A Study On Correlation Among Language Learning Belief,learning Strategies And English Achievement Of Senior High School Students

Researchers have been paying attention to the importance of learner factors since educators discovered that the diversity and continuous transformation of foreign language teaching methods still cannot change the situation in which the language learning achievement among learners is still extremely different in the same teaching environment.As one of learner factors,learning strategies are widely proven to have direct and effective influence on academic performance.And language learning beliefs are believed to have an indirect influence on academic performance through affecting learning strategies.Therefore,in domestic and abroad,there are many researches focusing on language learning beliefs,learning strategies respectively,or the correlation between beliefs,strategies,or academic achievement,most of which focuses on university students.However,fewer scholars focus on the correlation among language learning belief,learning strategies,and English academic performance of senior high school students.This thesis emphasizes on studying the correlation and influence relationship among language learning belief,learning strategies,and English academic performance.The thesis aims to answer the following questions:(1)How is the overall situation of language learning beliefs and learning strategies used by high school students?(2)What are the differences in language learning beliefs and learning strategies of different types of high school students(different grades,genders,and English proficiency)?(3)What are the correlations and influence relations among language learning beliefs,learning strategies,and English academic performance? In order to answer these questions,the thesis used 456 students from senior high school in Fuzhou,Fujian Province as the research objects.Based on the characteristics of Chinese students' English learning,the thesis combined Horwitz's Beliefs about Language Learning Inventory(BALLI)and Wen Qiufang's English Learning Situation Questionnaire as the questionnaire for surveying language learning beliefs and used Oxford's Strategy Inventory of Language Learning(SILL)and the final exam paper to collect data.SPSS 21.0 was adopted as the data analysis device.The results show that: 1.Through descriptive statistics analysis,it is found that:(1)Language learning beliefs of senior high school students is generally at a medium level.Students has the strongest motivations and the weakest foreign language aptitude.(2)English learning strategies is poorly used by senior high school students.Compensation strategy is used most frequently and emotion strategy is used least.2.Through independent-sample t-test,it is found that:(1)The level of girls' language learning beliefs is slightly higher than that of boys,and the significant difference is only found in the fact that girls have stronger learning and communication strategies and motivations.In addition,there is almost no difference between boys and girls in the use of learning strategies,but there are some slight differences between them in the use of specific items of learning strategies.(2)Language learning belief is the strongest for Senior Two students and weakest for Senior Three students.There is significant differences between Senior One and Senior Three students in foreign language aptitude and the belief of mother tongue.English learning strategies are the most employed by Senior One students and the least used by Senior Three students.The only significant difference in this part is showed in social strategy between Senior One and Senior Three students.(3)There are significant differences between high score group and low score group in the difficulty of language learning,motivations,the belief of mother tongue and all English learning strategies.Through Pearson correlation analysis and multiple linear regression analysis,it is found that:(1)There is a significant positive correlation between language learning beliefs and English learning strategies of senior high school students.The overall level of language learning beliefs explains 14.4% variance of the use of English learning strategies.The power of each dimension of language learning beliefs to predict English learning strategies are arranged from the greatest to the smallest: motivation,difficulty of language learning,learning and communication strategies,the belief of mother tongue,and foreign language aptitude.(2)The belief of mother tongue and the nature of language learning are significantly negatively correlated with senior high school students' English academic performance.There was a significant positive correlation between foreign language aptitude,difficulty of language learning,motivations and English academic performance.Language learning beliefs explains 20.2% variance of English scores.(3)All the dimensions of English learning strategies of senior high school students are positively correlated with English academic performance.The cognitive strategy which has entered the regression equation explains 16.4% variance of English scores.(4)High school students' language learning beliefs and English learning strategies jointly explains 6.5% variance of English scores,which is stronger than the predictive power that language learning concept or learning strategies separately predict English academic performance.Based on the above findings,some suggestions are offered to adjust language learning beliefs and train English learning strategies.For instance,teachers can combine macro science popularization and individual regulation on the basis of knowing students' original beliefs and strategies.In the teaching process,teachers can also consciously enable students to learn more about English itself,enrich activities in classroom to stimulate students' motivations,and increase opportunities for using various strategies.At the same time,effective strategy training can be provided for different types of students.Students can also be guided to participant in language activities while the language learning beliefs is continuously broadened and strengthen and trained to use learning strategies to achieve the improvement in English.