Research On The Correlation Between Non-English Majors’Tolerance Of Ambiguity And Vocabulary Learning Strategy Use

For the first time in1949, Frenkel Brunswick, an.American psychologist, put forward the concept of Tolerance of Ambiguity (TOA). Although the early studies on TOA began in the psychological domain, TOA has been introduced to the field of linguistics and begun to be studied by some second language linguists since1980s. Linguists, represented by Oxford, believe that TOA is one of the most important elements that can influence the use of foreign language learning strategies. Among numerous researches on foreign language learning strategies, the studies on the correlation between learners’ TOA and their vocabulary learning strategies (VLS) use are rarely found. Therefore, it is quite essential to carry out further study on the correlation between them. Based on the previous related theories of TOA and VLS, the present study attempts to investigate the correlation between college non-English majors’TOA and their use of VLS. The key research questions of the present study are:1) What is the status quo of college non-English majors’ TOA?2) What is the status quo of college non-English majors’ VLS use?3) Are there any significant differences between college non-English majors with different level of TOA when they are using VLS? If any, what are those differences?4) Is there any significant correlation between college non-English majors’TOA and their VLS use?The subjects involved in this study were126college non-English major sophomores from Southwest Petroleum University. The data were collected mainly from three instruments:the Second Language Tolerance of Ambiguity Scale (SLTAS), an English vocabulary learning strategies questionnaire (EVLSQ) and an oral semi-structured interview. Then, all the collected data were analyzed by SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences)17.0through such statistical methods as descriptive analysis, independent samples T-test and Pearson correlation analysis. Finally, conclusions are drawn as follows:1) Generally speaking, college non-English majors under investigation have medium level of TOA.2) College non-English majors under investigation use VLS at the medium level of frequency, but the most frequently used strategies are cognitive strategies, followed by meta-cognitive strategies and social/affective strategies. 3) There are significant differences existing between high and low TOA students in adopting metacognitive strategies, cognitive strategies and overall strategies. Furthermore, significant differences exist between high and low TOA students in using8specific strategies. No significant difference is found between high and low TOA students in adopting social/affective strategies.4) Significantly positive correlation has been found between college non-English majors’ TOA and their use of overall VLS. There also exists significant positive correlation between college non-English majors’TOA and their use of cognitive strategies, while weak positive correlations exist between college non-English majors’ TOA and their use of metacognitive strategies and social/affective strategies.The present study provides some empirical findings and support for the research on the correlation between non-English majors’ TOA and their use of VLS. It examines and detects the deep relationship between them, which offers college English teachers and non-English majors some enlightenment concerning English vocabulary teaching and learning. Besides, the limitations of this study and some suggestions for future researches are discussed at the end of the thesis.