Learning Str in China

8/13/2019 Learning Str in China

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Article

Language Learning Styles andLearning Strategies of Tertiary-Level English Learners in ChinaLi JieThe hinese Universityof Hong Kong HongKong P.R. Chinalijie@cuhk. edu. hkQin XiaoqingHuazhongUniversityofScienceandTechnology P.R. Chinaqxq@ mail. hust. edu. enAbstract This study focuses on the relationship between learning styles and lan-guage leaming strategies in the EFL context in China. The study presents two kindsof data: quantitative and q ualitative. In the quantitative study, the subjects consistedof 187 second-year undergraduates. Two self-reported inventories, the Chineseversion of MBTI-G and a questionnaire on the use of learning strategies adaptedfrom O M alle y and C ha m ot s classification system , we re used to exam ine the stu-den ts leam ing styles and leaming strategies respectively. Structured interviews havebeen performed am ong the six high and low achievers in the qualitative aspect ofth estudy.

The analyses show that learning styles have a significant influence on learnerslearning strategy cho ices. There is evidence that the Judging scale correlates positivelywith seven sets of leam ing strate gies. Thus it turns out to be the mo st influential leam -ing style variable affecting lea rne rs learning strategy choice s. Com pared w ith lowachievers, high achievers are more capable of exercising strategies that are associatedwith their non-preferred styles.

Based on the available research results, it is proposed that leaming styles mayinfluence le am ers language leam ing outcome s through their relationship with leam-ing strategies. The pedagogical implications of these findings are discussed, as aresuggestions for future research.


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68Regional Language entre Journal 37.1

IntroductionThere is a growing appreciation for the contribution of such variables asleaming style and leaming strategy to language leam ing success in recentESL/EFL classroom research (eg . Carrell and M onroe 1993; Carrell etal1996; Ehrman and Oxford 1990; Ehrman and Oxford 1995; Littlemore2001; Wen and Johnson 1997). The notion of leaming style, whichencom passes m ental, physiological and affective elem ents, refers to anindiv idua l s natural, habitual, and preferred way(s) of absorbing, process-ing, and retaining new infonnation and skills (Reid 199 5: 34 of fore-word). In contrasttoleaming style, leaming strategies are those processeswhich are consciously selected by leam ers and which may result in actiontaken to enhance the leaming of second or foreign language, throughthe storage, retention, recall, and application of infonnation about thatlangu age (Cohen 1998: 4). The differentiation o ft h e two conceptsshould be made in terms of the level of intentionality, awareness andstability (Baileyetal 20 00; Brown 1994; Ehrman and Oxford 1990; Reid1998). Leaming styles embody unconscious individual leamer traits whileleaming strategies are specific behaviors selected by the leamer to makeleaming more efficient. Reid (1998) theorized that whereas leaming stylesare intemally based traits, often not perceived or consciously used byleamers, leaming strategies are extemal skills often used consciously bystudents to facilitate their leaming. Compared with leaming strategies,leam ing styles are relatively stable characteristics which leam ers bring tothe leaming situations.

Distinct as they are, these two terms still bear a close relationship toeach other. Both contain cognitive and affective elements and are predic-tors of language proficiency. Brow n (1994) further pointed out that leam-ing strategies do not operate by them selves, but rather are directly linkedto the leam er s innate leam ing styles and other personality-related factors.It is proposed that leam ing style encom passes leam ers general inclina-tion to use certain leaming strategies while avoiding others (Oxford1990b). A number of empirical studies also suggested that leam ing styles


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69 angua ge earning Styles and earning Strategies

Styles and leam ing strategies through semi-stmctured interviews. Beforethe qualitative study, the subjects had already completed two self-reportedinstruments as part of the quantitative study: the MBTI-G (Myers andM cCaulley 1985) for leam ing styles and the Strategy Inven tory for Lan-guage Leaming (SILL) (Oxford 1990a) for preferred language leamingstrategies. It was revealed that for each contrasting pair of the bipolarMBTI scales, the preferred leaming strategy categories were in an approxi-mately matched distribution. For Thinking-Feeling, the complementaritywas nearly complete. The research findings indicated that leam ers leam-ing styles may significantly influence their choices of language learningstrategies.

