A Study On Combination Of Non-English Major Learners' English Writing With Their Learning Styles

With the focus of teaching shifted to the individual differences of the learners, individual differences have always been the concern in SLA field and the process of foreign language instruction. It mainly contains the following elements: 1) Age; 2) Attitude and emotion; 3) Aptitude; 4) Personality; 5) Learning styles, and some other aspects. Learning styles have been of rather heated discussion these days, and many teachers and learners admit that theories and research can provide valuable information for teaching and learning. The study of learning styles is a potential field of deep research, since it involves knowledge of many other subjects, for example, the human brain, education and psychology. Since the emergence of the concept of learning styles (in the 1950s), much work has been done to uncover this unknown field, and the results are quite satisfying.The author studies English learning styles of Chinese college students, using questionnaires to investigate the relationship between learners'English learning styles and their English writing. A learning style questionnaire was administered to 107 freshmen and sophomores from Qingdao University.The English composition scores of the students were used to indicate their English learning styles. The relationships between learning styles and English writing achievements were examined through the Service Pack of Social Statistics software (SPSS 12.0).Through the study, it was discovered that there is a significant correlation between learners'English learning styles and their English compositions. The learners of visual and tactile learning styles hold higher scores with more complicated sentences than those of auditory and kinesthetic ones; more words and fewer errors could be found in the compositions by field-independent, reflective and high tolerance of ambiguity learners than ones by field-dependent, impulsive and low tolerance of ambiguity learners. No difference of writing factors between extroverted and introverted learners was detected.On the basis of the findings, suggestions for teachers of English are given. The practical significance of this study is that the results can be used to help students increase their ESL learning proficiency through their particular strength with learning styles so as to enhance their active roles in English learning, and English teachers could use a variety of teaching means to match the students'learning styles.