A Comparative Study On Non-english Major Han Students And MKM Uyghur Students' English Learning Style Preferences

With the individual difference being accentuated in language teaching,learning style,as a significant constituent of which,has attracted greater attention from both researchers and pedagogues.In the process of establishing “learner-centered” teaching mode,the features of various teaching regions and the community characteristics should also be brought into focus.In the universities of Xinjiang,there are Han students and Uyghur students(MKM)coming from totally different cultural and family backgrounds.Consequently,in order to further elevate teaching quality and achieve fruitful teaching result,teachers should figure out whether there exist some discrepancies and similarities in learning style preferences between these groups.Thus,this study aims to compare the English learning style preferences of the Non-English major Han students and MKM Uyghur students in Xinjiang.The main body of this thesis consists of 6 parts: Chapter One is a brief introduction to this paper,in which the research background,English learning situation of MKM Uygur students in Xinjiang plus the purpose and significance of this study are presented.Chapter Two is mainly a review of literature.In this chapter,the researches abroad and at home relevant to the current study are reviewed.Chapter Three illustrates the main theoretical framework.Then,Chapter Four deals with the research design and the principal methodology used in this study.What is reported in Chapter Five is data analysis,and the discussion of the results and findings are also included.Finally,Chapter six is the conclusion drawn from the current study and the implications are also presented.This thesis attempts to address the following three research questions: 1)what are the learning style preferences of Non-English major Han students and non-English major MKM Uyghur students respectively? 2)What are the similarities and differences between the MKM Uyghur and Non-English major Han students in terms of their learning style preferences? 3)What are the possible factors contributing to the commonalities and differences?In order to answer the questions,69 Han students and 67 MKM Uyghur students from Xinjiang University of Finance and Economics participated in the present study.They were,first of all,required to complete a learning style questionnaire developed by Professor Ma Xiaomei and her colleagues in Xi'an Jiaotong University(Liu Runqing & Dai Manchun,2003:353-358).Then 16 randomly selected participants and four teachers were interviewed to describe their English learning processes and preferred classroom activities.The results of the study show that both groups possess multiple learning styles.In terms of Han students,reflective learning style is the most preferred while an impulsive learning style is the least one and also negligible style.For MKM Uyghur students,Hand-on learning style is the major style while the holistic learning style is the least preferred.According to the independent sample t-test,the significant differences consist in auditory,dependent,analytical,random,impulsive and reflective learning styles.What's more,the factors leading to the discrepancies are also discussed on the basis of the combination of both qualitative and quantitative approaches.Those reasons of the differences in learning styles of both of the groups are mainly caused by personal traits,family circumstances,school education and culture.The findings of the study have much practical significance.It firstly can help students be aware of their own learning style preference so that they can maximize their study performance.Secondly,it also deepens the teachers' understanding of their students' learning styles to adapt their teaching approaches and styles to the students learning style to optimize the English teaching.Besides,some suggestions concerning classroom teaching are also put forward.