Research & Analysis On Field-cognitive Style And Non-English Major Students’ English Listening Comprehension

In the research of learners’ individual differences in the field of second language acquisition, learners’ individual factors like personality, attitude, motivation, aptitude and cognitive style are the main content of the research. Therein, learners’ cognitive style is the core part of it. And research on learners’ individual types of field cognitive styles has a profound meaning to language teaching and learning. Study on the variables which affect cognitive style and second language learning is the key to exploring the problem of cognitive style, and it has more practical significance. The literature shows that, in recent years, the related research about field cognitive styles and second language acquisition goes deeper. The study on analysis of second language learning with the theory of cognitive style presents a diversified trend, particularly combining the theory of field cognitive style with different modules of the second language such as listening, writing, reading, speaking and so on, and relevant research continuously goes deeper into the specific text types.Subjects of this study are 110 sophomores of different majors from the School of Law, College of Economics and Management, College of Machinery and College of Forestry who study English as their second language in Northeast Forestry University. Based on confirmatory research methods, this research first summarizes related theory and previous research, and then proposes the research questions, after that, it collects and analyzes data through the pre assumptions, at last the original hypothesis is verified. The two test data are collected as the main Research Content:the field cognitive style dimension of the subjects and the achievement of College English Test Band 4. The scores of the National English College Entrance Examination, the achievement of the College English Test Band 4 (December,2013) are collected as a supplement to analyze the change and tendency of subjects’cognitive style and performance. The field cognitive style of subjects are tested through the Embedded Figure Test chart, with the scores as a representation, and questionnaire of cognitive style is also used as complement so as to ensure the accuracy of the subjects’ cognitive style. The scores of College English Test Band 4 (version B), as a representation, are collected through test with strict control of interference factors. The obtained data are analyzed with the statistical software SPSS17.0 through descriptive analysis, correlation analysis, variance analysis and independent sample test.In the relative research of Field-cognitive Style and second language acquisition, correlations and variables are the research of bases and cores. For instance, researches are about correlations of FID cognitive style and specific mode of second language test papers, about variables such as age, gender, students’ major, personality and strategies, etc.. The present study, by employing comparison and analysis, leads to three research questions:How do the field cognitive style and English listening scores correlate with each other? What is the relation between disciplines subjects learn field cognitive style and English listening scores? What is the relation between gender, field cognitive style and English listening scores? According to the statistical investigation, this research results are as follows:Field cognitive styles and English listening achievement have remarkable positive correlations. The higher the score of participants’ GEFT test, the greater the listening comprehension. The English listening scores of field independent cognitive style learners is better than that of field dependent cognitive style learners. Students’ major factor has a direct effect on the form of learners’ field cognitive styles, and it has no direct relationship with the English listening achievement. Art major students are inclined to field dependent cognitive style while science and engineering majors incline to field independent cognitive style. On the other side, Gender is close related with English listening achievement. Male and female perform remarkable difference in listening comprehension scores. And female is better than male students in listening. But gender showed no direct correlation with field cognitive style.