（外国语言学及应用语言学专业论文）大学英语学习策略训练.pdf

the training of college english learning strategies ii 摘摘 要要 本文从教师的角度出发，试图探索学习策略训练对大学英语教学的作用。其 目的在于帮助教师找出英语教学中新的突破点，从而提高英语学习与教学效果。 学习策略训练的目的在于教会学生在外语学习中如何使用学习策略，以及什么时 候，为什么要使用这些策略。研究表明，策略训练可促进学生英语学习、提高学 习动力、改进学习方法、增强自信心。策略训练的效果在不同程度上受多种因素 的影响，如学生学习动机、某策略应用的复杂度、教师对学习策略的认识和训练 的技巧等。 本作者得出的一个重要启示是，外语教师应对培养学生的学习策略的重要性 有一个非常清楚的认识，这样才能让学生不仅有效地学习外语，而且还能把恰当 的学习策略迁移到其他学科的学习上，最终获得良好的终生学习的能力。教师在 教学活动中还要加强学生学习的观念的培养和基于此的语言学习策略的训练，有 效地发挥学习策略的作用，使学生在各种环境和条件下都能自主地学习，对提高 学习成绩有着极大的促进作用。 本文对语言学习策略的定义、分类，中国大学英语学习者的特点，调查学习 策略的方法等进行了详细的介绍，并结合中国学习者的特点对于其中几个影响学 习者学习策略选择的因素进行了分析。同时，作者通过调查问卷调查了公外大学 生所采用的英语学习策略。在此基础上，作者对学习策略训练以及教师在策略训 练中所扮演的角色进行了详细阐述和分析，总结出今后的英语教学应以学生为中 心，以学习策略为基础来教授英语语言知识。作者还对英语教学提出许多有益的 建议，可以帮助英语教师在大学英语教学中发挥更大的作用，为学生学习提供更 大的帮助，帮助学生培养有效的学习方法、提高他们的外语学习自觉性与自主性。 本文共分五个章节。第一章是全文的理论基础，系统介绍了学习策略的基本 理论，包括其定义、分类及学习策略的有效性等。第二章列举了对学习策略机制 建立产生影响的几个因素。第三章和第四章是全文的重点。第三章通过对非英语 专业学生使用英语学习策略的情况进行调查，分析了中国大学生的英语学习策略 的使用情况。第四章讨论策略训练的目标、方法和主要步骤，以及教师在学习策 略训练中的作用。第五章总结全文，主要讨论了策略训练对教学的启示以及作者 的一些教学建议，希望能对英语教学有所帮助。 关键词关键词：学习策略; 策略训练; 英语教学; 学习效果 中南民族大学硕士学位论文 iii abstract this thesis attempts to explore the importance of implementing strategy training in english teaching in the classroom, aiming at helping english language teachers to find a new breakthrough in their efforts to improve language teaching and learning efficiently. the goal of strategy training is to very explicitly teach students how, when and why strategies can be used to facilitate their learning and using a foreign language. by explicitly teaching students how to develop their own individualized strategy system, strategy training can help students explore ways that they can learn the target language more effectively. according to research findings, learning strategies and strategy training do facilitate students language learning. they enable students to develop proper learning attitude, enhance motivation, adjust learning strategies, and increase their confidence. research shows that the effect of strategy training is influenced by various factors such as the learners motivation, the complexity of certain strategy, and the teachers knowledge of the learning strategies as well as the techniques used in strategy training. one important implication of the research is that efl teachers should have a better understanding of the training of strategy use. the appropriate use of learning strategies not only promotes learners language learning effectiveness, it also can be transferred to the learning of other subjects and life-long learning. it is important to improve language learners meta-cognition and train their strategy use for the sake of using learning strategies more appropriately and effectively. as a result, the learners become autonomous in their learning and are able to learn under various circumstances. following the introduction, this thesis tries to summarize the definition of learning strategies given by some influential western researchers, the characteristics of learning strategies and the different ways to classify learning strategies that are famous in the world. secondly, this thesis briefly analyzes some factors that will influence the establishment of learning strategies. thirdly, it explains the methods used to investigate learning strategies and elaborates the characteristics of chinese efl learners. then, with the use of a questionnaire, an investigation about the learning strategies employed by chinese efl learners is made. finally, the thesis tries to probe learning strategy training in the classroom and the role of the teacher in strategies-based instruction. and it also analyzes the implications of learning strategy training on efl teaching in china. based on the research, a conclusion is drawn that the instructions in english class the training of college english learning strategies iv should be student-centered and strategy-based in the future. the author also puts forward some useful suggestions on english teaching which can help the teacher to play a more important role in efl teaching, help students to develop a more efficient learning methods and improve their initiatives in efl learning. this thesis consists of five chapters. the first chapter makes an exposition of the basic theory of learning strategies, including their definitions, classification, and validation of strategy effectiveness. it is the theoretical basis of the paper. the second chapter discusses some factors influencing the learning strategies establishment. chapter three and chapter four are the most important part of the whole paper. an empirical study on learning strategy use by non-english majors and analysis of chinese efl learners learning strategies are conducted in chapter three. chapter four discusses the goals and the necessity for learning strategies training. and steps of strategy training and the roles of teacher in the training are also discussed here. the last chapter displays the major findings of the research and offers some advice for classroom teachers. key words: learning strategy, strategy training, efl teaching, learning effectiveness 中南民族大学硕士学位论文 i acknowledgements this thesis concludes my three years of postgraduate study. i would like to thank all my teachers in the foreign language college, to them i owe much of my knowledge in the english language, translation, literature, and especially linguistics studies. my heartfelt gratitude goes to my adviser, prof. zhang liyu, whose illuminating instruction, invaluable suggestions and constant encouragement have helped greatly to shape this thesis. 