An Empirical Study on the Effect of English Learning Strategy Training.doc

an empirical study on the effect of english learning strategy training on senior high school students self-regulated learning ability英语学习策略训练对高中学生自主学习能力影响的实证研究contentsabstract in chineseabstract in english11. introduction22. literature review32.1 learning strategy training32.2 self-regulated learning52.2.1 the definitions of self-regulated learning52.2.2 the development of self-regulated learning72.2.2.1 the development of overseas research on self-regulated learning72.2.2.2 the development of domestic researches on self-regulated learning72.3 the relations between learning strategy training and self-regulated learning ability82.4 empirical studies on learning strategy training and self-regulated learning ability82.5 summary93. the study103.1 research questions103.2 participants103.3 instruments113.4 procedures113.5 data collection and analysis124. results and discussions134.1 results134.1.1 results for research question no. 1134.1.2 results for research question no.2134.1.3 results for research question no.3144.2 discussions164.2.1 major findings of the study164.2.2 discussions174.2.2.1 the effectiveness of learning strategy training on srl174.2.2.2 the ineffectiveness of learning strategy training on srl and the underlying reasons195. conclusions205.1 implications for strategy training215.2 suggestions for areas of further research22references22appendices24摘要 本论文通过实验研究，探讨英语学习策略训练对高中生自主学习能力的影响。目的在于调查学习策略训练是否有利于提高独立学习和自主学习的能力。研究对象主要是207名从化市第六中学高一与高二级的学生。他们分别被分到实验组和控制组。通过问卷，教师调查了他们在英语学习过程中的自主学习能力现状，在此基础上，选定了听力、阅读和词汇学习策略进行了为期一个学期的英语学习策略训练。实验过程中，对于实验组，教师首先通过学习途径偏好测试，帮助学生了解自己的学习风格偏好，并且就不同学习风格偏好的学生给出专家的针对性建议。此外，发给学生策略学习材料，必要时讲解并示范其中重要的策略。而对于控制组，学生没有接受学习途径偏好测试。另外，虽然也发给策略学习材料，但是只作为资料保存，教师没有讲解。实验后，实验组和控制组再次填写自主学习情况问卷。通过spss13.0对调查问卷作了详细的数据分析，结果显示：1）学习策略训练对于提高实验组和控制组的整体自主学习能力没有起到显著作用; 2）实验后实验组在自主学习的某些维度上与控制组有显著差异; 3）学习策略训练对于促进高一学生的自主学习能力有显著的作用。上述发现表明，策略训练对英语学习者，尤其是初学者或较低水平学习者的自主学习能力有促进作用。关键词 英语； 学习策略训练； 自主学习； 高中生； 七个维度 abstract the aim of this paper is to investigate whether english learning strategy training can help improve senior high school students self-regulated learning (srl) ability. an experimental design was employed in this study to investigate 207 students of senior grade one and two from cong hua no.6 middle school. the subjects were divided into two groups: the experimental group (n=104) and the control group (n=103). based on a pre-training questionnaire survey which identified the students general situations of self-regulated learning in english study, listening, reading and vocabulary learning strategies were selected for training, which lasted for one school term. during the training, teachers tested the students learning style preference in the experimental group to help them understand their own learning styles. moreover, teachers gave the students some pertinent suggestions proposed by experts according to their respective learning styles. teachers would allot strategy learning materials to the students and demonstrate some important ones when necessary. as for the control group, learning style preference survey was not administered. furthermore, although they could keep the materials, the students received no explanation of the strategies from the teachers. after the training, both groups were asked to fill out the same questionnaire again. statistical analysis of the questionnaires by spss 13.0 reveals that: 1) learning strategy training does not exert significant difference on the overall srl ability of the experimental and the control groups; 2) the experimental group outperformed the control group in two of the seven dimensions of srl in the post-training survey; 3) learning strategy training exerts a positive effect on the students in senior grade one, who seem to have benefited more from the strategy training than students in senior grade two. these findings suggest that learning strategy training can help develop learners srl ability, especially on beginners or less competent learners.key words english; learning strategy training; self-regulated learning; senior high school students; seven dimensions1. introduction according to the national english curriculum (nec) published in 2001 (中华人民共和国教育部), one key objective of english teaching in senior middle schools is to develop students learning strategies, which is to facilitate students learning efficiency and develop their self-regulated learning ability. this means, apart from learning language knowledge and language skills, it is necessary for students to form good learning habits and effective learning strategies so as to build the foundation for self-regulation and lifelong learning. this has pointed to the importance of strategy training.the training of language learning strategies refers to the activity in which teachers guide their students to use strategies more effectively based on their needs during learning and using language. it is to help students explore effective ways to learn the target language by the means of teaching them how to form their own learning strategy system. cohen (1998, qtd. in 王珍冯学民 2006: 16) states that the purpose of strategy training is to explicitly teach students when, why and how to use strategies to reduce difficulties while learning and using a foreign language. according to程晓堂and郑敏 (2002), learning strategies can not only help students improve their learning effects and better fulfill their learning goals, but also help them explore more suitable ways for learning, improve their independent and autonomous learning ability, accordingly serves for their lifelong learning. theoretically, students should first acquire the learning strategies to achieve the goal of self-regulated learning. learning strategies can be taught; the training of learning strategies can help improve students learning performance, reinforce their motivation