Cooperation and Competition in a Korean Middle School English Class: A Case Study

The purpose of this study is to describe the culture of the middle school English classroom from a viewpoint focusing on cooperation and competition. Being basically ethnographic, this study examines the macro- and micro-level context of the interaction among students in class. The findings of this study reveal that the ultimate purpose of cooperation among students as group members in performing a learning task is to win intergroup competitions. In the classroom, the principle of cooperative learning intended by learning activities and the principle of competition pervasive in society collided with each other, and competitive interaction still seems to have a more significant effect on the progress of the class than does cooperative interaction. In a situation without any explicit instruction on cooperative learning, the larger sociocultural context seems to wield a greater influence on the students` behavior than do teaching methods devised by the teacher.