Carson and Longhini (2002) investigated the relationship betweenlanguage leam ing styles and strategies o fthe diarist/researcher in a natu-ralistic setting. The study utilized Ox ford s SILL and the Style AnalysisSurvey (SAS) to compare categories that emerge in the diary entries. Theanalysis indicated that the dia rist s leaming strategies were often affectedby her learning styles. For example, the diarist, with a global leamingstyle, always suspended bits of partly understood language until theyformed a large pattern. The diarist was also aware of the difficulty ofutilizing strategies not prefen ed by her styles. For exam ple, the diaristwas introverted and often felt uneasy when communicating with peopleshe did not know well.

Littlemore (2001) related different communication strategy preferences(CSs) to the holistic/analytic cognitive style dimension. 82 Belgian univer-sity students who were native speakers of French and had been studyingEnglish for one year at the university p articipated in the study. A Frenchversion of R iding s (1991) computer-based Cognitive Styles A nalysis(CSA) was used to measure participants holistic/analytic cognitivestyles and the concrete picture description task based on Po uliss e s testwas devised to assess their CSs. The research results showed that the par-ticipants used considerably more conceptual CSs than linguistic CSs.Within the domain of conceptual CSs, holistic participants were signifi-cantly more likely than analytic participants to use holistic CSs, andanalytic participants w ere significantly more likely than holistic partici-


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70Regional Language entre Journal 37.1one instance. The monotonous nature ofthe research instmm ents in thesestudies m ight cripple the generalization of their findings. It was felt that amultiple methodological research approach would ensure greater con-textualization and tmstworthiness for the research on leaming style andleaming strategy.

The relationship between leaming styles and strategies determines thatthe research of linking strategies to styles will bring more fruitful resultsto both fields and would be beneficial to both leaming and teaching. Theo-retically, leaming strategy can serve as an analytical tool to com prehendthe fundamental elements of a particular leaming style which may appearto be arbitrary and random on the surface (Willing 1988). At a practicallevel, once leam ers get to know their style preferences, it may beeasierfor them to see why they prefer using certain leam ing strategies and notothers. And this awareness w ould help leamers develop the flexibilitiesto cope with different leaming contexts and ultimately achieve leamerautonomy. An understanding of students use of leaming strategies wouldallow teachers to adopt appropriate teaching m ethods which best cater forthe leaming styles of the students. This will help students develop posi-tive attitudes toward language leaming.

To date very few empirical studies have attempted to relate leamingstyles and strategies at the tertiary level in Mainland C hina. China boaststhe biggest number of EFL leamers in the world (Cheng 2003). Sincethe year 2000, college education has been available to all regardless ofthe stude nts age and marital status (China Ministry of Education 200 0).The trend for an increase in college enrollments is expected to continueover the next few years. English tertiary education in China has beenunder constant scrutiny to respond to the diverse leaming needs of thestudents as well as various demands o fthe society. At the same time, theEnglish proficiency ofthe college students as a whole still needs improv-ing even after ten yea rs instruction (Li 1996). The purpose of this studywas to find out the impact of leaming styles of tertiary-level Englishleam ers in China upon their language leam ing strategy cho ices. It is feltthat a study of this kind w ould throw new lights on the current teachingand leaming situation in China.


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71Language Learning Styles and Learning Strategies

are considered m ore representative of typical Chinese tertiary-level EFLlearners than English majors. These students are all required by ChinaMinistry of Education to take English courses in the first and secondyears as part of their degree prog rams at college. Specifically, the studyaddresses the following questions:

(a) W hat are the leaming style distributions of the Chinese tertiary-level English leamers?

(b) How do leaming styles affect the use of leaming strategies oftertiary-level English leamers in China?(c) W hat differences relating to leam ing strategy deploym ent existbetween high and low achievers ofthesame leaming styles?

Research DesignThe study is aimed at exam ining the relationship between leaming stylesand leaming strategies. For this purpose, a quantitative study was firstconducted to obtain an overall picture of the leaming style distributions ofthe subjects and the relation of leam ing styles to leam ing strategies. Thena qualitative study was designed to probe the major findings obtainedfrom the quantitative study and provide greater insights into the differ-ences of leaming strategy deploym ent between high and low achievers ofthe same leaming style.

