A Correlational Study Of Technical College Non-English Majors' Learner Beliefs And Learning Strategy Use In Foreign Language Learning

Since the focus of foreign language teaching shifted to learners,individual differences have attracted more attention.Learner beliefs and learning strategies are key factors of individual differences and play a central role in English learning.Research into learner beliefs and strategy use has been conducted both home and abroad.However studies in these fields in China mainly take four-year university students as subjects,neglecting technical college students who account for a large proportion in tertiary-level education.In addition,the results of these researches are not consistent.Furthermore,studies on correlation between learner beliefs and strategy use are even less.This paper reports an empirical study on what learner beliefs technical college non-English majors hold and what learning strategies they employ in learning foreign language,as well as the relationship between their learner beliefs and learning strategy use.Data were gathered through a Questionnaire(Questionnaire on Technical College Non-English Majors' Learner Beliefs and Learning Strategy Use in Foreign Language Learning) and a semi-structured interview.The Questionnaire consisted of Horwitz's BALLI, Oxford's SILL and some background information.Questionnaires were circulated to two hundred and eight technical college non-English majors.A random sample of fifteen students was interviewed.Quantitative data were analyzed with SPSS(version 13.0).Results of descriptive statistics and Pearson correlation analysis were reported.Qualitative data were also analyzed as a supplement.The results suggest:Firstly,the subjects hold diverse beliefs in learning English.They do not believe that they possess language aptitude.Most of them think English is at least a language of medium difficulty and listening and speaking are more difficult than reading and writing.Nevertheless, they have confidence in their English learning and expect success.Concerning the nature of English learning,they recognize the importance of listening and speaking,and nearly half of them agree that grammar and translation are not the most crucial in English learning.They endorse that learning strategies,such as guessing,memorizing,practicing and self-management facilitate their English learning.It is also found that they hold strong motivation and desire for English study,though it is mainly instrumental motivation.Secondly,concerning learning strategies,the results are not very exciting in that technical college students can not apply learning strategies appropriately and effectively to their English learning.In order of averages ranked from high to low,the use of the six groups of strategies are compensation strategies,metacognitive strategies,social strategies,affective strategies,cognitive strategies and memory strategies.The students show preference for compensation strategies such as guessing,using synonyms.Statistically,metacognitive strategies ranked second,however the results suggest they can not deploy effective planning, monitoring and evaluating strategies,such as setting clear objectives and schedule,to improve their basic English skills.They do not use memory strategies,social strategies and affective strategies frequently and effectively.Practice is the most frequently used cognitive strategy.Thirdly,Pearson correlation analysis reveals that certain groups of beliefs are significantly correlated with their learning strategy use,their beliefs in language difficulty significantly correlated with the use of memory strategies,cognitive strategies,compensation strategies,affective strategies and social strategies,their beliefs in motivations and expectations significantly correlated with the use of cognitive strategies,metacognitive strategies,affective strategies and social strategies.Their beliefs in language aptitude and nature of language learning are not significantly correlated with the use of the six groups of strategies.However,belief item "I feel timid speaking English with other people" has a significant,negative correlation with strategies item "I remember a new English word by making a mental picture of a situation in which the word might be used","I try not to translate word-for-word",and "I encourage myself to speak English even when I am afraid of making a mistake",in addition,the correlation is significant at the level 0.01.In summary,the present study yields some important findings and implications in hope of helping technical college students and teachers enhance learner beliefs and learning strategy use.It is also hoped that more attention will be paid to English education in technical colleges in the future.