A Study Of Chinese Middle School Students' Use Of Learning Strategiesin English Learning

The study of the second language learning strategies began in 1970s. It occupied a position of no small importance in language acquisition field. In China, the research in this field started in 1980s. Most of the researchers focused on the study of college students' learning strategies; few of them on the study of learning strategies used by middle school students. Since choice of learning strategies influences students' performance to varying degrees, it is of great importance to study middle school students' learning strategies. It is found that middle school students have no good methods in English learning process and they do not know how to find a good way to make their English learning more effective, either. So it is very necessary for English teachers to teach students to learn how to use different kinds of learning strategies and to help improve the students' ability of autonomous learning so as to pave the way for the students' further English learning.The city of Jinan is a place of new curriculum reform. A new belief in the curriculum standard is that the focus of teaching and learning is shifted from teachers' teaching to students' learning. Accordingly, cultivating students' ability of using learning strategies and autonomous learning is highly demanded, which definitely will lay a foundation for the students' life-long English learning.Through the research, the author tries to help develop students' ability of using English strategies, to teach them to use different kinds of learning strategies, and to help them learn autonomously. The thesis investigates English learning strategies of the ninth-grade students. It analyzes the relationship between English learning strategies and English performance and compares the different learning strategies employed by boys and girls. It also finds out the differences in the use of learning strategies between high achievers and low achievers, and offers some suggestions for middle school English teachers. This thesis is composed of four parts:Chapter one is a brief overview of relevant literature. This chapter first introduces the different definitions of learning strategies and its classifications. Then it is followed by listing relevant researches on English learning strategies both at home and abroad.Chapter Two illustrates the methodology of the present study. Qualitative and quantitative aspects are observed. Four research questions are raised. (1) What strategies do the subjects commonly employ? How are the frequencies? (2) What are the relationships between English performance and learning strategies? (3) Are there any differences in the use of the English learning strategies between boys and girls? (4) What are the differences in the use of the English learning strategies between high achievers and low achievers? Subjects, experiment design, research tool, and data collection are explained respectively.Results and discussion are provided in Chapter Three. It elaborates on the research results by answering the questions raised in Chapter Two. The research results include the frequency of every investigated strategy, the correlation coefficient between English learning strategies and English performance, the different learning strategies used by boys and girls and the difference in the use of English learning strategies between high achievers and low achievers. Meanwhile, these results are analyzed and discussed in this chapter.Chapter Four covers the implications of the study. The findings of the study have implications for middle school English teaching in two aspects. Pedagogical implications on belief for English teachers are given. How to apply learning strategies to English learning activities is also presented.