A Study On Non-english Majors’ Tolerance Of Ambiguity And Language Learning Strategies

With the development of research on second language acquisition, the focus offoreign language teaching and learning shifted from how to teach to how to learn.Researchers have focused on students individual differences in language learning.Tolerance of ambiguity and language learning strategies as two important factors ofindividual differences also have been paid much attention. Among numerous researchon tolerance of ambiguity and language learning strategies, there was little research onnon-English majors’ tolerance of ambiguity and language learning strategies in China.Thinking about this point, the present study aims to investigate the general situation ofnon-English majors’ tolerance of ambiguity and language learning strategies use, andthe relationship between them, explore the common problems faced by non-Englishmajors, and find out some strategies to solve these problems.Based on the aims mentioned above, the present study focuses on the followingquestions:(1) What are the characteristics of non-English majors’ tolerance ofambiguity?(2) What are the characteristics of non-English majors’ language learningstrategies use?(3) What are the differences among non-English majors with differentlevel of ambiguity tolerance in their selection and application of language learningstrategies?(4) Is there a significant correlation between levels of tolerance ofambiguity and the selection and application of non-English majors’ language learningstrategies?In the study,285non-English majors from one of the universities in KunmingYunnan were required to answer the questionnaires of the Ely’s (1995) SLTAS and theDai and Liu’s (2003) LLSS. Based on the data collected from two questionnaires, datawas analyzed by SPSS16.0. Descriptive statistics, independent sample T-test andcorrelation analysis were used. The main findings are as follows:(1) Non-Englishmajors are at the medium degree of tolerance of ambiguity in the mass. Females arewith a higher level of tolerance of uncertainty than males. The correlation betweentolerance of ambiguity and English proficiency is significantly positive.(2) College students majoring in non-English majors are at a medium level of frequency inlanguage learning strategies use. Affective strategies are the most commonly used.Significant difference can be found between females and males in their languagelearning strategies use.(3) Students at different level of tolerance of ambiguity uselanguage learning strategies differently. The students with high tolerance of ambiguityuse language learning strategies more frequently.(4) There is a positive correlationbetween tolerance of ambiguity and language learning strategies use.The present study is expected to enrich the previous research, provide a referenceto teachers in college, and help teachers provide effective guidance and training totheir students according to students’ individual differences and develop students’autonomous learning ability and students’ language learning strategies to improvestudents’ English proficiency.