A Study Of English Learning Strategies Employed By The Rural Junior School Students In Anhui Province

At present, the junior middle-school English instruction in China is guided by the Syllabus of Junior Middle-school English of Compulsory Education (hereafter Syllabus) issued in 1992 by the Ministry of Education. Although the Syllabus requires that teachers should help students acquire good learning habits and methods, and cultivate their ability to study independently, it fails to cover requirements on English learning strategies. Justifiably, language learning strategies have not been paid much attention to. The New Curriculum Requirements of English Instruction for Compulsory Education and General Senior Middle Schools (hereafter Requirements) (experimenting version) issued in 2001 by the Ministry of Education holds that the integrative competence of language use is based on students'language skills and abilities, knowledge of the language, affects and attitudes, learning strategies, and background knowledge of the people's culture of the language. English instruction in middle schools must focus on training learners in using learning strategies, helping them develop good learning habits, and facilitating them in mastering effective learning strategies. Therefore, it prescribes the goals that should be achieved by learners on the four categories of learning strategies: cognitive strategies, management strategies, communicative strategies and resource strategies.In order to find out whether the English learning strategies specified in the Requirements have been used by the junior middle school students whose English studies are guided by the current Syllabus, how frequently they make use of them, and whether there are any disparities between the specifications of the Requirements and the current conditions of the students using English learning strategies, the author of this thesis surveyed the current conditions of the junior middle school students using language learning strategies in their English studies. The investigation involved the students in four rural junior middle schools in attempt to find out the answers to three questions: 1. How is the general condition of the students using the learning strategies and what problems exist? 2. Are there any differences with statistical significance in using English learning strategies between male and female students? 3. Are there any differences with statistical significance in using learning strategies between successful and unsuccessful students?This paper is composed of five parts. The first part is introduction which presents the rational, research orientation, and significance of the study.The second part is literature review which begins with definitions and classifications of learning strategies, and presents an overview of learning strategies research from the mid-1970s to the present time by focusing on the empirical studies on learning strategies and language performance both abroad and at home.Part three concerns the survey conducted in this study. The investigation takes the form of questionnaire. After the questionnaires were finished by the respondents, they were collected and the qualitative data were transformed into quantitative ones that were handled by SPSS.Generally speaking, the outcomes of the investigation show that the subjects use every strategy mentioned in the questionnaire; but the frequency in which they use these strategies is low, which indicates that the current junior middle school students in the countryside do not make full use of the English learning strategies and they do not possess the ability to apply various strategies flexibly to their English studies. Among the four kinds of learning strategies, the frequency of management strategies is the highest while that of resource strategies is the lowest. In the aspect of the difference between male and female students in using strategies, the result of T-test indicates that there is significant difference between male and female students in the use of cognitive and communicative strategies while there is no significance in management and resource strategies. The results also show that top group students can make better use of cognitive and management strategies than low group students while there is no significant difference in the use of communicative and resource strategies.Part four is implications of the study. Findings suggest that it is very important to incorporate language learning strategies into daily language courses because appropriate use of language learning strategies matters a lot in the learning process. Awareness towards language learning strategies should be raised both on the part of teachers and learners. It is important for teachers to recognize that some strategies might be more suitable to some learners than to others. Males and Females have different learning strategy preferences etc, the more teachers knew about such factors, the more readily they can help learners to learn language effectively and skillfully. As regard to learners, they should learn to use appropriate strategies in different language learning context, only by this way can they become autonomous and effective language learners. It is essential to carry out in-service training of English teachers on English learning strategies, only by this way can they provide the learners with strategy training in the classroom. Learning conditions in rural middle schools is very limited, therefore, authority should strengthen ordinary schools by investing educational resource construction.The last part is conclusion. This paper is a study of English learning strategies employed by the rural middle school students in Anhui province. Due to the small number of the subjects, short time of the study and methodological limitation, the conclusions in the present study should be regarded as suggestive and tentative. It is hoped that more and further research can be carried out in this field.