AStudyonLearningPreferencesofHigher-vocationalStudentsinEFL-最新文檔

1、A Study on Learning Preferences of Higher-vocational Students in EFL I. Introduction. Classroom practice in teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL) has changed greatly in the past twenty years in China. Instead of following the conventional practice of language teaching, many instructors are e

2、xperimenting with different and reformatory ideas and methodologies in the EFL classroom. However, one can easily come up with the question that how we shall assess this reformed pattern of classroom roles with its avowed purpose of empowering classroom teaching. Is it convincing that a re-dividing

3、of classroom allocated time, with teacher on the more silent side, has best evidenced the shift? The answer is by no means in the affirmative. II. Literature Review The increasing interest in language learners and their learning strategies in the EFL classroom have led to a number of studies on lear

4、ning styles both overseas and domestically. Reid (1987) points out that learning style is a pervasive quality in the learning strategies or the learning behavior of an individual. Keefe thinks of learning style as cognitive, affective and physiological traits that are relatively stable indicator of

5、how learners perceive, interact with and respond to the learning environment. Gardner suggests that eight intelligences possessed by learners, namely, introspective, social, logical, verbal kinesthetic, visual, musical and naturalist, which help explain how learners approach learning task in differe

6、nt ways and provide the bases for learning style research.(Harmer 1998) Researches concerning learning styles and second language learning have been focused on the cultural influences on the learning preferences, the gender differences in learning modes, learning style and strategy use, learning sty

7、le expanding as well as learning style identification and adaptation across disciplines.Today in EFL context I China, with the shift from teacher-fronted classroom sequence to learner-centered inaction, more attention is being paid to learning support and learners needs. To address the difference in

8、 individual learning style is just an important part of this endeavor. Therefore, how to diversify the instructional approaches to best accommodate the diversity of learning and increase learning achievement has been highlighted by more and more researchers in this field. In this light, I conducted

9、a study on the learning styles of students from higher-vocational school. The study, exploratory and descriptive in nature, aims to look into the following issues: 1) The general differences in higher-vocational school students learning preferences 2) The existing problems or conflicting situations

10、between teaching and learning styles in classroom instruction 3) Some suggestions for possible solution to the existing problems III. The Study 1. The subjects The subjects chosen for this survey are the freshmen of non-English majors from a higher-vocational school, namely, Liaoning University of I

11、nternational Business and Economics. The total number of the subjects is 62, among whom 28 are males and 34 females. The ages range from 19 to 21. They are from two different disciplines. One group majors in Logistics which belongs to the field of Arts, and the other group majors in Application of I

12、T which belongs to the field of Science. 2. The instruments The instrument employed to collect data was the Perceptual Learning Style Preference Questionnaire (Reid 1984), which consists of 30 statements covering six learning style preferences: visual, auditory, kinesthetic, tactile, individual and

13、group learning. Students are supposed to respond to each statement by using a five- point scale ranging from “strongly agree ” to “strongly disagree ”. Data were gathered on the basis of the total score gained for each of the six categories. (See Figure 1) The category for which the student scored a

14、bove 38 was designated as his/her major learning style preference, whereas those with the score range between 25-37 was regarded as his/her minor learning style preference. Scores lower than 24 will be negligible. 3. Results and Analysis The final data show that students display a variety of learnin

15、g style preferences major or minor. More than 45% of the students have more than one learning preference or showed balanced strengths. The negligible occupies very small percentage. The gender distinction in learning preferences is evident cutting across the line of age and discipline.(See Figure1)

16、Females compare favorably with males in carrying out auditory and visual learning tasks, and seem to be more prepared to work in groups. Males, on the other hand, are inclined to enjoy learning tasks that involve hands-on activities such as doing experiments, making models or working on projects. As

17、 many as 53.8% of the males are kinesthetic and 68.6% are tactic learners. Males, at the same time, are found working more individuallythan females for the fact that among the 36 individual learners, 21 are males. Students of different disciplines display different learning characteristics. (See fig

18、ure 2) The science students tend to show greater preferences for tactile and kinesthetic learning modes whereas the arts students are mostly characterized with visual and auditory learning strengths. For the category of individual and group learning, the percentage of the two groups is close, but th

19、e sciences students as those majoring in computer science tend to work individually. At the same time, students from logistics majors favor the items of collaborative work style. The number of arts group learners is 10% higher that of the science group. The students who specialize in science field a

20、re largely marked with balanced strengths and multiple learning modalities. Subjects from the same learning background display some common learning characteristics. For example, those who have similar prior learning experiences in high school display some commonp references in learning. And those wh

21、o come from the same class are subject to the given affective climate and display some group characteristics. Those who show a balanced preference or a preference for more than one modality are mostly the students who are good and skillful at English. This shows that they are comparatively flexible

22、in learning and potential in future learning style expansion. This bears much implication for the EFL practice in the direction of developing alternative modes or balanced modes of learning on the part of learners for greater achievement. IV. Conclusion As the findings in my study show, students of

23、different sex and disciplines vary considerably in their learning style preferences, but our present EFL classroom teaching practice is far from being flexible to accommodate the diversity in learning styles. The poor performance of our students in foreign language learning and the low efficiency of cl