How To Develop Secondary School Students' English Learning Strategies

We must pay attention to strategies whatever we do. Learning English is no exception. Many foreign language specialists in education have done lots of researches on learning strategies since 1970s. They come to the conclusion that students can improve learning efficiency and lessen the burden when using the efficient learning strategies. Besides this, our English Syllabus has labeled "forming efficient learning strategies" one of the most important teaching purpose. National Curriculum Criteria on Go For It issued in July 2001 has made the training students' learning strategies a key aspect in curriculum. It is stipulated in "New Criteria for English Curriculum" that one of goals of English course is to make students form effective learning strategies. Therefore, it is greatly significant to emphasize study on language learning strategies and strategy training. On the one hand, it can enhance learning efficiency of students. On the other hand, it can promote teaching and achieve the purpose of reducing students' learning burdens by strategy instruction.In this essay, the author reviews the earlier theories and researches of the learning strategies at home and abroad. Next the author shows the results of a questionnaire about the situatoin of middle school students' learning strategies. Then the author analyzes the difference between the successful English learners and unsuccessful ones, which may help the unsuccessful students learn from good learning strategies. The study shows that the subjects hold positive as well as negative language learning beliefs. They have quite strong motivation and expectation to learn English though they have not enough confidence in their foreign language competence. The subjects prefer practice and communication in English language learning but they are lack of strong self-efficacy. They should be given more instructions in cognitive and mela-cognitive strategy as well as in affective strategy. And then the author has done a teaching experiment for a year in order to verify the hypothesis: students can make greater progress in English learning by cultivated learning strategies. The results of the experiment show that the students in experimental class made greater progress in their English learning during the experimental time, compared with those of the control class. This text mainly discusses four necessary learning strategies for Middle School students, which are Metacognitive strategies,cognitive strategies,affective strategies,communicative strategies. All these will benefit students for their whole life.