作者：唐舒方
　　【Abstract】As an advanced teaching method， cooperative learning can improve students’ interest in learning English and the quality of English teaching， therefore， effectively using cooperative learning in teaching activities gradually arouse wide concern of more and more teachers. This paper mainly analyzes the characteristics and the positive effect of cooperative learning， and points out its reasonable application in junior high school English teaching， hoping it will be helpful for effective English teaching.
　　【Key words】Cooperative learning； junior high school English teaching
　　1. Characteristics and Positive Role of Cooperative Learning
　　1.1 characteristics of cooperative learning
　　Through cooperative learning， students can communicate with each other， so as to enhance awareness of cooperation and to cultivate autonomous learning ability. In the process of cooperative learning， students can not only fully demonstrate themselves， but also can understand learning methods of other students’， and to cultivate good habit of studying by combing with their own actual situation and effectively absorbing others’ study experience. In addition， cooperative learning can enhance students’ sense of responsibility and improve their learning ability. During the cooperative learning， students’ personal achievements will greatly affect the overall performance of their group， in order to win honors for their group， they will consciously and actively complete the task of learning.
　　1.2 positive role of cooperative learning
　　In the traditional teaching mode， students passively learn and master the theoretical knowledge， lacking of opportunities for English communication， which leads to a low enthusiasm and a poor English application ability. While through cooperative learning， students must use English to communicate and interact with their group members， which can enhance their learning interest， cultivate their practical English ability， and improve the effectiveness of English teaching.
　　2. Reasonable Application of Cooperative Learning in English Teaching
　　2.1 introducing cooperative learning into the teaching of reading
　　In the traditional reading teaching process， many teachers mainly use one-way teaching method to explain and analyze the word meaning and sentence patterns， do not give full play to students’ subjective initiative， which usually leads to a dull teaching atmosphere and a low learning efficiency. Therefore， we can carry out reading teaching activities by cooperative learning， let the students to understand and master the author’s thoughts and feelings， to cultivate their analysis ability and understanding ability， improve their English learning. For example， in reading teaching， we can ask them to discuss concerning the title of the article，， to analyze its paragraphs， writing features and its central idea， and guide them to understand and master the difficult words and sentence patterns， so as to consolidate their English knowledge and improve their learning efficiency.