Quantitative Data1.SubjectsThe current subjects consisted of 87second-yea r undergradu ates fromtwo universities in W uhan. Am ong them , 102 were majoring in Science(54.5 ) and 85 (45.5 ) were Liberal Arts majors. Their ages rangedfrom 17 to 21 with an average of 19.2. There were approx imately anequal number of male students n =94) and female students n= 93).W ith regard to the year of English study, 85.6 of the participantsbegan to study English formally from the middle schools. Independent


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72Regional Language Centre Journal 37.12.InstrumentsTwo self-reported inventories were used to examine the students leamingstyles and leaming strategies respectively. The Myers-Briggs Type Indi-cator, Form G (M BTI-G), which had been translated into C hinese, wasused to measure the leaming styles ofth participants. The other instm-ment, a questionnaire on the use of leaming strategies, was constructed tosurvey the sub jects use of leam ing strategies.2.1M easure of Learning Styles: MBTI G.The original MBTI, Form G,which was published as a research instmment for general use by theConsulting Psychological Press in 1975, is a 95-item questionnaire. Inordertomake the questionnaire accessible to the subjects and to minimizethe misunderstandings and confusion caused by cross-cultural differences,this study adopted a Chinese version of MBTI-G, which had been trans-lated from the original MBTI, Form G and revised by the researchers inChina. The final version of the Chinese MBTI-G contained 97 items.Research has shown that the Chinese version of the MBT I-G is valid foruse (Luoetal 2001;Miao and Huangpu 2000 ).

The MBTI aims to identify re spondents basic preferences, their mostcomfortable ways of behaving (Myers and McC aulley 1985). The M BTIcontains four separate indices: (i) Extraversion (E) vs. Introversion (I);(ii) Sensing (S) vs. Intuition (N); (iii) Thinking (T) vs. Feeling (F); and(iv) Judging (J) vs. Perceiving (P) (outlined in the Appendix). Each ofthe four dimensions represents polar opposites. While an individual iscapable of acting in both poles of each of the four indices, the MBTIpostulates that they are naturally inclined for one or the other of the poles,and will respond most frequently in a preferred style. The four indices areoften viewed as four primary aspects of leaming style. The preference oneach scale is independent of preferences for the other three, so the fourbi-polar scales result in sixteen possible com binations or psycholog icaltypes.A person with preferences for Introversion, Sensing, Feeling andJudging , for exam ple, is referred to as ISFJ.2.2Measure of Language LearningStrategies:Questionnaire on the U se


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Part Two is a 68-item, likert-scaled measure developed to probethe students use of learning strategies. The questionnaire has adoptedO M alley and C ha m ot s classification system of language learningstrategies (19 90). For each statement of Part Tw o, there are five choicesranging from neve r or almost neve r to alway s or almost alw ays . Theinstrument was pilot tested on 63 second-year Science majors and aCronbach alpha of .8542 was obtained. The draft version w as distributedto some teachers for their suggestions. Som e items w ere then modified,deleted or added in order to increase the internal consistency of thequestionn aire. A Cronbach alpha of .8860 was obtained in the final study.Eleven sets of learning strateg ies were finally identified and catego rizedinto three groups for the present study (Table 1).2.3 Measure of Language LearningOutcomes: bfective Questionsof theFinalTests. Scores on the objective questions of the final English tests inthe first semester o f the second academ ic year w ere used as the indices ofthe stud en ts language learning outcom es. The test items consisted oflistening comprehension, reading comprehension, cloze and vocabulary.The reliabilities of the final test scores ranged from .60 to.64. As the finaltests differ for the students using different course materials, all the rawscores were converted into the standardized scores (i.e.z score).

Table 1. Reliabilities of the Eleven S ets of Learning StrategiesStrategyMetacognitivestrategy

Cognitivestrategy

Social/affective

Arranging and planning Monitoring Self-evaluating Practicing Rehearsal Using mother tongue Inferencing Summarizing Overcoming limitations in speaking Lowering anxiety

Number1247445254

Alpha.7156.5887.6207.6635.5614.6756.5875.5089.5829.6485


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The whole interview protocol fell into three parts. Part I, previouslearning experience, is interested in gathering data about the subjectspersonal information and their previous English learning history.