and learning autonomy, and learning strategy training should be an integral part of english teaching courses (cohen, 1998; grenfell & harris, 1999; omalley & chamor, 1990; oxford, 1990; qtd. in苏远连张耀冰 2003: 43).the main concern of this paper is to investigate whether learning strategy training can improve senior high school students independent and autonomous learning ability. besides, this paper also intends to examine how learning strategy training affects the self-regulated learning ability of students with different proficiency levels. the rest of this thesis consists of four parts: section two is a review of related literature; section three describes the methodology and data analysis; section four presents the results and discussions; and the last section is devoted to conclusions.2. literature review 2.1 learning strategy trainingunder the influence of cognitive psychology and cognitive linguistics theories, research on foreign language teaching has switched from how to teach to how to learn (苏远连，2002：8). the cognitive theories of anderson (1983, qtd. in苏远连张耀冰 2003: 43) presented a further influential idea that individuals should learn actively in constructing personal meaning, which played a significant part in the study on learning strategies. in earlier years, the studies on learning strategies mainly concerned the different strategies used by good and poor language learners, the definitions and the classifications of learning strategies. later, it expanded to proof-test the efficiency of learning strategy training. by making empirical studies on learners from different parts of the world, western scholars primarily proved that learning strategies could be taught to students; learning strategy training could help improve their academic performances, enhance their learning motivation and learning autonomy; strategy training should be integrated in the foreign language teaching course.in the mid 1970s, western researchers began the research on students learning strategies. the first two leading figures were rubin and naiman (qtd. in沈菊芳 2008: 108). after the 1980s, researches in this field reached the unprecedented climax. 苏远连and张耀冰 (2003：44-46) summarized five most outstanding strategy training models in the west: 1) strategies teaching model (stm) by jones and others (1987), which is based on the cognitive learning theory and six teaching conceptionslearning is guided by objectives; new information happens to link with old knowledge; learning needs to organize information; learning is strategic; learning is a procedure of planning, online processing, consolidation and extension; learning is a procedure of development; 2) the cognitive academic language learning approach (calla) by chamot and omalley (1987), which consists of the five steps of training frameworkpreparation, introduction, practice, evaluation, and extension; 3) communication, cognitive academic language development, and content instruction in the classroom (foresee- 4c) by kidd and marquardson (1996), which is developed on calla; 4) the centre de researches et d applications pedagogiques en languages (crapel) by language teaching application research centre in france nanxi university, in which students should decide their learning needs, learning objectives, learning materials, time and schedules; 5) the flower model by lanl dam (1990), which analyzes learning procedure as a flower and the elements of learning as petals of the flower.according to 苏远连and张耀冰（2003: 44），strategy training in the west can be classified into two categories: implicit training and explicit training. implicit training suggests that learners are only required to do some relevant exercises which can prompt them to use some strategies, but without knowing the names of the strategies, the purpose or the rationale of the strategy training. while explicit training means allowing learners to know the names of the strategies being trained, to understand the purpose and the rationale of the training, and to teach them how to compare, monitor and evaluate the strategies after they use them. learning strategy is a kind of thinking and behavior that can help learners understand, acquire and keep information (omalley & chamot, qtd. in 苏远连、张耀冰, ditto.). in other words, learning strategy contains explicit behaviors that are observable and inner thinking processing that cannot be observed. the use of strategies might be either conscious or unconscious. to carry out strategy training, trainers need to transform the abstract inner thinking into external behaviors that can be taught, and they must first arouse learners awareness.2.2 self-regulated learning2.2.1 the definitions of self-regulated learningdifferent terms have been given by overseas scholars for the idea of “learning by oneself”, for instance, self-regulated learning, self-monitored learning, active learning, self-education, autonomous learning, which are put forward from different standpoints and angles of views. for consistency, self-regulated learning (srl) is adopted in this paper. just as gardner and lindsay (2002) described “autonomous learning”, srl has a similar concept: it also stemmed from the debates about the development of lifelong learning skills and the development of independent thinkers. but compared with “autonomous learning”, srl has a more systemic definition. a famous american professor, pintrich (2000), defined it as follows: self-regulated learning is an active，constructive process where learners set goals for their learning and then attempt to monitor, regulate, and control their cognition, motivation and behavior, guided and constrained by their goals and the contextual features of the environment. (p.4)a systemic framework of srl research was proposed by schunk and zimmerman, as depicted in the following table: table 1 the research scheme of srl scientific questionspsychologicaldimensionalitiestask