English Learning Strategies &Problems of College Students

宋捷

Abstract The paper aims to study the learning strategies deployed by a sample of college students with the hope of finding certain learning pattern and typical problems and hence help students hone language skill in a more efficient way. The report focuses on the students learning strategies in different respects of listening， speaking， reading， writing， cultural background， vocabulary and etc. by the frequent use of statistical analysis， trying to explain learning obstacles according to cognitive theory. At last part， common advice for English learning is given as an approach for efficient learning.

Key words college students English skill English learning strategies learning pattern efficient learning

Introduction

Second language acquisition （SLA） or second language learning is the process by which people of a language can learn a second language in addition to their native language. Second language learning strategy refers to the concept， rule， method， skill and adjustment concerning an efficient learning that learners can be aware of. Different from the learning style，l earning strategy depends on the way of learning， some of which is shown by learning method and skill.

According to a wide accepted theory， people learns differently depending on the their genetic difference， which is called “individual variation”. Therefore， there is no such common strategy for all students. Students sometimes apply their own strategies when learning， though they may not be conscious about them. Strategies without scientific guidance can be inefficient， and in the long run of study， it hinders the students learning progress as well as wearing down their interests and enthusiasms. In conclusion， applying learning strategies on a personal basis is essential in language learning.

Research Design

In the research， questionnaires were designed and attributed on campus among different grades of college students. At the same time， we also searched on the internet for more available supportive statistics and related theory. Secondly， after these questionnaires had been collected and more related，supportive documents had been prepared， we moved to the careful analysis procedure of the survey. Charts and graphs were made in this period to show a sharp comparison ， which helped significantly in finding the typical mistakes and learning model.Thirdly， we interviewed some students and teachers during which we took down the problems confronted and suggestions given.

Findings and Conclusions

1、Lack of study motivation： 64% of the students enjoy studying English. However， when it comes to choosing English as a major， interest （18.75%）is not the key factor. Most students choose the major for pragmatic reasons： for career （25%）， for college （16.25%） .Strangely enough， apart from those two pragmatic factors ， 33.75% of the students have an obscure motivation. According to the motivation theory， motivation is the crucial force which determines whether a learner embarks on a task at all， how much energy he devotes to it， and how long he perseveres. The lack of a specific motivation can lead to the lack of devotion and enthusiasm in English learning. In addition， their study motivations are largely instrumental rather than integrative， which means students interest are related to goals in career rather than communication.

2、Learning concentration： compared with speaking skill （15%） ，writing（15%）and listening skill（15%）， more students believe that they are good at reading（40%） which is most likely the result of exam-oriented learning style. As for the skill needs improvements， 70% of the students believe listening and speaking is their weakness. On the one hand， it illustrate that students awareness of learning of listening and speaking； on the other hand， it shows that listening and speaking is a typical problem among students.

3、Language input concentration：when asked about extensive reading， only 12.5% students answer that they have the habit of extensive-reading. Extensive-reading， which is a great way to enlarge vocabulary， learn about cultural background， acquire the authentic use of words and sentence structure， has been ignored by most students. In addition， only 11.25% of the students have the habit of reading some authentic reading material after class， and only 18.75% of students listen to various listening materials and watch English TV programs and original movies. This indicates a lack of authentic language input.

4、Lack of efficiency ： Keep writing the words down until remembered is the most time-consuming method in vocabulary learning. Shockingly， 36.25% of the students choose it as their way to learn.With no wonder， we can find that most students regard memorizing words as their greatest difficulty.This shows the relation between the deficiency of the commonly deployed strategies and study problems.Only 8.75% of the students often read English loudly. The loss the this habit will lead to a series problem in college English learning.

Reference

Krashen， Stephen （1982）.？Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition. Pergamon Press

Gass， Susan； Selinker， Larry （2008）.？Second Language Acquisition： An Introductory Course. New York， NY： Routledge..

Zhang Weiyou（2006） A Course in English Language Learning Strategies and Study Skills

Brown，H.D.（2002 ） Principles of Language Learning and Teaching

（作者單位：中南財經政法大學外國語學院）