A Research On The Correlation Between Senior-high- School Students' Tolerance Of Ambiguity And The Application Of English Writing Strategies

In recent years,second language experts have paid more attention to the effect of tolerance of ambiguity(TOA)on second language acquisition(SLA).With the advance of the research,it can be found that relevant studies about TOA have been penetrated in many domains of foreign language teaching already.However,there are few researches on the relationship between TOA and the application of English writing strategies.Seldom have senior-high-school students been chosen as the objects of study.Based on Krashen's affective filter hypothesis and Oxford's learning strategies theory,the study aims at investigating the current situation of TOA and the application of English writing strategies and their correlation.The author hopes to provide some useful advice to English teachers in senior high schools.The study adopts two questionnaires and a test as research instruments;and chooses 136 students from Yulin NO.1 Senior High School in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region as research subjects.This paper applies the Second Language Tolerance of Ambiguity Scale(SLTAS)designed by Ely(1995)and English writing strategy questionnaire designed by Petric and Czarl(2003).Three questions addressed in this study are stated as follows:(1)What's the current situation of senior-high-school students' TOA and the application of English writing strategies respectively?(2)In terms of gender and writing score groups,are there any differences in senior-high-school students' TOA and the application of English writing strategies respectively?(3)Is there any correlation between students' TOA and the application of writing strategies? If yes,what are the differences in the choice of writing strategies among high school students with different levels of TOA?According to the statistical analysis of questionnaires,the major findings are as follows:(1)Most of students in senior high schools are at the medium level of TOA in writing process.Among them,female students' levels of TOA surpass male ones' of that,and high score group's level of TOA is higher than medium and low score groups.(2)In writing process,most of students are inclined to apply the meta-cognitive strategies,cognitive strategies and compensation strategies.However,the social and affective strategies are seldom selected.Among them,female ones use writing strategies more frequently than male ones,and high group's frequency of using writing strategies are higher than medium and low groups.(3)There is a significant correlation between senior-high-school students' TOA and the application of English writing strategies.(4)Students with different levels of TOA show differences in the choice of English writing strategies.To be more specific,students with higher TOA are apt to select metacognitive strategies and compensation strategies.Besides,students ranking at medium TOA tend to use social and affective strategies more frequently,while students with low TOA are inclined to adopt cognitive strategies and compensation strategies more often.Based on the major findings,the author provides some suggestions as follows:(1)Teachers should appropriately improve students' levels of TOA in medium-score and low-score groups.(2)Teachers should enhance students' training of using English writing strategies,especially the application of social and affective strategies.(3)Teachers should cultivate students into moderate levels of TOA and strengthen the guidance of using English writing strategies.(4)Teachers should design activities to train students' English writing strategies application in accordance to their levels of TOA.