qualificationsnature of srlprocesses of srlwhy to learnmotivationchoose to participateingenerate or self-inspiredattribution, etchow to learnmethodsmeans of choicesplanned or autonomoususing of strategies and relaxingwhen to learntimetime limittime and effectivecontrolling and regulating timewhat to learnlearning resultscontrol the resultsself-awarenessof the learning resultsself-control, self-judgment, behavior-control and will, etc. where to learnenvironmentcontrol material environment sensitivity to the material environment choosing and organizing the learning environmentlearn with whomsocialitycontrol social environmentsensitivity to the social environment choosing models and asking for help(from: schunk & zimmerman 1994, translated from 庞维国2003:3) from this table, it can be summed up that the nature of srl is “essentially a matter of the learners psychological relation to the process and content of learning” (little, 1991: 4). therefore, the learning results can be improved through arousing learners inner motive. 2.2.2 the development of self-regulated learning2.2.2.1 the development of overseas research on self-regulated learningthe rationale of srl abroad was first proposed by the ancient greek scholar socrates, but its development can only be traced back to the 20th century. at the very beginning, skinner and dewey (1980, qtd. in 庞维国 2003: 27) set up teaching modes in a way that students learn by themselves, directed by their teachers. then, based on these modes, holec (1985, qtd. in gardner & lindsay 2002: 6) proposed the term “self-regulated learning” and introduced it into foreign language teaching. in his opinion, srl is an ability rather than an action that learners take for their study. later, little (1991) defined srl as a capacity for detachment, critical reflection, decision-making, and independent action, which was consistent with the “learners centered learning” concept described by nunan (2001). to sum up, in the early development of srl, scholars tended to regard it as a learning ability that learners should have, and that the importance of learners, rather than teachers, should be stressed in the study.after the 1960s, the study on srl went into another stage, that is, the stage of comprehensive research. different schools of srl theory came into being at this time. in total there are five major theories that have influenced the domestic study greatly, which are: behaviorism, humanism, constructivism, meta-cognitive learning theory and social learning theory.2.2.2.2 the development of domestic researches on self-regulated learningthe srl research in china began in the early 1990s, and most of them were based on the overseas rationales. in the past few years, many works on it have been published by chinese educational scholars, such as董奇、周勇and陈红兵s (1996) self-regulated and intelligence,庞继贤and范捷平s (2005) self-regulated learning: exoteric and administration, and庞维国s (2003) the principles and educational applications in srl.for庞维国(2003: 4), srl was defined from horizontal and vertical perspectives. pang considered that in horizontal prospective, if a learner can choose and master all the parts of his learning spontaneously, then his study is a srl process. and in vertical perspective, if a learner is able to set goals, make plans and prepare well before learning activities, self-monitor and self-adjust while learning, and examine himself, self-evaluate and self-remedy after learning, then he is also self-regulated in his learning. correspondingly, the srl scale is divided into seven dimensions, which are learning motivation, learning content, learning method, time regulation, learning process, learning results and learning environment.2.3 the relations between learning strategy training and self-regulated learning ability research on the behaviors involved in autonomous language learning has to a large extent drawn upon research on learning strategies defined by cohen (1998, qtd. in benson 2001: 80), one of the leading researchers in the field, as learning processes which are consciously selected by the learner. theoretically the training of learning strategies can help students improve their learning effects and then they can fulfill their learning objectives better. more importantly, learning strategy training can help students explore their own learning ways and improve their independent and autonomous learning ability so as to serve as a foundation for their lifelong learning. china now strongly advocates education for all round development which requires of developing students srl ability. there lies a direct relation between learning strategy training and srl ability (程晓堂郑敏，2002：135-136). the nec has already considered learning strategies as one of the objectives of english course. the evaluation of the course also contains that of learning strategies. it can be said that the importance of learning strategies is self-evident. 2.4 empirical studies on learning strategy training and self-regulated learning abilitythe nec suggests that one of the most important teaching tasks is to help students form good learning habits and effective learning strategies. teachers should be aware of strengthening the guidance on students learning strategies in order to help them know how to learn during learning and using english. in china, research on language learning strategies began in the mid 1980s. throughout the studies on learning strategies since the 1980s, the point of view has shifted from macro to micro. before the 1980s, chinese educationists and scholars tended to focus on the study on macro-learning strategies, such as students preference towards which type of learning strategies and its developing tendency, and the relation between the use of learning strategies and academic performance. while in the 1980s, many studies focused on one type of learning strategies, for example, rea