperatively linked also reach their goals and, therefore, prompt efforts of each other to achieve others’ goal。 

Negative interdependence exists when inpiduals perceive that they can obtain their goal if and only if the other inpiduals with whom they are competitively linked fail to obtain their goals and, therefore, obstruct efforts of each other to achieve others’ goal。

No interdependence exists when inpiduals perceive that they can reach their goal regardless of whether other inpiduals in the situation attain or do not attain their goals。

  Source: Johnson & Johnson, 1995

According to the theory of Johnson & Johnson, the cooperation among students motivates and encourages them to try their best。 On the contrary, the competition may result in the negative interaction。 While in the non-interdependence situation, students works on their own and don’t care about others at all。  文献综述

2。1。2 Motivational Theory

Motivation is a theoretical construct used to explain human behavior。 It can also be defined as one’s direction to behavior or what causes a person to want to repeat a behavior and vice versa (Ellliot, Andrew J; Covington, Martin)

Learning is a process which needs to be guided with a desirable motivation。 Students get positively motivated if they strongly expect to satisfy their psychological needs for language learning。 So motivation plays a key role in learning process。 From students’ perspective, the success or failure they may achieve is greatly dependent on their ability of working together within a group。 In such circumstance, they would like to encourage and help each other in order to successfully accomplish the tasks the teacher assigns。 CL is greatly promotive in terms of increasing students’ motivation to do academic work (Johnson, Johnson & Holubec, 1986)。