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An Investigation On Students’ English Learning Styles In A Middle School

Posted on:2016-11-24Degree:MasterType:Thesis
Country:ChinaCandidate:H J YuFull Text:PDF
GTID:2297330470462377Subject:Subject teaching
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Since the 1970s, investigators have began to shift their focus on research from how to teach to how to learn, and attached great importance to the factors affecting second language learning. Of various individual differences in language learning, learning styles have aroused a great deal of attention and become the focus of research in this field. However, so far, the subjects studied are mostly college students, and few of them examined the learning style preferences of senior middle school students. In fact, most of the population of English learners is made up by senior middle school students in China and they are mostly eager to explore the appropriate ways for successful language learning. Therefore, there is urgent necessity for us to study the learning style preference of senior middle school students.On the basis of the studies on learning style both abroad and home, this thesis makes an investigation on the perceptual learning styles of EFL students in a Chinese senior middle school---No 1. Middle school of Yingtan. It attempts to find out the learning style distributions of senior middle school students, and explores the diversities between female and male students in learning style preferences. In addition, it also tries to distinguish the differences in learning style preferences between low proficiency students and high proficiency students and there is any relationship between the learning styles of students and their second language proficiency. The participants in this study were 240 senior 2 students in No 1. Middle school of Yingtan. Two instruments (Perceptual Learning Style Preference Questionnaire of Reid, an in depth interviews) were used to gather information. The data collected by questionnaire were analyzed by Descriptive Statistic, Correlation Analyses and Independent-Sample T-test. In addition,10 students were invited for an individual semi-structured interview.The results from this study show that:(1) students did not identify a single major learning style but had multiple minor learning styles. Also, the auditory mode was identified as the strongest preference and the visual learning style was distinguished as the weakest mode of learning. (2) Male and female learners demonstrated no significant learning differences in all learning styles, except in the group learning style. (3) Differences did exist in four modes of learning styles, but the differences reached significant only for two variables. The high achievers had less visual and group learning styles than low achievers. (4) There is a negative relationship between visual learning styles and language achievements. The stronger visual learning style preference students had the lower second language proficiency they achieve. The same is true for group learning style. Students who prefer group learning style had lower achievement in language learning.Some practical suggestions can be offered from the findings above. First, teachers should help students assess learning styles and develop self-awareness. Secondly, teachers should strive on matching teaching style with learning style. It is clear that matching teaching and learning styles can improve students’achievement. Thirdly, both teachers and learners need to be open to the idea of style flexing. Students should be encouraged to diversify their style preferences. Finally, teachers should include different learning styles in their lesson plans.
Keywords/Search Tags:Learning style, perceptual learning style, language proficiency
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