A Tentative Study Of Learning Styles And Language Learning Strategies In China EFL Context

One of the educational goals is to help learners to become autonomous in learning. The field of education has struggled for years to achieve a better understanding of how people learn. Early researchers, influenced by the view of behaviorism, explained human learning behaviors in terms of the simple stimuli-response connection. An individual responded to a stimulus by behaving in a particular way and conditions should be created to reinforce human's behaviors. If behaviorist views of learning were applied to language education, learning should be broken into small and sequential steps which provided immediate positive reinforcement based on nearly 100 per cent success. Learning a language was considered as a process of habitual formation. The role of the teacher was to develop learners'corrective habits through techniques like memorizing dialogues, pattern drills and repetition. The view has been criticized for the relatively passive role of the learners. They were provided with little opportunity to analyze the language, develop their own strategies to deal with different situations.With the fast development of cognitive science during the 1960s, researchers were gradually interested in mental process which was involved in learning. There was increasing evidence indicating that the learners, rather than being passive in their learning, were active participants in making sense of tasks or problems that they faced. When confronting with learning difficulties, learners may rely on different cognitive skills such as storing, organizing and integrating. During the past several decades, language learning strategies has become of one of the hottest topics in the field of SLA. There was a considerable amount of empirical studies suggested that learning strategies could contribute to the effectiveness of second or foreign language learning and it had implications for language teaching.Initial learning strategies research indicated that good language learners tended to adopt a personal style to suit learning. They personalized the strategies by selecting and combining them for particular purpose, tailoring to the requirement of learning tasks. Less successful language learners, by contrast, worked with the strategies effectively since they could seldom determine the conditions under which they chose and combined strategies for particular task. More current research showed that the operation of strategies did not exist in isolation but related to a number of individual factors such as motivation, attitude, belief, gender, proficiency and learning style. But the relations with learning strategies were not as clear as people originally expected. As Ellis (1994) pointed out, the relationship between learning strategies and personality, affective factors and learning styles remained ambiguous. A number of research devoted to strategy training also suggested that such training could facilitate students'learning if individual characteristics were taken into accounts when designing training courses. The present study, in response to the above concern on individual characteristics, concentrates on the relationship between learning styles and language learning strategies.This study explores the relationship in China EFL context. The current subjects consist of 153 third-grade English majors from Guangxi Normal University (GNU). Quantitative data is collected through three self-report questionnaires. The Chinese revised version of MBTI-M and ASSIST are used to measure the psychological types and studying approaches respectively. Another inventory based on Oxford'classification system of learning strategies (SILL) is used to assess learner's strategy use.The research design involves two stages: pilot study and main study. At the pilot stage, except for the revised version of MBTI-M which has been translated into Chinese and proved to be both valid and reliable on Chinese students, two questionnaires (SILL, ASSIST) written in English are translated and revised with the help of some English teachers and students. The test-retest technique is used to ensure the validity and reliability. At the main stage, quantitative data is collected respectively through three 20-minute classroom time, then the data is decoded on the computer and the relationship is conducted through the multiple regression, an analyzing technique on SPSS 10.0.Based on the detailed analysis of data, some major finding are included as follows:1. Eleven strategy sets in memory, cognitive, compensatory and affective strategies are used sometimes by the subjects and the remaining three strategies in metacogntive and social strategies are used frequently.2. Gender difference and proficiency level do not have a significant relation with learning strategies.3. Compared with gender and proficiency, learning styles demonstrate a stronger relation with language learning strategies. But the relationship varies from different style models and instruments.4. MBTI dimensions correlate significantly to four strategy sets in metacognitive, cognitive, social and affective strategies.5. ASSIST approaches have a significant relation with eight strategy sets in metacognitive, memory, cognitive, compensatory and affective strategies.The results derived from this study suggest learning styles have a strong relation with learning strategies. It is proposed that both teachers and students should raise their awareness on individual difference. A better understanding of its relationship would help learners select and use strategies based on their learning preference, meanwhile a practical understanding of teaching styles help teachers accommodate to the diversity of students in the classroom. It has become clear that language instruction should cater for individual learners and language teachers should be sensitive students'learning preference and their strategy use. The two elements should be integrated into different teaching approaches and kept in consistency. The teacher should help students identify their learning preference and the strategies they use. A wide range of activities should be designed to practice strategies based on students'learning preference. Students are encouraged to personalize strategies and transfer them to new situations. Existing research, being criticized from both theoretical and methodical perspectives raise more doubt about their results. Further research should examine the relationship from broader aspects by providing by providing well-defined terms, reliable and valid instruments and systematic research design.