A Study Of EFL Learning Strategies Used By Senior Two Students

It is the first time that developing the students' ability of using language learning strategies has been put into the New English Curriculum Standard of China(2003) as one of the teaching aims.Although some studies have been conducted on language learning strategies in China,few researches have been done among high school students or based on the classification of English learning strategies in New English Curriculum Standard of China(2003).This paper reports on a survey of the EFL learning strategies used by senior two students in a high school.Purposes of the study were to explore the differences in frequency of EFL learning strategies used by high-score group and low-score group students of senior two in a high school,to find out the relationships between EFL learning strategies and language achievements as well as the development of EFL learning strategies use after the New English Curriculum Standard of China was published in 2003.An ultimate purpose was eventually to provide profiles for senior high school English teachers aiming at training students to develop an awareness of EFL learning strategies and master the effective strategies to facilitate their English learning.In this study,227 senior two students were involved in the current study and 136 students of them were selected from two levels of proficiency.A questionnaire and semi-structured interview were used in the study.The basic instrument was designed for high-school students by the researcher by adapting Oxford's SILL(1990) and Wen's(1996) questionnaire.The quantitative data were analyzed with the aid of SPSS (Statistic Package for Social Science) 11.5 for Windows and the qualitative data were analyzed according to the four categories of language learning strategies in the New English Curriculum Standard of China(2003).The major finds of this research are as follows:1.There are significant differences in EFL learning strategies use between high-score group and low-score group students of senior two.The level of EFL learning strategies used by the selected high-score group students is higher (mean=3.53) than that of the low-score group students(mean=2.55),and the difference achieved a significant level(P=0.000＜0.05).High-score group students employ cognitive strategies,metacognitive strategies and communicative strategies with high frequency level,except the resource management strategies with a medium level,while low-score group students employ the four categories of EFL learning strategies with medium level.2.The results showed that three categories of EFL learning strategies were correlated with language achievements,which are cognitive strategies,metacognitive strategies and communicative strategies,except resource management strategies, indicating that the subjects have not mastered the resource management strategies.3.Senior two students have made progress in using EFL learning strategies since the new English Curriculum Standard of China was carried out.The study recommended that future research on similar topics to this study be conducted on a larger sample involving a wider range of different high schools learning English as a foreign language,adding observation as one of the instruments, to promote senior high school students' English learning and to help teachers provide more efficient English teaching.