A Study Of Learning Strategies And Learning Styles Of Successful Chinese Learners

A good language teacher will care not only about the teaching but also the learning. Their focuses shouldn’t be only on the teachers but also the learners. So research on the second language learners and the process of acquiring the language is paid special attention. The study on individual differences and learning strategies is the hot spot in second language acquisition field. Learning strategies are important steps to improve students’ independent learning ability and play an important role in improving students’language proficiency and communication skills. And learning styles are stable characteristics of learners. Thus, the investigation on the correlations of learning strategies and learning styles can contribute at proposing more specific advice for learners. This thesis chose successful Chinese language learners as our research objects.85successful Chinese learners were investigated by using the two questionnaires on learning strategies and styles. The results were analyzed with SPSS.We specially focused on the following questions:the distribution of learning strategies and learning styles; the correlations between individual factors such as sex. mother language, leaning length and learning strategies and learning styles; the correlations between learning styles and learning strategies. Meanwhile, we also responded to the theory frameworks on the relations of individual difference, learning strategies and learning achievements.From the investigation, we found that the frequency of successful learners’using different kinds of learning strategies are higher than average learners especially in the frequency of compensation strategies, metacognitive strategies, cognitive strategies and social strategies. Successful learners and average learners showed the consistency between the most frequently used strategies and the least used strategies, though successful learners performed better in using metacognitive strategies; the auditory learning style preference took the largest proportion in the distribution of all learning styles while the kinesthetic styles the least. But we also found that the four perceptual learning styles were not exclusive but closely related while the two social learning styles including of group learning style preference and individual learning style preference are exclusive and show negative correlations; Other individual factor showed some correlations on the learning styles:Male and female learners were only significantly different in memory strategies. Mother language did not show significant influence on learning strategies. The differences of learners from different learning length reach the level of significance only in memory strategies. But we did not find any significant correlations between these individual factors and leaning styles which also proved that the learning styles are the stable and lasting characteristics of learners; the close correlations between learning strategies and learning styles were shown in the investigation. Learners with the kinesthetic styles apply the most learning strategies. The consistency of choosing learning strategies was shown in learners of auditory style and visual style. Learners of kinesthetic style used more social strategies and metacognitive strategies than learners of tactile styles. Learners of group styles used more social strategies and metacognitive strategies than learners of individual style; we also responded to Ellis’two theory frameworks based on our investigation results. The results revealed the feasibility of her framework though we still could not prove that learning achievements could influence the choice of learning strategies and the correlations between individual factors and learning achievements.Based on the study, suggestions were made to the learners’strategies training. Both comprehensive and individualized strategies training based on learning styles and other individual differences are needed. Metacognitive strategies should be paid more attention. The inadequacies and possible further study were mentioned as well in the end.