On The Strategy Use Of Chinese Secondary School Students In Learning EFL:A Case Study

In recent years, researchers have highlighted the importance of language learning strategies in making language learning more efficient (e.g., Cohen, 2000; O'Malley and Chamot, 2001; Oxford, 1990). Extensive investigation has also shown that language learning strategies can produce a positive effect on learners' language use. (e.g., Huang and Naerssen, 1987; Li, 2002; Wen and Johnson, 1997). In China, the newly debuted National English Syllabus Standard in basic education also attaches great importance to language learning strategies and strategy training. However, in the field of English teaching and learning in China, the focus of strategy research has been on the strategies of tertiary -level students. Few studies have been carried out on language learning strategies employed by secondary school students. Moreover, up to now, there is no fixed pattern of strategy use for learners overseas and in China. According to Oxford (1994), it may be attributable to one fact that a number of factors are responsible for strategy use. Different learners with different language tasks in different cultural backgrounds may make use of different types and numbers of strategies, which suggests a need for more studies on different learners in different settings. This thesis aims to study the language learning strategies deployed by a sample of Chinese secondary students, with the hope of finding certain pattern of language learning strategy use for Chinese secondary students and hence making strategy training and English learning and teaching more effective.This study, using famous American applied linguist Rebecca L. Oxford's 50-item Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) which consists of six categories of strategies: memory, cognitive, compensation, metacognitive, affective, and social, examines and analyses the language learning strategy use of a sample of Chinese secondary students learning English as a foreign language (EFL), the relationship between language learning strategies and gender, and theteacher perceptions concerning their students' actual use of language learning strategies. The study differs from previous SILL studies in that the subjects were Chinese secondary students from a typical foreign language learning setting, and that the discrepancies between teacher perceptions and students' actual use of language learning strategies were examined. The overall frequency of use was investigated using Post Hoc Multiple Comparisons. Results showed that the memory category was the most frequently employed language learning strategy in this study, followed by affective strategies, metacognitive strategies and cognitive strategies, with compensation and social strategies the least used. The relationship between language learning strategies and gender was investigated using ANOVA. Results showed no significant differences by gender in the overall strategy use, but more metacognitive and social strategies by girl students at the level of specific strategies. This study also examines and analyses the perceptions of some English teachers regarding their students' actual use of language learning strategy. It then compares the teacher perceptions with the students' actual strategy use. Finally, based on the findings of this study, the thesis provides some implications for English teaching and learning in China.This thesis consists of seven chapters.Chapter 1 gives background information concerning my teaching experience and the reasons why I am making the study of the language learning strategies of Chinese secondary students. It also presents the goals of the study. The primary goal of this study is to investigate how secondary school students deploy language learning strategies and whether students' reported frequency of language learning strategy use is correlated with gender. The secondary goal of this study is to investigate the teachers' perceptions about the students' actual use of language learning strategies and then to determine whether there are differences between teacher perceptions and...