A Correlational Study Of Language Learning Beliefs And Language Learning Strategies

With the focus of English language teaching have been transferred from how to teachwell into how to learn well from1970s, a lot of researches and investigations have beencarried out and widened one after another. Language learning beliefs (LLB) and languagelearning strategies (LLS) are regarded as a part of the personal differences in foreign languageacquisition which have attached importance in English learning for teachers and researchers.It is recommended that language learning beliefs and language learning strategies have asignificant influence on learners’ response and learning results. Consequently, this thesistended to probe these two factors with the purpose of offering practical implications forEnglish teachers and Chinese students.The current researches try to find the generally held learning beliefs and learningstrategies used by the art college students in China, and explore the correlation betweenlanguage learning beliefs and language learning strategies. This research also concern aboutthe similarities and dissimilarities between the male and the female students or in differentmajors according to their learning beliefs and their learning strategy usage respectively.The sum total amount of188sophomores of the art college students from HebeiInstitute of Communications took part in this study. They were required to fill out theQuestionnaire, which was the survey instrument. It divided into three parts: Personalbackground information, Questionnaire on Language Learning Beliefs, and Questionnaire onLanguage Learning Strategy. The investigation employed the methodology of quantitativestudy and the data was analyzed by SPSS (15.0). With the help of the descriptive statistics,individual correlation analysis, independent model t-test and one-way ANOVA, manypractical and profound outcomes were demonstrated.The study mainly focused on solving the following questions:(1) What are the general English learning beliefs held by the art students currently?(2) What language learning strategies are employed by the art students in their foreignlanguage learning? And which strategies are the most frequently used?(3) What is the correlation between English learning beliefs and learning strategies?(4) Are there any differences between students’ language beliefs and learning strategies usage on gender or among majors?After in-depth and all-sided investigation, the author came to the conclusion.1) the artcollege students hold many beliefs in the process of language learning, that is, foreignlanguage aptitude, the difficulty of language learning, the nature of language learning,learning and communication strategies, learner motivation and expectations. They thought thebeliefs about learning and communication strategies as the strongest belief in the category.Most students thought they could learn English well and had a strong notion to improve theiroral-English. Moreover, most of them agree with the idea that the most important thing forEnglish learning is communication rather than mastering the grammar.2) Six kinds oflanguage learning strategies are used by the art college students in their second languagelearning. It referred to the memory strategies, cognitive strategies, compensation strategies,metacognitive strategies, affective strategies and social strategies. After the study, the thesisdrew the conclusion that the social strategy is the most frequently used among all thestrategies.3) Individual correlation analysis displays that language learning beliefs is closelyrelated with language learning strategies in some degree. Particularly, the category of beliefsabout learning and communication strategies, and the category of beliefs about learners’motivation and expectation are significantly and positively correlated with all kinds oflearning strategies.4) The study of the gender and major for the art college students are notthe key elements in English language learning.In a word, the current investigation will promote English teachers and students’awareness of the significance about language learning beliefs and strategies. Somerecommendations and practical implications have been proposed to reinforce students’metacognition and their use of strategy in order to realize autonomous learning and gain goodperformances in English learning.