A Study Of Tolerance Of Ambiguity In Foreign Language Learning Oriented To Non-english Major Students

With the development of second language acquisition research and the rise of student-centered teaching pedagogy, language educators increasingly pay more and more attention to learners’individual differences. The researches about the characteristics of the learners themselves are continuously emerging, among which tolerance of ambiguity (TOA) has attracted more and more domestic and foreign researchers’attention. However, a quick look at this area of research indicates that the current domestic researches have addressed TOA in language learning mostly for all Chinese college students or for English major students, while the research findings focusing on non-English major students’TOA in foreign language learning seen scarcely. In view of this, this thesis attempts to investigate the situations of non-English major students’TOA in foreign language learning, aiming to provide some reference and inspiration for our current foreign language teaching.In this study, the questionnaire is the primary means, supplemented with a face-to-face interview. The participants are132non-English major freshman and sophomores from Guangxi Normal University. The questionnaire used in this study takes reference to Ely’s Second Language Tolerance of Ambiguity Scale and Wen Qiufang’s Self-test Questions on Tolerance of Ambiguity. On the basis of research needs, the author makes appropriate changes to the original questionnaire. The dimension of the questionnaire includes the following five aspects:TOA in reading, TOA in listening, TOA in speaking, TOA in writing and TOA in grammar.The four research questions of the present study are showed as follows:1. What is the overall situation of TOA of non-English major students in foreign language learning?2. What is the situation of non-English major students’TOA for language receptive skills and productive skills in foreign language learning?3. Are non-English major female students and male students different in terms of their TOA in the process of foreign language learning?4. What are the factors that influence non-English major students’TOA in the process of foreign language learning? By using SPSS18.0software, the collected data are analyzed. The results of the present study can be concluded as follows:1. Most of the non-English major students’overall level of TO A is moderate, neither high nor low. But through a careful analysis of each item in the questionnaire, it can be see that non-English major students are more willing to tolerate the ambiguity phenomenon in English reading, listening and grammar, while they cannot tolerate the vague phenomenon which appeared in English writing and speaking;2. Non-English major students have higher levels of TOA for language receptive skills, while they have lower levels of TOA for language productive skills.3. There are significant differences of TOA between male students and female students in the process of foreign language learning. TOA of the male students is obviously higher than that of the female students on the whole except for the aspect of English speaking.4. Through the interviews with non-English major students, the author finds that there are five main factors that influence non-English major students’TOA in foreign language learning. These five main factors are cultural backgrounds, learning styles, psychological mechanisms, language learning strategies and self-awareness.Based on the major findings, this thesis puts forward some implications for foreign language teaching and learning:1. Arousing non-English major students’awareness of TOA.2. Setting up a right attitude toward ambiguity and TOA.3. Helping students cultivate proper degrees of TOA.4. Guiding students to use some effective learning strategies in the process of foreign language learning.5. Creating a good teaching and learning environment.