The Study On Oral Chinese Learning Strtegies Of Elementary-Level Foreign Students

The study of second language learning strategies (SLLSs) is one of the important parts of second language acquisition study. It has already had a large scale of corresponding studies. However, there are comparatively few studies on spoken language learning strategies, especially none of formal study on oral Chinese learning strategies. Facing more and more elementary-level foreign students learning Chinese in China, we need to do some study for them.This thesis overviews the correlative literature on SLLSs and uses the questionnaire based on Oxford (1990)'s Strategy Inventory for Language Learning to identify the oral Chinese learning strategies used by 84 elementary-level foreign students. T-test, ANOVA and correlation analysis are performed to analyze on the collected data.Results show that, when elementary-level foreign students learn Chinese in China, the using frequency of strategies is: social strategies, compensation strategies, cognitive strategies > metacognitive strategies > memory strategies > affective strategies. Age significantly influences the use of strategies. Gender doesn't have significant influence, but in eastern students man prefer cognitive strategies, social strategies and affective strategies. Western students use more cognitive strategies, while eastern students use more affective strategies. Findings indicate that cognitive strategies may have positive effect on oral Chinese acquisition. Five effective strategies are:"try to notice oral Chinese errors","learn from mistakes in speaking Chinese","use dictionaries to help understand or speak Chinese","attend in out-of-class events where Chinese is spoken"and"apply grammar to new situations when speaking Chinese". Finally, the underlying reasons are discussed and some implications for teachers and researchers are given.