A Study Of The Correlation Between The Perceptual Learning Styles And English Academic Achievements Among Junior High School Students

In recent years,with the progress of the quality-oriented education,the research focus of FLT has shifted from the single teacher-centered instruction to student-centered learning.In the study of English learning,learners? individual differences become the heated topic among researchers.Learning style refers to an individual?s natural,habitual,and preferred ways of absorbing,processing,and retaining new information and skills.Research on learning styles is a very important part in the studies on individual differences.It is a key to learn about individual differences between students.In addition,it provides teachers with the basis for adjusting teaching strategies accordingly.Only when the differences of students? learning styles are taken into consideration and the adoption of teaching strategies matches with students? learning styles,can English teaching effectiveness be improved.In addition,teachers can achieve the goal of teaching students with a view of their aptitude in English teaching.In the light of Joy Reid?s Learning Style Theory,this study attempts to make an in-depth exploration of the characteristics of students? perceptual learning styles in junior high school,find out the gender differences of perceptual learning style among junior high school students and the correlation between students? perceptual learning styles and English academic achievements.In order to make the study objective and reliable,questionnaire,interview and test are used as the main research instruments.In this study,201 students from one junior high school in Yantai City are chosen as the participants.Questionnaire survey and interview were conducted to collect information about students? attitude and understanding of learning styles.After the final examination among the participants,the results of the test were analyzed.The major findings of the study are as follows: The perceptual learning styles of junior high school students vary from individual to individual.The majority of the participants prefer auditory,kinesthetic and group learning styles.There are some differences on perceptual learning styles between boy students and girl students.Girl students prefer auditory learning style,which is the main learning style of girl students.But boy students are more likely to use individual learning style.In addition,boy students? prefer individual learning style inconsistently,but constantly changing.At the same time,it is noted that auditory,visual,kinesthetic and tactile learning styles are positively related to the students? English achievement.The higher achievers prefer all kinds of perceptual learning styles.But the low achievers are more like to adopt the tactile and group learning styles.It reminds the English teachers to focus on cultivating the students? auditory learning style so as to further improve their English academic achievements.According to the research findings,the author proposes some suggestions.On the one hand,teachers need to learn about some theories of learning styles because a good understanding of learning styles can help them to learn more about students? individual differences,so as to improve their teaching effectiveness,and thus help students do better in their English study.On the other hand,once students learn about their perceptual learning style preference,and the relationship between the perceptual learning styles and English academic achievements,they can better and accordingly adjust their learning styles and thus improve their learning efficiency and academic performance.