An Investigation on the relationship of Character Inclination and English Learning Achievements 英语专业毕业论文.doc

an investigation on the relationship of character inclination and english learning achievementsabstract: this thesis reports a study in character inclination and its relationship to english learning achievement of english majors. the data on character inclination are collected via a character inclination questionnaire, which is finished by 58 english majors in yancheng teachers college. their scores on tem4, a nation-wide standardized english proficiency test, are taken as the measure of the participants english achievements. to study the correlation between character inclination and english learning achievement, one software named spss11.0 is employed.findings show that generally the introverted learners perform better than the extroverted ones. when their achievements in each part of tem4 are taken into consideration, the participants with different character inclinations are equally proficient in cloze, and there is no significant difference in writing, grammar and reading. however, great differences are found in dictation, listening comprehension and the total score. based on this investigation, more recommendations to teachers of english are offered in the end of the paper.key words: character inclination; relationship; english learning achievement对性格倾向和英语学习成绩关系的调查 摘要 本文是研究性格倾向和英语成绩的关系。通过对盐城师范学院外语系2002级58名英语学习者进行性格倾向问卷调查，得出学习者的性格倾向。同时，学习者的英语专业四级的成绩作为他们的英语学习成绩。数据分析工具为spss，一个权威性的统计应用软件。分析得出结论表明：在英语综合能力上，性格内向占有优势；在英语专业技能上，性格倾向对英语学习成绩产生显著影响的是总分,听写和听力三部分。其他部分（包括写作，语法和阅读）的成绩和性格倾向之间的关系不明显。根据调查结果， 本文向英语教师提出一些教学建议供参考。关键词 性格倾向 关系 英语学习成绩1 introduction there are many factors relating to english learning achievement. in the eyes of many language teachers, the character inclination of their students constitutes a major factor contributing to the success or failure in language learning (strong, 1983). since the 1940s, in the western countries, people have paid more and more attention to the effects of the learners character inclination on the second language learning, such as rossier (1976), strong (1983), oxford (1993), and ellis (1994). most of their findings show that extrovert, empathy, self-esteem and inhibition promote foreign language learning (ellis, 1994).liu (1995:145) finally intended to summarize the study by saying“the results of so many experiments are unclear, and that any conclusions drawn can only be viewed as tendencies, not absolutes”.most of the researchers have investigated the effects of character inclination on the integrated english achievement, yet without relating to the different skills of english (including listening, writing, reading and speaking). 2 literature reviewhowever, an introvert person, with characteristics of solitude pessimism, contemplation and timidity is not likely to be better than an extrovert person does. this view seems quite reasonable, yet the research findings are strangely controversial (吴一安, 1997).2.1 definition of extroversion/introversionthe extroversion-introversion distinction refers to one of several dimensions or traits, which together constitute an individuals personality (eysenck, 1970).it is generally agreed that extroversion-introversion represents a continuum since individuals can be more or less extroverted, but it is still possible to define idealized types:extroverts are sociable, like parties, have many friends and need excitement; they are sensation-seekers and risk-takers, like practical jokes and are lively and active. conversely introverts are quiet, prefer reading to meeting people, have few but close friends and usually avoid excitement (eysenck, 1970:89).2.2 previous researches on extroversion/introversion and foreign/second language learningtraditionally, there have been two major hypotheses regarding the relationship between extroversion/introversion and second language learning. 3 methodologythe purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between character inclination and english learning achievement of english majors in china. more specially, the study attempts to answer the question: whats the relationship between character inclination and english learning achievement of english majors?based on the investigation, the recommendations to the teacher of english are present. 3.1 subjectsin december, 2005, the classes of seniors of english department in yancheng teachers college respond to the character inclination questionnaire. the questionnaire was finished at class time and the response rate was 100 percent. among the 58 participants, 40 were females and 18 were males. the ages ranged from 22 to 25 with the average being instrumentsthe instruments used in the study were one questionnaire (see appendix b), and one language proficiency test.3.2.1 questionnaire the character inclination questionnaire starts with an attached personal-information part, including participants personal details of name, sex, and age.3.2.2 language proficiency testthe test for english majors of grade 4 (tem4) is used as a measurement of learning achievements in this study. it is a standardized nation-wide proficiency test and designed to measure subjects language achievement after two years of professional training. this test consists of six parts. the following table shows the whole picture of the test:partsquestion typesscore%time limit (minute)writinga. compositionb. note-writingsubjectivesubjective1551553510dictationsubjective151515listening comprehensiona. statementb. conservationc. newsobjectiveobjectiveobjective25101051510105205105clozeobjective151015grammar and vocabularyobjective251515reading comprehensiona. reading comprehensionb. skimming and scanningobjectiveobjective151015103025 5total125100.140table3.2.2 test for english majors grade43.2data analysisfor the processing of the data of the character inclination questionnaire and learners tem4 scores, one software named the statistical package for social science (spss11.0) was run in the computer to make an analysis of descriptive statistics, including the means of learners scores, standard deviations, and distribution of subjects scores of tem4. after analyzing the response of the participants to the character inclination questionnaire, the following table is the result of the questionnaire:types of character inclinationresponsibleintrovertintrovert-extrovertresponsible extrovertpopulation162220%27.5937.9334.48table3.2 types of character inclination6 conclusion before concluding, some shortcomings in this study should be pointed out. first, with these shortcomings in mind, and after the statistics from the character inclination questionnaire and tem4 were collected and analyzed, the study now can reach a conclusion relating to the questions proposed previously in part3. references1 busch, d. introversion-extroversion and the efl proficiency of japanese students. language learning, 1982.2 ellis, r. the study of second language acquisition. shanghai: shanghai foreign language education press, 1994.3 eysenck, h. the structure of human personalit. london: routledge, kegan, and paul, 1970.4 eysenck, s. & chan, j. a comparative study of personality in adults and children: hong kong vs. england. personality and individual difference, 1982.5 griffiths, r. language acquisition and the second/foreign