浅谈英语专业学生常用的英语学习策略.doc

本科毕业论文论文题目： 浅谈英语专业学生常用的英语学习策略 作 者：指导教师：学 院：专 业：班 级： Discussion on the Commonly Used English Learning Strategies of English MajorsA Thesis Submitted toEnglish Department,School of Foreign Languages,Nanyang Normal University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirementsfor the Degree of Bachelor of Arts2015By:Supervisor： AcknowledgementsAt the very first, Im honored to express my deepest to my dedicated supervisor, Mr. Zhao , with whose able guidance I could have worked out this thesis. He has offered me valuable ideas, suggestions and criticisms with his profound knowledge in forensic linguistics and rice research experience. His patience and kindness are greatly appreciated. Besides, he always puts high priority on our dissertation writing and is willing to discuss with me anytime he is available. I have learnt from him a lot not only about dissertation writing, but also the professional ethics. Im very much obliged to his efforts of helping me complete the dissertation.Thanks are also due to my dear friends, who never failed to give me great encouragement and suggestions. Special thanks should go to Miss. Yang Yang and Miss. Zhang Ping for their brainstorming with me when I failed coming up with ideas. Furthermore, none of this would have been possible without the help of those individuals and organizations hereafter mentioned with gratitude: our school library and its staff.At last but not least, I would like to thank my family for their support all the way from the very beginning of my study. I am thankful to all my family members for their thoughtfulness and encouragement.摘 要随着外语教学实践以及研究的深入，外语教学和研究者进行了理论和实践的反思，其结果是：从研究“怎么教”转移到“怎么学”，从研究“教师”转移到研究“学生”，学习策略的研究因而成为外语教学研究领域所关注的热点。学习策略包括在语言学习习得的运用的整个过程中某个特定阶段的心理和行为活动。因为学习策略能系统性的指导学习，所以对学习策略的研究在教育学中起着重要作用。本研究采用学习策略量表（SILL）对南阳师范学院外国语系英语专业大二以上的学生常用的学习策略水平进行了初步的调查与探讨。调查结果表明：英语专业学生的学习策略总体水平还有待提高，而且学生对学习策略的理解和认识水平还不够科学和系统，仅停留在了解一些零碎的学习方法的水平上，对学习策略的运用也具有很强的偶然性。根据研究结果，本论文认为对英语专业学生学习策略的教学还有待加强，并从对学习策略教学和培养的探究来提出改进建议。关键词：英语专业大学生;学习策略;学习策略教学AbstractAlong with the rapid development of English teaching and research, more and more teachers and researchers have paid more attention to the effects of theory research and practical teaching process. They found that the traditional teaching whose target is how to teach, should shifted to how to learn and the subject of research should moved from the focus on teachers to that of English learners. So the study on learning strategies become important project concerns research in foreign language teaching. A language strategy consists of mental or behavioral activity related to some specific stage in the overall process of language acquisition or language use. And as learning strategies can systematically conduct learning, the research on it takes an important role in pedagogy. This study investigated the general level of learning strategies commonly implemented by the English majors above the second-year in Nanyang Normal University (NNU) With the Strategies Inventory for Language Learning (SILL). It was found that: Frist, the general strategy level of the English majors needs to be improved. Second, their knowledge learning strategies is not systematic, which is just some isolated learning methods. Third, there is a contingency in their use of learning strategies. According to the result, it is advised that the training of learning strategies should be improved.Key Words: English majors; learning strategies; learning strategies trainingTable of ContentsAcknowledgments.I中文摘要. IIAbstractIIIContent.IV1 Introduction.12 Some Issues on Learning Strategies. 2 2.1 Defining Learning Strategies.2 2.2 Classifying Learning Strategies.3 2.3 The Relationship between Strategy Use and Learning Proficiency.43 The Investigation on Commonly Used Learning Strategies among English Majors in NNY3.1 Subject.53.2 Instrument.53.3 Date Collection.63.4 Results and Analysis.7 3.4.1 Results.7 3.4.2 Analysis.94 Suggestions to Train Students Learning Strategies.105 Conclusion.11Bibliography.12Appendix.131. Introduction Language learning strategies have been studied for about 40 years. With the development of modern cognitive psychology, peoples focus has changed from teacher-centered research to student-centered one. Researchers on language learning have found out that there are correlations between language learning strategies and learning results. Although many researches have been carried out on the relationship between language learning strategies and the learning achievements，research findings vary greatly due to different classifications of language learning strategyAs a result，further study is needed in order to specify the relationship between language learning strategies and language learning results In the 1970s, linguists began to show an interest in the learning strategy. In the second language acquisition, we are always asking, “Why do some succeed in language learning while others fail in the same content?” in the past, we tried to find answers from the teachers and teaching methods. In recent years there are has been a shift in focus from the teacher to the learners, from exclusively focusing on the improvement of the teaching to an increased concern for how learners go about their tasks in a second language. It has become clearer that much of the responsibility for success in language learning rests with individual learners and with their ability to take full advantage of opportunities to learn. Individual differences have many indications, and among them, the learning strategy is a new area. Individual differences determine the learners choice of learning strategies. On the other hand the success that the learner experiences and his level of L2 proficiency can also affect his choice of strategies. (Ellis, 1994)Good teaching includes teaching students how to learn, how to think and how motivate themselves. The studies in this area will help to explain the second language learners individual differences, and have a significant value to the teaching. Researches on learning strategies mainly concentrate to classification of strategies, variables affecting the choice of learning strategies, the relationship between strategies and achievement and learning strategy training.2. Some Issues on Learning Strategies2.1 Defining Learning Strategies If we want to research learning strategies, the first thing we should do is to get a clear definition of learning strategies. However, it is not easy to do that because different scholars have different understandings on learning strategies. Researches on language learning strategies (LLS) rise from 1970s. The complexity of LLS leads to the results that researchers give distinct definitions to the term LLS from different points of view. Stern (1983) points out learning strategies are the general tendency and general characteristics of techniques that use by the foreign language learners. Weinstein and Mayer (1986) define learning strategies as the behaviors and thoughts that