A Study On The Relationship Between Direct Language Learning Strategy USE And English Reading Proficiency Of English Majors

Language learning strategies play an important role in second or foreign language learning because they help learners develop language competence in many ways. Since the 1980 s, studies on language learning strategies focused on language reading. This study aims to identify the frequency and the preferences of direct language learning strategy use and to explore the relationship between direct language learning strategy use and reading proficiency among EFL learners in the Chinese monolingual foreign language learning environment. It also tries to investigate the differences on direct learning strategy(memory, cognitive and compensation strategies) use across different reading proficiency levels of these EFL learners.This study is based on Oxford’s(1990) classification of learning strategies involving 60 senior English major students in the School of English Studies, Xi’an International Studies University(XISU). It tries to achieve the three objectives using a questionnaire(Oxford, 1990) and a reading test(a multiple-choice TOEFL reading comprehension test). The data collected from the experiments are examined through SPSS 18.0. Statistical descriptive method is used to determine the frequency and the tendency of direct language learning strategy use by students, pearson correlation is conducted to determine the strength of relationship between learning strategies and reading proficiency and independent sample t-test is conducted to find out the differences on three categories of direct strategy use among students in the two groups: high-proficiency readers and low-proficiency readers.The findings indicate that the frequency of three categories of direct strategies is all at medium level and there is a significant correlation between direct strategy use and reading proficiency. This study further reveals that strategy use differences do exist among students in the two groups. The results are consistent with findings from the previous studies which suggest more frequent strategy use by more proficient learners. It also reveals new evidence regarding the differences between more proficient and less proficient readers in choosing available direct language learning strategies. Knowing the situation of learning strategies can help students improve their reading ability by using certain strategies and teachers change their teaching methods regarding to the strategy use differences. It suggests that differences on individual strategies between high-proficiency readers and low-proficiency readers need to be further investigated.