A Study On Students,Tolerance Of Ambiguity In English Learning In Senior High School

With the development of research on second language acquisition, individualdifferences attract many researchers’ attention. In the field of individual differenceresearch, tolerance of ambiguity (TA) becomes a hot topic. Although many researchconcern language learners’ TA (tolerance of ambiguity), few studies have beenconducted to explore the TA of senior high school students. Without understanding thecharacteristics of high school students’ TA, teachers will have difficulties in devisingappropriate tasks to promote students’ language learning. Concerning the importanceof TA in language learning and the large number of high school learners, the presentstudy is designed to investigate senior high school students’ TA.In the present study, the participants are220senior high school students fromChong Yi middle school, Grade2. This study aims to investigate:(1) the generalsituation of TA in high school students;(2) the relationship between TA and Englishproficiency;(3) the difference in TA by gender;(4) the difference in TA by major.Both quantitative and qualitative approaches were used. The data of quantitativeresearch were obtained by using two instruments:(1) Ely (1995)’s Second LanguageTolerance of Ambiguity Scale, and (2) The final English exam scores. The data wasanalyzed by SPSS16.0.The main findings of this study are:(1) The senior high students hold a moderatelevel of TA. Students have a lowest degree of TA in pronunciation, and have a highestdegree of TA in writing.(2) There was a significant relationship between TA andEnglish proficiency in reading, listening comprehension, vocabulary, translation andguessing.(3) There is a significant difference in overall TA by gender. Male studentshave a higher degree of TA than female students. Male students and female studentsdiffer significantly in pronunciation, writing, speaking and guessing.(4) Art majorand science major students differ significantly in overall TA. Science majors have ahigher degree of TA. Art major and science major students differ significantly inlistening comprehension, pronunciation, grammar and writing.Based on these findings, some implications towards high school students’ English teaching were offered. Firstly, teachers and students should realize theimportance of TA. Teachers should raise students’ consciousness about TA and helpthem figure out their TA level. Secondly, teachers should take students’ TA ofdifferent skills into consideration when making instruction designs. Thirdly, teachersshould design tasks according to the gender difference in TA. Fourthly, teacher shouldtake major difference in TA into consideration when designing teaching tasks. Fifthly,teachers should pay attention to the individual differences, like personality, cognitivestyle, strategy using and thinking pattern, and their interrelationships.