(in teacher education) an experienced teacher in whose class a student
teacher does his or her practice teaching. The role of the co-operating
teacher is to help the student teacher acquire teaching skills and to give
feedback on his or her teaching.co-operationn
(in learning) working together with one or more peer(s) to solve a prob-
lem, complete a learning task, share information or get feedbackon
performance.
co-operative learningn
also collaborative learning
an approach to teaching and learning in which classrooms are organized so
that students work together in small co-operative teams. Such an approach
to learning is said to increase students’ learning since (a) it is less threaten-
ing for many students, (b) it increases the amount of student participation
in the classroom, (c) it reduces the need for competitiveness, and (d) it
reduces the teacher’s dominance in the classroom.
Five distinct types of co-operative learning activities are often distinguished:
1 Peer Tutoring: students help each other learn, taking turns tutoring or
drilling each other.
2 Jigsaw: each member of a group has a piece of information needed to
complete a group task.
3 Co-operative Projects: students work together to produce a product,
such as a written paper or group presentation.
4 Co-operative/ Individualized: students progress at their own rate
through individualized learning materials but their progress contributes
to a team grade so that each pupil is rewarded by the achievements of his
or her teammates.
5 Co-operative Interaction: students work together as a team to complete
a learning unit, such as a laboratory experiment.
Co-operative-learning activities are often used in communicative lan-
guage teaching.
The use of Co-operative Learning principles in language teaching is known
as Cooperative Language Learning.
co-operative principlen
see conversational maxim
co-ordinate bilingualismn
see compound bilingualism
co-ordinate bilingualism