A Correlation Study On Efl Learners' Tolerance Of Ambiguity, English Learning Strategy Use, And English Learning Achievement

English learning is an extremely demanding task, for learners have to deal with new pronunciation, vocabulary, syntax, cultural norms and so on. During this process, learners will commonly experience the uncertain state, which is a feeling that may interfere with their use of learning strategies and influence their English learning. How to overcome this problem is to have a certain degree of tolerance of ambiguity. Tolerance of ambiguity is a concept of the psychology field and it is firstly proposed by Frenkel Brunswick. Later, some linguists borrowed it to the field of SLA. Although more and more researchers realize the importance of tolerance of ambiguity, the study on it is still not satisfactory. It is still not clear how tolerance of ambiguity can influence the use of learning strategies and how tolerance of ambiguity can influence learning achievement. Therefore, the present study aims at exploring the relationship between tolerance of ambiguity and English learning strategy use as well as English learning achievement through quantitative research. 115 non-English major freshmen are taken as the subjects. Second Language Tolerance of Ambiguity Scale and Strategy Inventory for Language Learning are selected as the instruments. After data is collected, statistical analyses are conducted with spss (statistical package for social science), version.16.0. At then, the following conclusions are obtained:1. In general, students show a moderate level of tolerance of ambiguity, few have very high and low levels of tolerance of ambiguity.2. The tolerance of ambiguity difference in gender is not statistically significant, although male students are slightly more tolerant than female students.3. Tolerance of ambiguity is found to have great influence on students'use of English learning strategies. Students with high tolerance of ambiguity tend to choose learning strategies selectively when they are faced with different learning materials. Yet, Students with low tolerance of ambiguity tend to use learning strategies blindly and optionally.4. A significant correlation is also found between students'tolerance of ambiguity and English learning achievement. Students with high tolerance of ambiguity tend to get better learning achievement than those with middle and low tolerance of ambiguity.At last, a few suggestions have been made to college English learning and teaching on the basis of this investigation and the author's own teaching practice.