An Empirical Study Of The Correlation Between Learning Autonomy And Strategies And Foreign Language Aptitude Of English Major Students

Language aptitude has been regarded as one of the most important individualdifferences affecting learning achievements in second language acquisition. The previousresearchers led by Carroll believed language aptitude was innate and fixed. However, inrecent studies it is proved that language aptitude can be developed. Based on this, now thatrecent researches have shown that language aptitude is dynamic and trainable, one of themajor aims of foreign language education is to develop students’ language aptitudethrough learning strategy training according to their personal characteristics. This studyaims to analyze the relationship between autonomous learning, learning strategy andlanguage aptitude. Then language aptitude will be developed with the aid of usingautonomous learning and learning strategy in further language learning and teaching.In this research, questions to be addressed are as follows:1) Is the language aptitude of English majors related with their languageachievements? If so, are there differences in language aptitude between freshmen andjuniors?2）Are there any correlations between language aptitude and autonomous learning?And between language aptitude and learning strategy?3) Which of these factors correlates most closely with language aptitude? And howdo they affect language learning achievements?This study is a quantitative research. Subjects are freshmen and junior students ofEnglish majors whose native language is Chinese. This study had a sample of119Englishmajor students. Questionnaires of Learning strategy and autonomous learning and aptitudetest are instruments. Research results show that language aptitude is significantly relatedwith learning achievements. The difference in language aptitude between freshmen andjuniors exists although it is not notable. After analyzing the collected data, it is found thatthe significant correlation lies between language aptitude and learning strategy, languageaptitude and autonomous learning. Then it will affect the development of languageachievement to some extent.The present study indicates that students can improve their autonomous learning byusing different learning strategies and therefore develop their language aptitude accordingto individual characteristics and promote effective learning effect. It provides certaintheoretical basis for foreign language learning in theory and practical foundation and can be carried out further in future research. However, due to the limitations in time andconditions, the results of the present research need to be studied further.