中南民族大学硕士学位论文 1 introduction extensive research into language learner strategies (lls) has been conducted to investigate the behaviors of successful and less successful learners in the west in the field of second language acquisition (sla). different skills have been explored, such as strategies for oral communication, listening strategies, vocabulary learning strategies, reading and writing strategies. almost all the studies have tried to establish correlations between learner strategies and language learning achievements. this thesis examines how to apply the research results to pedagogical practices in the classroom. since the 1970s, researchers have come to take a new look at foreign language learning and the research into learning strategy has grown dramatically. the first major development in this field was the publication of the “good language learner”, a report provided by naiman et al. in 1978, which reported on semi-structured interviews with a number of very successful language learners. in the 1980s, researchers tried to identify the techniques learners use to facilitate their learning. they gained data through a wide range of sources including questionnaires, interviews, verbal reports and “think-aloud” procedures. they studied the relationship between strategy use and language proficiency, and the difference in strategy use between more and less proficient learners was examined. they concluded that, in fact, learners can be taught to use more effective learning strategies to enhance their learning. from 1990s, the focus of research in learning strategies has shifted from the early identification and description to learning strategies training. four representative books on learning strategies are published in this period, namely omalley and chamots learning strategies in second language acquisition (1990), oxfords language learning strategies: what every teacher should know (1990), wendens learner strategies for learner autonomy (1991), and cohens strategies in learning and using a second language (1998). in these books, the importance of integrating learning strategies training into second language instruction is highlighted. since then learning strategies training has spread in many countries of the world. in china, much attention has been paid to language pedagogy in order to improve the learners english level. however, many english learners, especially efl learners in universities and colleges, are still struggling helplessly in their process of english learning. they encounter various difficulties in listening, speaking, reading, writing and translating. sometimes they even blame their teachers for their failure in english study, the training of college english learning strategies 2 for it is because their english teacher has not done a good job so that they have failed in their english examinations. they seldom attempt to find out the reason why they fail in their english from the part of themselves, such as their motivations, their attitudes towards english learning and the appropriateness of their learning methods or learning strategies. that is the reason why the author of this thesis wants to make a study of the learning strategies used by chinese efl learners in classroom setting. english teaching practice in china is still far from satisfaction, and the researches done in this field still have their limitations. on one hand, the students have long been accustomed to the traditional teaching style without being aware of the crucial role they should play in their learning process. on the other hand, some teachers fail to recognize the dynamic element of their students in the teaching process. although a lot have been achieved in the study of learning strategies, researches concerning the relationship between the learning strategies training and the learning outcome are not enough. the goal of strategy training is to very explicitly teach students how, when, and why strategies can be used to facilitate their learning and using a foreign language. therefore, there is a great need to study this issue. that is why the author chooses this topic as the subject of the thesis. this thesis begins by reviewing the literature of learning strategies. following the literature review is the theoretical grounding for learning strategies training, including the classification of learning strategies and validation of strategy effectiveness. the second chapter discusses some factors that will influence the establishment of learning strategies, such as the learner factors, teacher factors, situational factors and social factors. in the third chapter, methods used to investigate learning strategies and the characteristics of chinese efl learners are discussed in detail. the author also did an investigation of learning strategies employed by chinese efl learners, taking 31 freshmen of non-english majors as subjects, using a questionnaire as the instrument. having known the situation of learning strategy application in china, the author discussed the training of learning strategies in chapter four, including goals of strategy training for foreign language, ways of cultivating learning strategies and so on. great emphasis is put on the steps of strategy training and the roles of english teacher in strategies-based instruction in this chapter. the last chapter of the thesis displays the major findings of the research and offers some advice for classroom efl teachers, wishing it would be helpful to enhance the english language learning in china. 