This paper describes successful strategies based on research and practical applications used in the Greater Clark School Corporation in bringing many languages and cultures together. The most reasonable and correct course of action for teachers to take is to include the students in all class activities that will be enhanced by cooperative…

IEDC is an acronym from interaction of English dormitory and class teaching. It is a new, student-centered teaching approach intended for non-English majors in China. This articles states that communicative competence can be developed through various means of cooperative learning.

Highlights Kagan Structures, easy-to-learn, easy-to-use cooperative learning instructional strategies that promote second language learning. In classrooms where these strategies are used, students for whom English is a second language learn both English and academic content far more quickly and thoroughly than when traditional strategies are used.…

Claims that students from foreign countries are sometimes the victims of negative attitudes from their composition instructors. Considers the advantages and disadvantages of working with students whose English skills are not on a level of fluency. (HB)

Presents an interview with Costas Markou, the Chief Education Officer for the Ministry of Education in Cyprus, about cooperative education, focusing on his personal history as a learner, teacher trainer, inspector, and administrator. (Author/SM)

Discusses alternative assessment in the language classroom, provides examples of seven cooperative assessment activities: correcting individual quizzes and homework, observing students at work, interviews, peer composition, oral presentations, group projects, and group processing. (Author/VWL)

Examines the characteristics of three approaches to the teaching of writing (traditional, tutorial, and group). Demonstrates how the combined use of pair work and peer feedback, features of the group approach, enables students of English as a Second Language to learn from each other and improve their writing. (HB)

Claims that students from foreign countries tend to have little knowledge or background working with American research libraries. Describes a collaborative research project aimed at making academic libraries less intimidating for these students. Argues that such a method helps all students acquire essential skills. (HB)

Suggests that classroom activities that emphasize interaction help students to use language. Interaction allows students to practice being effective speakers by developing two needed sets of skills: managing an interaction and negotiating meaning. Provides examples of problem solving activities for use in the language classroom. (Author/VWL)

A way to reintegrate native English speaking students and nonnative speakers of English with each other and with the establishment may be to begin at the entry point, by providing an opportunity for interaction and for learning about the ways of the university and its expectations together. Examples from several different colleges are noted. (six…

Explores the language learning and social adaptation of five immigrant women by using diaries and critical dialogue for collaborative research. Highlights the construct of social identity as central to the adaptation process. Advocates critical reflection by students on the process of identity negotiation, especially through diary-keeping. (HB)

George Jacobs holds a doctorate in Educational Psychology from the University of Hawai'i at Manoa. He has taught courses on English, cooperative learning, curriculum design, environmental education, and multiple intelligences in the U.S., Thailand, Singapore, Nicaragua, and China . Dr. Jacobs has published more than 100 articles, book chapters,…

This paper discusses some major assessment issues (purpose, focus, setting, stakes, and stakeholders of assessment), the procedures used in assessment, and how cooperative learning (CL) may be used in the assessment procedures. Instruction, learning, assessment, and evaluation are all interrelated. Teachers are responsible for instructing students…

Using a cooperative and situated learning approach, two vocational English-as-a-Second-Language instructors created a linguistic community of practice among nonnative speaking immigrant restaurant employees and their native speaking coworkers. (Author/VWL)

It is proposed that classroom collaboration has the potential to build a classroom learning community in which students turn to each other as resources and the teacher becomes one channel, among many, for learning. The demands that collaborative work places on students are examined, and the process of building a collaborative environment is…