A Study On English Language Learning Styles Of Senior Middle School Students

Since 1960s, with the appearance of individual teaching, foreign language learning researches has gradually focused on individual learner differences instead of the exploration of teaching. During the last two decades, people knew very little about learning styles preferences. Nowadays, as a key factor that influences individual differences, learning style begin to catch much more attention from the researchers. Lots of studies have emphasized the learners'learning style preferences. However, most researchers studied the learning style preferences of university students; few of them emphasized the learning style preferences of senior middle school students who are mostly eager to explore the appropriate way for successful language learning. The author insists on there is of vital importance to examine the learning style preferences of senior middle school students and find out the relationships between learning style preferences and the variables: gender and grade and the effect of learning style on English language achievements.Based on Reid's (1987) Perceptual Learning Style Preference questionnaire, English achievement test and class observation, a case study investigating 185 students from two different senior middle schools is carried out. In this study, the author intends to answer the following questions: 1.What are the learning style distributions of the Chinese senior middle school students? 2. Is there any significant difference in learning style preferences in different senior middle schools? 3. Is there any relationship between learning style preferences and gender? 4. Is there any relationship between learning style preferences and grade? 5. What is the effect of learning style on English language achievement?In search of the answers to the five questions above, the current study has had the following major findings:1. The findings in this study reveal that senior middle school students have different ways of learning. Generally speaking, Chinese senior middle school students prefer all the six perceptual learning styles including visual, auditory, kinesthetic, tactile, group and individual learning. They show strongest preference for tactile and kinesthetic learning styles. And they prefer kinesthetic learning styles least.2. There is a significant difference in group learning style in different senior middle schools.3. There are relationship between learning style preferences and other variables: gender and grade. Girls show stronger preference for auditory learning style and group learning than boys. Boys only prefer individual learning more strongly than girls. Senior Two students show stronger preference to all the six styles. Senior Two students have higher mean scores than the students in Senior One.4. There is a correlation between learning style preference and English language learning achievement. High achievers appear to have multiple learning style preferences.At the end of the study, the author put forward some pedagogical suggestions for teaching and learning. The teachers should adjust their teaching styles to suit students'learning styles. They should train students to stretch their learning-style repertoire to meet the requirements of diverse learning situations, and try to create a lively language learning environment to meet the demands of students with diverse learning styles.