中南民族大学硕士学位论文 3 1 literature review 1.1 definition and brief history of learning strategy studies 1.1.1 definition of learning strategy a broad definition of “strategy” from dictionary is given in such a way: a “strategy” means a particular plan for winning success in a particular activity. generally speaking, strategy refers to the specific way that people employ to solve a problem. the literature is replete with a series of alternative terms (appropriate or not) to learning strategies which is the conscious or unconscious process that language learners use in learning a language, such as “tactics”, “techniques”, “potentially conscious plans”, “consciously employed operations”, “learning skills”, “functional skills”, “cognitive process” and “basic skills” (wenden, 1987). the existence of such a series of terms reveals that the concept of learning strategies is still “a somewhat fuzzy one” and “not easy to tie down” (ellis, 1994). the following definitions are some well-known ones: 1) learning strategies are strategies which contribute to the development of the language system which the learner constructs and affect learning directly (rubin, 1975); 2) strategy is best reserved for general tendencies or overall characteristics of the approach employed by the language learner, leaving techniques as the term to refer to particular forms of observable learning behavior (stern, 1983); 3) strategy is procedures used in learning, thinking, etc., which serve as a way of reaching a goal (longman dictionary of applied linguistics); 4) learning strategies are the behaviors and thoughts that a learner engages in during learning that are intended to influence the learners encoding process (weinstein and mayer, 1986); 5) learning strategies are techniques, approaches or deliberate actions that students take in order to facilitate the learning, recall of both linguistic and content area information (chamot, 1987); 6) language learning strategies are behaviors or action which learners use to make language learning more successful, self-directed and enjoyable (oxford, 1989). 7) language learning strategies can be defined as those processes which are consciously selected by learners and which may result in action taken to enhance the learning of a second or foreign language through the storage, retention, recall, and the training of college english learning strategies 4 application of information about the language (cohen, 1998). although the definitions mentioned above are from different perspectives, the nature as cognitive skills and the significance of language learning strategies are embodied in these definitions. from the above definitions and descriptions of learning strategies, we come to the conclusion that language learning strategies are those processes which are consciously selected by learners and which may result in actions taken to enhance the learning or use of a foreign language, through the storage and retention. strategies include those thoughts and actions that are clearly intended for language learning, as well as those that may well lead to learning but which do not clearly include learning as the primary goal. they, which are at least partially conscious, can be transferred to new language tasks, and can be used by learners in unique and creative ways to personalize the language learning process. 1.1.2 brief history of learning strategy studies the research of language learning strategy first began in western countries in the 1970s. some language teachers found that some students seemed to be more successful than others in their learning in spite of exposing to the same teaching methods and learning environment. in 1966, aaron carton who is the pioneer in the field of learning strategy research published a book entitled the method of inference in foreign language study, which was the first to discuss the learners strategy. in 1975, based on the observations and experiments, applied linguists j. rubin and h. stem described seven strategies of good language learners in view of personal characteristics and styles. in the middle of 1970s, the researchers in the united states divided the learning strategies into three main categories: meta-cognitive, cognitive and social-affective. they also overtly trained students to use selected strategies in their language classes in an experiment. the study of learning strategy in china began in the early 1980s. in 1984, a thesis entitled “learning strategies for oral communication” was published on applied linguistics, which was the first thesis published on international magazines written by chinese scholar. in 1990, another thesis entitled “a study of communication strategies in interlanguage production by chinese efl learners” by chen siqing (chen, 1990) was published on language learning, which discussed the rate, types and validity of communication strategies employed by twelve chinese efl learners. in 1994, two theses on the topic, which were entitled “learner strategies: a key factor in sll” and “the study of l2 learner strategy and its implications for flt”, were published in 中南民族大学硕士学位论文 5 modern foreign language. ever since then, the research about learning strategy has received more and more attention. in 1996, professor wen qiufang published the book, english learning strategy, which highlighted the current study in the field of learning strategy in china. with the development of the research about language learning strategy and the improvement of related theories, researchers home and abroad began to realize the importance of learners, and they changed their focus from teachers to students, from traditional teaching methods to scientific learning methods. 1.2 classification of learning strategies just as the co-existence of a variety of definitions, there are nearly dozens of learning strategy classification systems which have been divided into the following groups: 1) systems related to successful language learners (rubin, 1975; stern, 1975; naiman et al., 1978); 2) systems based on psychological functions (omalley and chamot, 1990); 3) linguistically based systems dealing with guessing, language monitoring, formal and functional practice (bialystok, 1981); 4) systems related to separate language skills (cohen, 1987); 5) systems based on different styles or types of learners (wenden, 1987); 6) systems based on the functions of strategies in learning (oxford, 1990). among these descriptive studies, the work of omalley and chamot (such as omalley et al., 1985a, 1985b; omalley and chamot, 1990), wenden (19