A Study On The Correlation Between Tolerance Of Ambiguity And The Use Of Reading Strategies Of High School Students

Foreign language learning is a process where learners will constantly encounter various uncertainties and ambiguities, as a result of the differences between native language and the target language. Reading is one of the most important language skills in foreign language learning and a complex cognitive process as well. Reading comprehension requires learners to acquire new information through written signals which are full of ambiguities. Reading strategies are efficient methods employed by readers to cope with those ambiguities. And the research on reading strategies and the use of reading strategies has been a great concern in the research field of the development of reading proficiency.Tolerance of ambiguity is a cognitive factor, a learning style, and a personality and affection factor. The ability to tolerate ambiguities can be one of the characteristics of efficient learners, who can be adept at accepting and dealing with new things without being disturbed by ambiguities easily, and who can keep trying in the process of learning. Tolerance of ambiguity has a great effect on language learning and much research has been done on it.This study explores the relationship between tolerance of ambiguity and the use of reading strategies of high school students.In detail, three research questions are put forward:1. What is the level of tolerance of ambiguity of high school students? Are there any significant differences in tolerance of ambiguity between students of arts and students of science?2. What’s the correlation between students’ tolerance of ambiguity and their reading proficiency?3. How do high school students use reading strategies while reading? What’s the correlation between students’ tolerance of ambiguity and their use of reading strategies?107 senior 2 students,55 of science and 52 of arts, are taken as the subjects of this study. They are asked to complete the questionnaires to measure their levels of tolerance of ambiguity and their use of reading strategies. The reading scores in the mid-term examination are adopted to find out the subjects’ reading proficiency. SPSS 18.0 is used to make the statistical analysis.The conclusions obtained are as below:1. The subjects show a lower middle level of tolerance of ambiguity. Among all those subjects, most of them have a comparatively lower level of tolerance of ambiguity.As for the students studying different subjects, there is no significant difference found in tolerance of ambiguity between students of arts and students of science.2. A highly significant positive correlation has been found between the subjects’ tolerance of ambiguity and their reading proficiency. Students with higher level of tolerance of ambiguity tend to perform better in reading comprehension.3. Reading strategies are used very often by the subjects. It has also been found that tolerance of ambiguity is closely related to students’ use of reading strategies.This study offers a metacognitive approach for both teachers and students. Foreign language teachers can help students to reflect on and improve their level of tolerance of ambiguity and their use of reading strategies. Thus, the students’ reading proficiency can be improved in the end.