A Study On English Learning Styles And Learning Strategies In The Classroom In The Primary School

In recent years, more and more focus in English instruction has been on thelearners rather than on the instructors. With the shift of such focus, teachersbegin to be aware of how students learn and consider learning styles and learningstrategies as one of the important personality-related variables influencingsuccess in learning a foreign language.A number of theories have been voiced with regard to learning styles and strategies, but very few researches are made on the primary school students. The present study is intended to find out the characteristics of the pupils' learning styles and strategies, the relationship between the learning styles, learning strategies and learning achievements. It aims at helping the instructors develop the pupils' intelligence and raise their self-confidence to their maximum, and makes them the centre of the class. Besides, it will help the students know their learning strategies better, choose proper ones and adopt them so that they will become successful English learners.This thesis is mainly concerned with the theories of learning styles, learning strategies of primary school pupils and relevant second language learning. And at the same time it discusses the related factors in the former research on learning styles and strategies in China and abroad. In the course of the study, an empirical investigation has been conducted and got some classroom implications. The major instruments adopted here are two questionnaires (Perceptual Learning Style Preference Questionnaire by Joy Reid; Learning Strategies and Description Questionnaire by O' Malley) for the pupils from Grade 3 to Grade 6 in Yancheng No. 1 Primary School. The result shows that the pupils' learning action and learning strategies depend a lot on their learning styles. Their learning performances vary a lot due to different learning strategies. Compared with low achievers, high achievers are more capable of exercising strategies that are associated with their non-preferred style.