The second part, learning style, is intended to find out whe ther the stu-dents are aw are of their own learning styles and the effects of the learningstyles on their English learning. Questions such as How much do youknow about your own persona lity? and D o you believe that your per-sonality will affect your language learning? Ifyes, how? If no, why not?deserve the interviewees answering.The last part, current English learning, deals with the stud en ts re-sponses to the questionnaire on the use of learning strategies and evalua-tion of their teach ers teaching. Typical questions to be addressed are:W hy do you make this choice in the questionnaire on the use of learn-ing strategie s? , W hat learning techniques seem to have worked foryou, and which have no t? , H ave you found the most effective way toleam En glish? and W hat do you think of your teach er s teachingmethod ? Do you like it? If yes, wh y? If not, why not and w hat will you

do then?Table 2. ackground Informationof the KeyInformantsinthe Interview

SubjectsTop GroupSubject 1Subject 2Subject 3Bottom GroupSubject 4Subject 5Subject 6

PseudonymSusanGeorgeMikeAliceTomEric

SexFMMFMM

ge192018192019

Learning StyleISTJESFJINFPISTJESFJINFP

t Score6668594 44636

3.Data C ollectionAll interviews took place within a two-weekperiod Subjects were invitedto meet with the researcher individually. The interviews were all per-formed in Chinese except the interv iew er s questions. The interviews


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76Regional Language Centre Journal 37.1research only. The interviews were tape-recorded and fully transcribedsoon afterward.4.Data Ana lysisThe interview data were analyzed using a coding form developed accord-ing to the following categories: previous language learning experience,spontaneou s com ments related to the MB Tl typ e, specific learning strate-gies coded according to O'M alley and Chamot (1990 ), evaluation of theteacher's teaching and self-awareness of the learning style. Results oflearning styles and learning strategies ob tained form the qualitative datawere compared against the subjects' quantitative results for consistency.The strategy deployment of high achievers was compared against lowachievers. The learning strategies acquired from the interview data werecategorized into typical strategies and atypical strategies in terms of thesubjects' learning styles. Typical strategies involve strategies that cor-respond to a specific learning style. Atypical strategies, in contrast, arestrategies that do not comply with a certain learning style, but are usedconsciously by the learner to improve his learning. For example, anintroverted learner's preference for working alone was considered as histypical strategy while his frequent use of strategy o f talking to others inEnglish was considered atypical.

Results and D iscussionLearning Style Results M BTl D istributionTable dem onstrates the sub jects' learning styles in terms of the split byeach of the four M BT l dimensions as well as the classification by M BTltype. The subjects, in general, are introverted (54.5 ), sensing (63.6 )and judgin g (59.4 ) types. Type distributions on the TF dimension arealmost even (T:50.3 ;F: 49.7 ).

The students were further ca tegorized into three groups, nam ely, highachievers, mid achievers and low achievers according to their perform-ance in the final tests. High and low achievers are scattered across thetype table. Most MB Tl types have representatives of both classes. Figure


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Table 3.Sample Split by Each of the Four M BTl Dimensionsand Classification by MB Tl T ype n = 187)

I Sn =(11.I Sn =(8.CE Sn =(5.9E Sn =(4.3

T J2 28 )T P1 5 )T P1 1 )T J= 8 )

I S F = 2(11.2I S Fn = 1(5.3 )E S Fn = 1(5.3 )E S Fn = 1(11.8

J1)P0

P0

J2)

I Nn =(4.8/I Nn =(3.2/E Nn =(6.4/E Nn -(1.6/

F4))F


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79 ang uage earning Styles and earning Strategies

Of the eight MBTI scales, Judging is found to significantly influenceseven strategies, namely, the cognitive strategies of practicing, rehearsaland summ arizing, the metacognitive strategies of arranging and planning,self-evaluating and monitoring and the social strategy of cooperation,turning out to be the most influential leaming style variable affecting theuse of leaming strategies in the present analysis. Extraversionisassociatedpositively with four sets of leaming strategies, only second to Judgingscale. The four strategies include the cognitive strategies of practicing andovercom ing limitations in speaking, social/affective strategies of loweringanxiety and cooperation. The negative association between Extraversionand cognitive strategy of using mother tongue suggests that this strategy ispreferred by Introverts. Thinking leamers exhibit preference for the cog-nitive strategy of inferencing and the social/affective strategy of loweringanxiety. Negative correlation was found between Sensing and the summa-rizing strategy, which discloses that Intuitive leamers prefer this strategychoice.

