A Cognitive Perspective Of EFL Learners’ Tolerance Of Ambiguity In Different Foreign Language Learning Tasks

Learners’different attitudes towards ambiguity have different impact on foreign language learning. Tolerance of Ambiguity is a reflection of these attitudes which vary from acceptance to resistance. A large amount of factors may influence Tolerance of Ambiguity. The domestic and foreign researchers have discussed a great deal about the relationship between Tolerance of Ambiguity and language learning. The studies also confirm the influence of Tolerance of Ambiguity on learners’learning process and effects from different aspects. These research indicate that motivation, personality, gender, learning style, creativity, cultural differences, learning strategies and self-efficacy of students all have close relations with students’Tolerance of Ambiguity. However, on the relationship between Tolerance of Ambiguity and different learning tasks, little research has been done in China and abroad. And scholars can not reach a unanimous conclusion on how Tolerance of Ambiguity affects English language learning. Therefore, aiming at the problem, this study investigates the language achievement of different levels of ESL (English as a Foreign Language) learners’ Tolerance of Ambiguity in different learning tasks. The purpose of this study is to answer the following questions:Is there a significant difference of TA between males and females, Science & Technology major and Literature & History major, Normal-major and Non-normal-major students? Does students’TA positively correlate the levels of language achievement? What are the differences of students’scores in different levels of Tolerance of Ambiguity groups in different learning tasks, such as reading, listening, writing & translation? What are the differences of TA that students in different English proficiency levels demonstrate when facing different kinds of tasks?To answer these questions, we adopt a questionnaire survey on ESL learners’ Tolerance of Ambiguity. The subjects of the study are 104 non-English major students from Shaanxi Normal University. And according to the results we use SPSS20.0 software to process these data. At first, we divide the students into high, medium and low groups, and then study in listening, reading, translation and writing learning tasks, whether different groups show differences. At the same time, this study also investigate students’Tolerance of Ambiguity in different genders and majors. The findings suggest that Tolerance of Ambiguity shows no difference in different genders, Science & Technology major and Literature & History major Normal-major and Non-normal-major. The survey also shows that Tolerance of Ambiguity has a significant influence on foreign language learning. Higher TA group gains higher grade; higher score group is more tolerant for ambiguity. Different TA levels show great differences in CET-4 scores and sub-scores. To be specific, in reading, total score, writing and translation, high TA group and low TA group show a great significant difference. And in writing & translation, high TA group get higher score than moderate TA group. While there is no significant difference of TA in listening. And in different tasks, different English levels show different degree of TA. In total TA, reading TA, and grammar TA, high score group are significantly tolerate for ambiguity than low score group. In listening TA, writing TA and translation TA, there is no significant difference.