A Study Of Non-English Major Students' Perceptual Learning Styles

With the development of second-language acquisition research, much attention is devoted to the influence of learner' individual characteristics on the process of language acquisition. Of all the learner' individual characteristics, learning styles is an important component. And of the learning styles research, perceptual learning styles research is a comparatively unexplored but significant domain.There are abundant learning styles researches in the west, but in china, attention has been diverted to the study of learning styles only recently. Most of them have been restricted to the theoretical discussion. Comparatively sparse empirical researches have been done to investigate the learning styles of non-English majors.This thesis aims to fulfill the following purpose. On the one hand, it examines the overall style preference of non-English majors and finds out if there are variations of learning style among students with different language proficiency, among female students and male students. On the other hand, it investigates whether a correlation exists between certain variables of learning style and the foreign language achievement among non-English majors. Based on the findings of the current study, concrete suggestions are put forward to enhance the foreign language instruction.Research results shows that students express a major learning-style preference for all the modes, and that a positive relationship is found between a visual , individual-oriented learning style preference and language proficiency. Foreign language achievement is correlated negatively with the group-oriented learning style. The more language-proficient students prefer learning through visual. individual modality channel. Gender seems not to be a factor in determining preferences.On the basis of the findings above, several implications for English teaching and learning arc offered. First, teachers should do something to change the current English teaching situation in China. They should try to diversity their teaching styles so as to...