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In this paper, the author shall first briefly introduce the origin and development of the Jigsaw mode, followed by the theoretical background and basic steps of the Jigsaw mode. Then a specific case study of the Jigsaw mode applied in an English reading classroom will be shown, and in the next section the feedback and reflections will be discussed. Finally, the author will end the paper with a summary of the use of the Jigsaw mode.
2. Literature Review源-自-751:,论'文'网]www.751com.cn
2.1 Jigsaw mode
2.1.1 The origin and development of Jigsaw mode
The Jigsaw mode, originally developed by the famous American educator and sociologist Elliot Aronson and his colleagues in 1978 in Austin, Texas, was considered an effective kind of cooperative learning which is student-centered. At that time, United States had just released the apartheid system, students from different ethnic groups simultaneously appeared in the same classroom for the first time. However, long-term national estrangement caused the lack of communication and trust among the students of different races, thus it was difficult for the students to get along well and sometimes they were even hostile towards each other, which turned the normal teaching activities into a chaos. In this case, Aronson and his colleagues pioneered the Jigsaw classroom teaching mode, successfully established a harmonious learning atmosphere of mutual dependence and cooperation among students. Since then, this Jigsaw mode has been gradually promoted and widely used from elementary school, high school to college, from language to other disciplines.
Slavin, R. E further developed and improved Jigsaw and put forward the modification of Jigsaw on the basis of the original mode, which are widely used in the teaching and research in various disciplines. Later on, Holliday, Dwight. C made revision and improvement of Jigsaw through focusing on the student’s accuracy of mastering knowledge. （Holliday 2000: 178）
In general, materials to be learned are pided into several parts with guiding questions. Students work in four- or five-member team. Each student in a group is assigned to focus on one part of the materials. After the reading, students in different groups with the same focus of learning materials form an expert group to discuss the materials. After the discussion task in the expert group, each member becomes expert of the materials on which he or she focuses, and takes turns to teach the other members in the same group until they have mastered all the materials. Then students take inpidual quizzes, which result in team scores based on the improvement score system of Student Teams-Achievement Division (STAD). The group with the highest average group improvement score receives a group reward. And any group which has its average group improvement score reaching a pre-determined level can receive a group reward. (Slavin 1995: 195)
2.1.2 Theoretical background of Jigsaw mode
Jigsaw is a puzzle game which is to pide a complete pattern into several small pieces, and then the player completes the pattern according to certain ideas. The Jigsaw mode is the comprehensive application of task-based approach, cooperative teaching and communicative teaching method.
Cooperative learning is one of the mainstream theories of teaching, and it was originated in the United States in the early 1970s. As a way of cooperative learning, Jigsaw mode can stimulate students’ enthusiasm and their spirit of cooperation. Students become less dependent on the teacher, and get used to helping and learning from each other. (Shengqunli, 2006: 28)
Constructivism theory also provides a solid theoretical basis for the implementation of the Jigsaw mode. As a new branch of the learning theory of cognitive school, constructivism theory became popular in the West in the 1980s. Constructivism theory holds that knowledge is constructed by learners themselves, not taught by others. Constructivism theory emphasizes student-centered, students turn from passive recipients of knowledge into the main body of the active information processing and construction of meaning. The teachers’ role is to set proper learning situations, encourage students to reflect, and help students to construct the sense of knowledge. (Changjianruo, 2006: 79-80)