A Study On Perceptual Learning Style Of College English Learners

In recent years, researchers are increasingly paying attention to learners'psychological factors and individual differences. Learning style, as one part of learners'individual differences, has a great influence on learners.Reid's (1987) Perceptual Learning Style Preference Questionnaire is used to investigate 135 college English learners in Xihua University. It includes the investigation of the general distribution of learning styles of college English learners, the gender differences of college English learners, the relationship between perceptual learning style with CET-4 score, and the differences of perceptual learning style between high-score and low-score students.SPSS 17.0 is applied to analyze data in this study. Descriptive analysis is to investigate the general learning style tendency of college English learners. Independent T sample test helps to find out whether there exists gender differences of college English learners and the differences between high-score and low-score students, and Pearson Correlation Analysis aims to work out the relationship between perceptual learning style with CET-4 score.Data derived from Descriptive Statistics demonstrates that college English learners have multiple perceptual learning styles, among which they like tactile style best. The data of independent T sample test show that there exists gender differences in perceptual learning style; among which female students prefer tactile learning style, while male students like group style better and all the averages of the six-type perceptual learning style of high-score students are higher than those of low-score students, but they have significant relationship only in auditory style. The data of Pearson Correlation Analysis indicate that only auditory style is significantly related to CET-4 score. In the end, some suggestions are proposed for improving college English teaching in China according to the investigation and analysis.