A Study On The Relationship Between Non-english Majors' Tolerance Of Ambiguity And Cognitive And Metacognitive Strategies In Reading Comprehension

Tolerance of ambiguity, as an essential cognitive factor, refers to the attitudes that learners hold towards ambiguous, unfamiliar or uncertain situations in learning process, ranging from absolute reception to negative resistance. Researches towards tolerance of ambiguity stemmed from the study on intolerance of ambiguity in psychological field by American psychologist Frenkel Brunswik. Along with the psychologists'researches on tolerance of ambiguity, the study towards tolerance of ambiguity has also been initiated by linguists, concentrating on the influences that tolerance of ambiguity has on language learning, especially foreign or second language learning. Strategy use is an important aspect of English reading. But many college students'reading abilities are far below where they should be, and the differences between learners are great. This has drawn close attention of many linguists and researchers. And lots of previous researches show that learners'English learning strategies are related to their English learning achievements. TOA may affect learners'use of learning strategies. Cognitive and metacognitive strategies are two important strategies. Therefore, the present study investigates the relationship between non-English majors'TOA, one of the most cognitive factors, and their cognitive and metacognitive strategies use in reading comprehension, and it also make a comparison on learners'cognitive and metacognitive strategies use in reading comprehension between successful learners and less successful learners.The subjects of this study are 342 sophomores from different departments in different universities, 178 are from different departments of Chongqing University and 164 are from different departments of Hubei Institute for Nationalities. Questionnaires and a semi-structured interview are adopted in this study. In order to explore the relationship between subjects'TOA and their cognitive and metacognitive strategies use in reading comprehension, the data is collected, described and analyzed through Pearson Correlation and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA).The conclusions are obtained as described below.1)Generally speaking, the subjects have shown a moderate level of tolerance of ambiguity.2)Generally speaking, the subjects'using frequency of cognitive and metacognitive strategies in reading comprehension is a little bit low, especially the using frequency of metacognitive strategy.3)Generally speaking, a significant positive correlation has been found between the subjects'TOA and their planning, self-monitoring and self-evaluation strategies use in reading comprehension. A significant positive correlation has been found between successful learners'TOA and their inferrencing, practice, planning, self-management, self-monitoring and self-evaluation strategies use in reading comprehension. No significant correlation has been found between less successful learners'TOA and their cognitive and metacognitive strategies use in reading comprehension.4)Significant difference has been found on translating, resourcing, note-taking, grouping, deduction, practice and planning strategies use in reading comprehension between successful learners and less successful learners. Successful learners with high TOA and less successful learners with high TOA show significant difference on transferring strategy use in reading comprehension.5) learners with high TOA and learners with low TOA have significant difference on self-monitoring and self-evaluation strategies use in reading comprehension. Successful learners with high TOA and that with low TOA show significant difference on transferring strategy use in reading comprehension.Finally, some tentative answers to the results has been provided and a few suggestions have been made about future college English language teaching on the basis of this investigation and the author's own teaching practice.