A Study On Students' English Learning Style In High Vocational College

In recent years, more and more researchers home and abroad have done research on learning styles. Researchers abroad have been studying learning styles of learners of different stages and different ages. Though learning style catches many scholars attention nowadays, it is still neglected by many English teachers and learners in China, where the participants of studies on learning style mostly are college students and adults. Fewer studies focus on high vocational college students, leaving the domain of H.V.C. students' learning style largely unexplored.To fill up such research gap, the present study took high vocational college students as the participants and tried to find out (1) the present situation of students'leaning styles. (2) the differences in learning styles between male and female students. (3) the correlation between students'learning styles and their English achievements.The participants were 230 high vocational college students in Taian, Shandong Province. Perceptual Learning Style Preference Questionnaire was administered to measure the responses to statements as the participants apply to their study of English. The Practical English Test for Colleges of Shandong was used to collect the English proficiency of the participants. According to their gender and English achievements, the participants were divided into groups. The data obtained from the investigation was analyzed with the aid of SPSS 17.0. Means, Standard Deviation, Minimum and Maximum were used to discover how learning styles such as visual, auditory, tactile, kinesthetic, group and individual learning were employed generally among the participants. T-Test was made to compare the means of the two groups of male and female participants and examine how significant they were. One way ANOVA (analysis of variance) was conducted to find out whether learning styles and English achievements were related.The results indicate that (1) in general, H.V.C. students shared a variety of learning styles. Tactile and kinesthetic styles are students'most preferred and group learning style is the least. (2) male and female students did not show significant differences in their preferences for individual learning styles, group learning style, visual learning style and auditory learning style. However, there were significant differences in their preferences for kinesthetic learning style and tactile learning style. (3) there were no significant correlation between participants'learning styles and their English proficiency. But the participants are significantly different in one type of learning style:tactile style. The results also show that learning style is not a decisive factor and that it is weakly and indirectly related to foreign language achievement.Based on the findings and discussion, this thesis put forward some pedagogical implications for teaching and learning in high vocational college. Students were advised to improve the awareness of learning style and to diversify one's learning style. For teachers, they are suggested to pay more attention to the differences of students'learning style and adjust their teaching styles to suit students'learning styles. Finally, the limitations of this study are described and suggestions for future studies are provided.