Further analyses of the results revealed that particular leaming style isalways positively related to the strategies that exactly fall into their owntyp es . For example, Extraverts are inclined to use practicing, overcom inglimitations in speaking, lowering anxiety and cooperation strategies; Intui-tive leamers prefer the summarizing strategy; Thinking leamers showlikings for the analyzing and lowering anxiety strategies; and Judgingleamers indicate clear preference forthemetacognitive strategy. The resultis consistent with other researchers who reported that for adult leamers,leaming styles appear to have a significant influence on their strategychoices (Carson and Longhini 2002; Ehrman and Oxford 1990; Littlemore2001). Leamers tend to use typical strategies developed by their own styles,indicating that university students, in general, are capable of capitalizing ontheir leaming strengths to a certain extent by making use of appropriatestrategies. For example, according to Myers and McCaulley (1985), Judg-ing leamers tend to work best in a structured, formalized leaming situation,and they like to plan their work and fina lize issues so they can move fromone task to the next. The metacognitive strategies which include monitor-ing, arranging and planning as well as self-evaluating strategies in the


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The MBTI theory characterizes E xtraverts as people wh o prefer inter-action w ith others and are action o riented. Their natural leam ing strengthlies in social interaction, concrete experience, group projects and oralperfonnance. They tend to work by trial and error. In this study, the useofth practicing strategy includes such activities as speaking English toon s lf reading English novels and newspaper, watching English m oviesand listening to English broadcast. Extraverts, with their preferences formovement, action and talking, would naturally show a strong liking forthis strategy. Moreov er, their likings for oral perfonn ance and w orkingby trial and error would contribu te significantly to the high frequency oftheir use of the strategy of overcom ing limitations in speaking. They aremore w illing to take conv ersational risks through the attemp ts of usinggestures, selecting familiar topics and using synonyms when experiencingtemporary breakdown in speaking. This natural inclination may alsoexplain why they prefer anxiety-reducing strategy which helps leamerstake appropriate risks in guessing meanings despite the possibility ofmaking a mistake. Finally, their preferences for social interaction andworking with other people would certainly result in their frequent use ofcooperation strategy.

Table 4.Relationship between Le arning Styles and Learning Strategies

Metacognitivestrategy

Cognitivestrategy

Arranging andplanning

Monitoring Self-evaluating Practicing Rehearsal Using mother

tongue Inferencing Summarizing Overcominglimitations in

Extraversion

.202**

-.293****

270****

Sensing

-.160*

Thinking

.222***

Judging.358****.197**.286****.154*.242***

251***


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With regard to Thinking leamers, they tend to be objectively oriented,logical and systematic. The inferencing strategy concerns logical analysisand reasoning in language leam ing. Adult leamers, by means ofthe infer-encing strategy, tend to construct a formal model in their minds andcreate general rules for English leaming. It is probably because of theirenjoyment of logical analysis that Thinkers show a clear preference forthe inferencing strategy.

Intuition indicates a preference to perceive the possibilities that arisefrom a situation, rather than just the hard facts revealed . Intuitive leam erslike to see relationships, tend to reason abstractly and enjoy variation. Thesummarizing strategy here refers to generalizing the language rules andmaking sum maries after class. It is not unusual for Intuitive leam ers whoshow tendency for possibilities and pattem s ofth e things to develop sucha strategy.

Although the interpretations above are preliminary and need to bechecked against different samples, the influences of Judging scale onleaming strategies seem to further clarify the relationship found betweenJudging scale and language leaming outcomes in an earlier report ofleaming styles to language leaming outcomes based on the same sam ple(Li and Qin 2003). In the preceding report, it is found that Judging scalecorrelates positively with language leaming outcomes. However, thesmall proportion of variance explained by this leaming style variable(4.2 ) seems to suggest that leaming styles are only weakly or indirectlyrelated to language leaming outcomes, which is consistent with otherresearchers' findings (Baileyetal 2000; C arrelle tal 1996; Ehrman andOxford 1995). Ehrman and Oxford (1990) have hypothesized that leam -ing styles are related to language leaming outcomes through their rela-tionship with leaming strategies. Thatis,leaming styles may significantlyinfluence leam ers ' choice of leaming strategies, which in tum , may regu-late levels of language leaming outcomes. Judgers' preferences for m eta-cognitive strategies in particular are in accordance with the characteristicsof good language leamers (Oxford 1990a). The use o fth e strategies ofmonitoring as well as arranging and planning show s that Judging leamersare capable of organizing their leaming in an efficient way and channel-


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82Regional Language Centre Journal 37.1organize their leam ing, which is of great value in successful languageleaming. It is likely that through its relationship w ith leaming strategies,Judging scale is positively related to language leaming outcomes.

Another interesting finding lies in the positive relationship betweenIntroversion and the strategy of using mother tongue. So far no report hasbeen found in this respect. The strategy surveyed is reflected in think ingin Chinese before speaking, w riting and read ing, corresponding in part tothe preference for reflection by Introverts. Does this mean that In trovertsare more subjected to the influence of the mother tongue because of theirleaming style preferences? More studies on this question are still calledfor.

