چکیده:
The Learning Reinforcement Project (LRP) was developed for the purpose of
reinforcing the academic and social competencies of all students in English
language classes, so that they would be better prepared for more accurate and
fluent communication with others as well as a happy social life in a democratic
society. This report presents the results of a 2-year study employing
cooperation and reflection, as a means to reinforce learning in language
teaching. It discusses how it was used and outlines a plan for its
implementation and integration into classrooms. The LRP was a time-limited
intervention designed to prepare students fully to continue achieving. By
providing 110-220 hours of additional instruction over two academic years, the
LRP has been successful in helping students to make both statistically and
practically significant achievement and aptitude gains. To document the direct
effect of the program and eliminate alternative hypotheses for assessed gains, a
pre-post test, comparison group design was used. The program, using the same
research design, was implemented in three different school systems with similar
results.
خلاصه ماشینی:
"By providing 110-220 hours of additional instruction over two academic years, the LRP has been successful in helping students to make both statistically and practically significant achievement and aptitude gains.
Through the use of a challenging and accelerated English curriculum taught by teachers trained in the reflective cooperative model, LRP attempted to efficiently and effectively fill in such educational gaps in each student''''s knowledge base and then allow him or her to proceed to learning at a flexible pace.
The existing research into language development and cooperation has been in several distinct traditions, and many of these approaches have been narrow and exclusive (Yule and Tarone 1991), possibly for reasons associated with the design complexities of more holistic attempts (Courtney 1995), or perhaps as a result of deterministic beliefs in linkages between certain types of communicative activity -for example, negotiated meaning and second language acquisition (Long and Porter 1985).
Prior to implementation of the LRP, the site researcher and teachers participated in a five day training session that included the following topics: 1) goals and objectives; 2) history of similar projects; 3) appropriate teaching strategies (including individualized instruction, cooperative learning, diagnostic teaching); 4) the administration and interpretation of tests; 5) curriculum design; and 6) documenting student progress.
Although the results revealed by this study highlight the importance of cooperation in language learning, it should be born in mind that demonstrated aptitude and achievement gains could, reasonably, have been attributed to a variety of other critical program elements found in the LRP."