a learner engages in during learning, which are intended to influence the learners encoding process from the perspective of cognitive psychology. Rubin (1987) considers that learning strategies are strategies which contribute to the development of the language system, which the learners construct and affect learning directly. Mayer (1988) regards learning strategies as specific methods or skills. Chamot (1990) asserts learning strategies are techniques, approaches or deliberate actions that students take for the purpose offacilitate the learning, recall of both linguistic and content area information. Oxford (1990) gives the definition as following: language learning strategies are specific behaviors or actions which learners use to make the learning process easier，faster, more enjoyable and more effective. Richards and Platt (1992) indicates that language learning strategies are conscious behaviors and thoughts of language learners which produce during the learning process. It aims at helping learners to understand and memory the new information. In this study, the present writer will adopt this definition for research purposes.2.2 Classifying Learning Strategies In addition to list learning strategies, a few researchers have also attempted to classify them into taxonomies and typologies. Among them the present writer agrees with Oxfords classification (1990). She constructed a questionnaire entitled “Strategy Inventory for Language Learning” (SILL), which the present writer used in the investigation. The SILL has been developed from Oxfords fairly exhaustive list of strategies and has become popular for finding levels of strategy use through being applied in a variety of learning environments. According to Green and Oxford (1995), studies using the SILL has chosen are as follow: firstly, it is characterized by its comprehensiveness. It covers all the main aspects of learning strategies. Oxfords work uses a very wide definition of strategy including almost any decision taken in the process of language learning. It is useful to have memory, cognitive, meta-cognitive, social and affective strategies grouped together in one test to make learners aware of the complex strategies that can be exploited to aid their learning. Secondly, this focused attention on strategies provides an interest and promote many insights into what they and others do in order to facilitate learning. Some students might have never talked about their learning, and not all students have a full understanding of how they learn English and what they should do to achieve success. Students often expect teachers to have a good knowledge of this. To some extent, their need to see teachers providing this information is satisfied. The SILL makes learning strategies explicit and in some ways makes the complex task of learning a foreign language seems more accessible. Then she categorized these strategies into primary and secondary strategy types. After performing a number of statistical analyses on the SILL, Oxford (1990)presented a revised framework of learning strategies in which she classified learning strategies as having a direct or an indirect impact on learning a language.(see fig.2.1) Fig.2.1: Oxfords Classification Direct 1.memory strategies Strategies 2.congnitive strategies Learning 3.Compensation strategies Strategies Indirect 1. Meta-cognitive strategies Strategies 2.affective strategies 3. social strategiesHere are the detailed introductions of the six learning strategies: Memory strategies, sometimes we called them mnemonics, have been existed for thousands years. For instance, in ancient times, in order to remember a long speech, orators divided it into several parts and each part linked a certain room of a house or temple, and then “taking a walk” from room to room. The highly specific purpose of using memory strategies during the language learning process is helping student to store the new information. Cognitive strategies can assist language learners to understand and produce the language by numerous different means. They play an important role in language learning process. Compensation strategies allow language learners to make up the limitations of the language knowledge, such as vocabulary, during the process of comprehension and production. Guessing intelligently in listening and reading and overcoming limitations in speaking and writing are the main sets in compensation strategies. Meta-cognitive strategies enable learners to control their cognition in order to coordinating the learning process through manipulating centering, arranging, planning, and evaluating. Affective strategies help to regulate emotions, attitudes and motivations. The use of affective strategies enables learners to adjust themselves and manage their emotions and attitudes. Moreover, it also can maintain the best psychical condition of learning. Affective strategies include lowering anxiety and encouraging. Social strategies can help students learn through the communication with others, including asking questions and cooperating with others. Each strategy type was further represented by three subtypes were then represented by a number of individual strategies. Oxfords taxonomy is interesting for a few reasons. It is the first to explicitly indicated directionality in term of impact on language learning and to provide a hierarchical organization of strategies into levels, making it more than just a list. Second, this taxonomy is extremely comprehensive and again intuitively appealing. Finally, Oxfords taxonomy is unique in that it made no distinction between strategies that were invoked in both language and language use.2.3 The Relationship between Strategy Use and Learning Proficiency So far there are series of studies, which have sought to investigate the relation of students learning strategies use to their individual learning achievement. There are two kinds of correlational studies: the relation between frequency of strategy use and language proficiency, and the relation between specific strategies and L2 proficiency. An abundance of research has been conducted to find out whether the frequency of strategy use influences language proficiency, but no consistent picture has emerged so far. In the studies conducted in a variety of geographical and cultural settings, “students who were better in their language performance generally reported higher levels of overall strategy use and frequent use of a greater number of strategy categories” (Green and Oxford, 1995). A recent study by Wharton (2000) further supports the finding of the studies. Using the SILL, Wharton examined the self-reported learning strategy use of 678 university students learning Japanese and French as foreign language in Singapore. The result showed the learners with higher language proficiency use more learning strategies than the others. Another area is the link between choice of strategies and learning achievement. Politzer and McGroarty(1985), for example, looked at the relationsh