A Tentative Study On Language Learning Strategies Of Non-English Majors At Teachers' Colleges

Since the 1970s, western applied linguists and psychologists have shifted their focus of attention from teachers' teaching to students' learning and a great number of studies have been undertaken from the students' perspective. As an important aspect of second language acquisition research, learning strategies research has drawn more and more western researchers' attention and has shown great potential.Since the mid-1980s, some Chinese researchers have begun to study language learning strategies in a foreign language setting under the Chinese culture and language background. However, research on language learning strategies in China is still in its early stage. Almost all the subjects in previous researches are English majors while the majority of EFL learners in colleges and universities are non-English majors, so it seems necessary and reasonable to survey them, particularly those of teachers' colleges who are future teachers. It is imperative to help them become aware of successful language learning strategies and acquire them.The present study is meant to make a tentative study on language learning strategies of non-English majors at Anqing Teachers' College. The data and information are collected through questionnaire and some interviews. One hundred and sixty-one second year non-English majors from the college participate in this investigation. SPSS 10.0 is employed to analyze the data: (1) descriptive statistics are computed to summarize the students' responses to strategy items; (2) Pearson correlations analysis is conducted to examine the relationship between the strategy use of non-English majors and their English achievement (In the present study, English achievement refers to the scores of CET4—a nation-wide standardized proficiency test designed to evaluate the second-year students' language achievement after two years' study of College English); (3) multiple regression analysis is used to determine the predictive power of language learning strategies for English achievement; (4) independent samples t-tests are carried out to check the differences in strategy use between good language learners and less successful learners, betweenfemale and male students, and between students majoring in arts and in science.The final results indicate: (1) The frequency of overall strategy use of teachers' college non-English majors is not high. (2) Memory strategies, cognitive strategies, compensation strategies, metacognitive strategies, affective strategies and social strategies all demonstrate significant correlation with English achievement. (3) Metacognitive strategies are the strongest positive predictor of English achievement, while social strategies are negatively associated with English achievement. (4) Good language learners use a wider range of strategies at a higher frequency than less successful learners. The biggest difference is in the use of metacognitive strategies. (5) No significant difference is found between male and female students, or between the arts students and the science students.It is suggested that the low frequency of language learning strategies use in teachers' college non-English majors should be a real concern of English teachers. How to help students become aware of and acquire language learning strategies should be a new task for college English teachers.This thesis consists of five chapters:Chapter One briefly introduces the necessity and significance of research on learning strategies, and gives a glimpse of related researches at home and abroad. The reasons for the present study are also presented in this chapter.Chapter Two makes an exposition of the basic theory of learning strategies, including their definitions, characteristics and classification.Chapter Three presents the investigation into language learning strategies of non-English majors at Anqing Teachers' College.Chapter Four reports and further discusses the results of the investigation.Chapter Five is the conclusion of the present study. Pedagogical implications, limitations of this study and some suggestions for further research are discussed.