A Study On The Correlation Among Cognitive Styles,Reading Strategies And Reading Performance Of Senior High School Students

Cognitive style is one of the main parts of individual differences,which has attracted attention of most scholars at home and abroad.It can be divided into field-independence cognitive style and field-dependence cognitive style,which reflects the interaction between students and learning environment.Reading is not only a cognitive process of reading texts,but also the process of using strategies.Therefore,learners' cognitive style will influence their acquisition of knowledge and skills.In addition,cognitive styles will also influence the use of reading strategies.Consequently,it is necessary to explore the influence of cognitive style on English reading strategies and reading performance.With the methods of literature and questionnaire,choosing 205 senior high school students as research subjects,the study aims to investigate the following questions:(1)What is the level of cognitive style and reading strategies of senior high school students?(2)Is there a significant difference in the reading proficiency and the use of reading strategies between students with different cognitive styles?(3)Is there a correlation among cognitive style,reading strategies and reading proficiency? If relevant,what is the level of correlation?Through the data analysis,the study shows the following:(1)Cognitive styles of senior high school students consists of field-independent cognitive style and field-dependent cognitive style.And the number of field-independent cognitive style is more than that of field-dependent cognitive style.The mean score of English Reading Strategy Scale from research subjects is 3.239,which is at a medium level.And the mean score of three dimensions in the Scale from high to low,in turn,cognitive strategies(m=3.3683),meta-cognitive strategies(m=3.1659)and social/affective strategies(m=2.761).(2)There is significant difference between students with different cognitive styles in English reading proficiency(p=0.000<0.05).The reading proficiency of students with field-independent cognitive style is better than that of students with field-dependent cognitive style.There is also significant difference between students with different cognitive styles in the use of English reading strategies(p=0.002<0.05).In particular,there is also significant difference between students with different cognitive styles in the use of cognitive strategies(p=0.002<0.05)and in the use of meta-cognitive strategies(p=0.022<0.05).Students with field-independent cognitive style use cognitive strategies and meta-cognitive strategies more frequently than those with field-dependent students.However,there is no significant difference in the use of social / emotional strategies between students with different cognitive styles(p=0.859>0.05).(3)There is positive correlation among cognitive style,reading strategies and reading proficiency.There is low correlation between cognitive style and reading proficiency(r=0.392).There is also low correlation between cognitive style and reading strategies(r=0.332).In addition,there is significant correlation between reading strategies and reading proficiency(r=0.685).There is significant correlation between reading proficiency and meta-cognitive strategy(r=0.660)/cognitive strategy(r=0.602)/social affective strategy(r=0.509).Based on the above conclusions,some relevant suggestions will be put forward in order to improve English reading proficiency in Senior high school,for instance,making distinction between students in cognitive style,creating an equal and harmonious teaching environment,adopting diverse teaching methods and effective training of reading strategies.