A Study Of The Relationships Among Learning Styles, Learning Strategies And Second Language Achievement

With the development of applied linguistics and cognitive psychology, a good harvest in the studies of learning styles and learning strategies has been made. Western applied linguists and psychologists have already made great progresses in learning strategy studies involving good language learners (Rubin 1975; Naiman et al. 1978), comparisons between the successful and unsuccessful learners (Reiss 1983; Huang & Van Naersson 1985; Mangubhai 1991) and the relationships between learning strategies and L2 achievement (Bialystok 1981; Huang & Vann Naersson 1985; Politzer & McGroarty 1985; Wen 1996). The studies of learning styles went through three periods: during the 1950s-60s, the concept of "learning style" was brought forward and the early researches put emphases on conceiving and explaining the concept; during the 1970s-80s, the theories of learning styles were formed and all kinds of theories emerged; after the 1990s, the modes and results of the researches are applied to teaching, especial second language teaching and adult education. Now, we are in the third period. Scholars at home also devote to these fields and gain some achievements in the studies of learning strategies (Huang Xiaohua & Van Naersson 1985; Wen Qiufang 1995, 1996; Jiang Zukang 1994; Wu Xia & Wang Qiang 1998; Qing Xiaoqing 1998) while few researches study learning styles of Chinese students, especially high vocational students (Yu Xinle 1997; Huang Ying 2000).This study has three aims. The first one is to explore and confirm the relationships between learning styles and strategies. Scholars have made great progresses in learning style and strategy researches, but few studies research their relationships. Reid (1999:302) gives hypothesis "often, students' strategies can be linked to their learning styles". Oxford (1989:235) also claims "it is likely that a strong relationship exists between the individual's use of learning strategies and the individual's learning style", but she admits that little research has examined the relationship. Schmeck (1988) also underscores the need to understand learning strategies in the context of learning styles. Therefore the first aim of this study is to explore their relationships and give demonstration. The second aim is to confirm the relationships between learning strategies and L2 achievement, and between learning styles and L2 achievement. Some scholars have already had some findings and conclusions (Bialystok 1981; Huang & Vann Naersson 1985; Wen 1996; Politzer &McGroarty 1985; Reid 1987), but there are still divarications existing in their findings and conclusions, and there is still no comprehensive theory of IDs in SLA research (Skehan 1991). Therefore, this study investigates these aspects based on high vocational learners and give demonstration. The third aim is to research the characteristics of high vocational students' learning styles and strategies. Scholars at home have done a series of investigations, but their subjects are English majors or non-English undergraduates and few researches focus on high vocational students, who belong to college category but lower than undergraduates. Stern (1983:412) calls for further researches "in different social, contexts, under different language learning conditions, at different ages and maturity levels, and at different levels of proficiency". This study focuses on high vocational students and studies their characteristics in learning styles and strategies in order for teachers to adopt teaching methods suitable for them and to improve high vocational teaching.This study adopted survey, one method of focused description study. Surveymeans " (Liu 1999:139-140). Methods of data-collection in this study included questionnaire and interview, which were regarded as more successful methods by Ellis (1994). This study investigated 177 high vocational students on April 14, and 16, 2004. The Perceptual Learning Style Preference (PLSP) and the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) were used as the questionnaire to identify subject's learning styles and strategies. After answering the questionnaire, ten participants were interviewed. " 勘探法的数据处理有定性分析和定量分析" (Liu 1999:146), so this survey employed both qualitative and quantitative analysis. Statistical Packages for the Social Sciences 11 (SPSS) for windows was taken for quantitative analysis to analyze the frequency of six learning strategies and of six learning styles, the correlation among learning styles, strategies and L2 achievements. Then, qualitative analysis was used to analyze the result of interview in order to find the differences between high- and low-achievement students. After data-analysis, there are some important findings:(1) The majority of learners sometimes use learning strategies or generally not use learning strategies, but only about ten percent usually use strategies and none always use learning strategies. Learners use compensation and metacognitive strategies most frequently and use memory strategies least frequently.(2) Learning styles in highest frequency are tactile and kinesthetic styles, while the lowest is individual style.(3) There are complex relationships among learning styles, learning strategies and L2 achievement: 1) There are relationships between learning styles and learning strategies; learning styles affect the choice and use of learning strategies; persons with different leaning styles choose different strategies in their learning process; 2) there are relationships between learning strategies and L2 achievement, and they interact: the choice and use of learning strategies, especially metacognitive, cognitive and memory strategies, affects L2 achievement; in retune, the level of achievement can also influence their choice of learning strategies, and high-achievement learners choose and use metacognitive, cognitive and memory strategies more frequently than...