Qualitative Differences in Strategy Deployment between High chievers and Low chievers of the Same Learning Style

The interview results on the MBTI type of the subjects were com patiblewith their quantitative statistics. Tw o important findings emerge from thequalitative data. First, it was found that both high and low achieversprefer to use strategies that suit their leam ing styles best. However, com -pared with low achievers, high achievers are m ore aware of their leam ingweaknesses and are more m otivated to modify it with conscious efforts toadapt to different leaming dem ands. Apparently high ach ievers reportedmore kinds of leaming strategies than low achievers of the same leamingstyle. They are flexible and can use the strategies characteristic of theopposite styles besides the strategies typical of their own leaming styles.Second, it was revealed that high and low achievers hold differentattitudes towards the tea che r s instructions when there is a m ismatchbetween their leaming styles and the teach ers teaching styles. Highachievers usually develop a positive attitude towards their teachersinstructions. They are more willing and ready to change when the teach-ers teaching styles do not correspond to their leam ing sty les. Therefore,the teac he rs instructions m ake it possible for high ach ievers to stretchthem selves beyond the strategies that are norm ally related to their leam-ing style preferences. In contrast, low achievers all reported negative


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Extract (Susan, high achiever, an Introvert)I think I am an Introvert. I learn best when I work alone. I preferreading and writing to listening and speaking. I like structured inputbetter than free discu ssions in the class. But un iversity teachers seem toadvocate group w ork in class a lot. At the beginn ing I thought it was awaste of time. But by and by I find that working with others is anefficient way of improving my oral English. So I began to go toEnglish comer once a week to force myself to open my mouth... Thissumm er I am g oing to take GR E test. I am now preparing the test withone of my friends because the preparation is really a hard j ob . We canenco urag e each other in the long proces s. Otherw ise, it is difficult for asingle person to insist on it.

Atypical strategies mentioned by Susan include the social strategy ofcooperation and the affective strategy of encouragement. While beingaware of her leaming strengths, she is apparently influenced by theteacher s teaching m ethods. She is flexible with the choices of leamingstrategies which are not naturally developed by her own style as leamingcontexts vary to cope with the learning demands. She seeks cooperativelearning and works with others in the interests of achieving commonleaming goals.Extract 2 (George, high achiever, a Judger)

...To me, explicit guidance from the teacher is quite necessary andsystematic organization of the content is very, very important. I amcomfortable w ith everything clear in min d... But now 1 som etimesguess the meaning of a word from the context because we were in-structed and encouraged by the teacher to do so. The teacher told usthis was a necessary skill in English leam ing. It is . . .som etim es good,if not necessarily always... I will practice more.

George went beyond his Judging style and employed compensationstrategy of guessing. Under the guidance of his teacher, he became toler-ant of ambiguities by guessing meanings from the contexts. His wordsrevealed that he used this strategy with a certain degree of uneasiness.However, he would keep practicing it.Extract 3 (M ike, high achiever, an Intuitive)


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univ ersity, I came to realize that effective arrange men t and plannin g inmy learning are very important in my future study because teachershere are not like middle school teachers. I have to depend on my own.

Atypical strategies chosen by Mike include the cognitive strategy ofpracticing and the metacognitive strategy of arranging. The carele ssnessdescribed by Mike revealed his natural preference of intuitive learningstyle whose detrimental side in learning lies greatly in missing importantdetails. He was fortunate to accept the teachers instruction com plemen-tary to his learning style to improve his learning. Moreover, he was intouch with the metacognitive strategy of arranging his study to deal withthe changed learning context after he entered the university.

In contrast to high achievers, low achievers appear to have more dif-ficulties in utilizing the strategies of other styles. They appear to bestu ck in their own learning styles and are not aware of their learningweaknesses. Am ong the three low achievers interviewed, only one inter-viewee (Eric) reported consciousness about his learning disadvantages,but did not make clear efforts to improve the situation. Instead of reflect-ing on and extending their learning strategy repertoires, they all heldnegative attitudes towards their teachers teaching when the mismatchbetween their learning and the teachers teaching occurs. Their learningpotential, therefore, is largely confined to their own styles, as illustrated inthe following extracts.

