| Summary: | 碩士 === 銘傳大學 === 應用英語學系碩士班 === 103 === The present study examined teachers’ perceptions of implementing Cooperative Learning (CL) in English class. Previous studies conducted by Duxbury and Tsai (2010) and Pan and Wu (2013) indicated that Cooperative Language Learning not only improves students’ language skills, but also creates a supportive learning environment. However, there is a dearth of research on the perspective of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers’ opinions about implementing Cooperative Learning in their classrooms. The questions asked in this study were: (1) What are Taiwanese EFL teachers’ perceptions about Cooperative Learning? a. What are Taiwanese EFL teachers’ perceptions about students’ interactions in CL classrooms? b. What are Taiwanese EFL teachers’ perceptions about students’ achievement in CL classrooms? c. What are Taiwanese EFL teachers’ perceptions about the implementation of CL in their respective classrooms?; (2) Are there significant differences in teachers’ perceptions of implementing CL based on gender, academic level they teach, years of teaching experiences?, and (3) What perceived barriers do Taiwanese English teachers encounter while implementing CL in their classrooms? A Likert scale based questionnaire with 27 items (@=.84), adapted from Koutselini (2009) and Hong Thanh (2011) was administered to N=63 EFL teachers from elementary, junior high and senior high schools in northern Taiwan. Moreover, teacher interviews were conducted to penetrate more details about teachers’ perceptions toward CL. Results showed that teachers agreed on the benefits of Cooperative Learning on students’ interaction and achievement ( X=3.29, s=.38). Teachers expressed a positive impression of using CL and their views did not differ (p>.05) regardless of gender, level of teaching experience and academic level taught. Findings from the interview showed that there were some difficulties (e.g. classroom management, limited physical space) encountered when implementing CL in the classroom. To conclude, although teachers have a general positive attitude toward CL, there is still a need to convince some teachers about the efficacy of this method in the Taiwanese EFL classroom.
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