Extract 4 (Alice, low achiever, an Introvert)Well... I believe I am an Introvert. I prefer to work alone and I do notthinkIcan really leam anything from w orking w ith othe rs.. . am con-fident of my learning metho ds. Otherwise, how can enter this univer-sity? ... do not think I can really change my learning habits. How canI change my ch aract er?.. . I do n t like my teach er s instruction, to behonest. She always encouraged us to work in groups or pairs and talk.She said that we could leam from each other this way. However, I didnot feel like talking...it was a waste of t ime. Besides, if could learneverything from my classmates, why do we still have a teacher?

It is apparent that Alice adopted learning methods appropriate to herlearning styles. However, she had an incorrect conception about learning


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86Regional Language entre Journal 37.1the most influential leam ing style variable on leaming strategy choices. Itis further proved from the qualitative analysis that high achievers aremore capable of exercising strategies that are associated w ith their non-preferred styles.

onclusionThe major findings presented in this paper on the relationship betweenleaming styles and leaming strategies are as follows:

(a) Leam ing styles have a significant influence on leam ers leam-ing strategy choices.

(b) Judging scale correlates positively with the biggest num ber ofleaming strategies, thus tuming out to be the most influentialleaming style variable affecting leam ers leaming strategychoices. Together with the earlier finding that Judging is onlyweakly or indirectly related to language leaming outcom es, it islikely that Judging scale is positively related to language leamingoutcomes through its relationship with leaming strategies.

(c) High achievers contrast with low achievers mainly in that highachievers are flexible to access leaming strategies typical ofother leaming styles.

The research findings indicate that when leamers are aware of their ownleaming strengths and w eaknesses, they may take more efficient actionsto improve their leam ing. The ultimate goal of teaching is to help leamersachieve leamer autonom y. Teachers should help students discover and getfamiliar with their own learning sty les in order to help them becom eselfaware leamers. At the same time, teachers should also encourage studentsto experiment with extending their preferred styles. Instmc tors m ay useleaming style instruments to help students identify their own leamingstyles.When students get to know their own leaming styles, the teachermay ask the students to keep capitalizing on their leaming strengths w hileat the same time explaining to the students explicitly the importance oftapping strategies of other styles in order to help students work on the


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87Language L earning Styles and Learning Strategies

be taught and how to deal with leam ers of different leaming styles. Sinceit is possible for students to tap strategies of other styles, explicit trainingof certain strategies would enable leamers to maximize their leamingefficiency.

Future research should continue to investigate whether leam ing stylevariables interact with o ther cognitive, affective and personality variablesto predict foreign language leaming results. By considering the interactiveeffects of leaming styles with other variab les, a more insightfiil analysisin foreign language leaming might be obtained.

Finally, since this study is based on a sample of the second-year stu-dents at the introductory level, the results are only suggestive of the trendas leaming contexts might exert influences on leaming styles after llfouryears' study. Besides, the limited samples were probably not optimallyrepresentative of the second-year college students in China. Replicationof this study is considered necessary to determine whether these findingsare sample specific.

AcknowledgmentsThis study was supported by the Program for New Century ExcellentTalents in University (NCET). The authors would like to thank MiaoDanm in, Feng Yuejin and Tong Zhiyo ng for their valuable assistance inoffering the relevant research material. The authors also appreciatecomm ents by the two anonym ous reviewers.

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PPENDIX

M Tl Scale Descriptions

Extraversion versus IntroversionThis scale concerns how people are energized and oriented. An Extravert is energizedby interaction with others and puts primary interest in the outer world of people andevents while an Introvert is energized by solitary activities and is oriented primarilytoward internal concepts and ideas.Sensing versus IntuitionThis scale concerns how people perceive the world and take in data. Relying on datagathered through the five senses the Sensing person sees the world in a practical andfactual way. An Intuitive is aware of relationships possibilities and meanings and isdrawn to the innovative and theoretical.Thinking versus FeelingThis scale concerns how people draw conclusions or make decisions. Thinkers makedecisions on impersonal objective cause-and-effect criteria. Feelers on the otherhand make decisions on the basis of personal or social values interpersonal relation-ships and their own feelings or those of others.Judging versus PerceivingThis scale describes the process which the individual mainly uses to deal with theoutside world. A Judger prefers closure structure organization and control. A Per-ceiver values spontaneity flexibility freedom and autonomy and wants to continueto adapt and stay open as long as possible.

Source: adapted from Ehrman and Oxford 1990.


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Learning Str in China

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