An Investigation Of Oral English Learning Strategies Used By Junior High Students In Chengdu Experimental Foreign Language School (West Campus)

As an international language,English is necessary and important to learn.The ability to speak English also can't be ignored in communication.Learning strategy,as a key factor to affect the learning result,has been put into the New Curriculum Standard.So,the training of the oral English learning strategy is one part of the development of the all-round English abilities.Since mid-1970 s,there have been numerous studies and researches on learning strategies used by language learners.There are a lot of studies on English learning strategies,however,the studies on oral English learning strategies for middle school students are rare.The purpose of this study is to explore the use of oral English strategies among the students,taking Chengdu Experimental Foreign Language School(West Campus)as an example.This paper aims to find out what kind of oral English strategies the students in foreign language schools may use and what factors causing the use of the oral English learning strategies of the students from the teachers.The questionnaire is based on Oxford's Classification of Learning Strategies and the English Curriculum Standards in 2011,including three parts: the English learning background of the students,the belief of oral English learning and the use of the oral English learning strategies.Data from the questionnaires conducted at different time and the information from the class observation and interviews are analyzed.The study results are as follows,firstly,the students in the foreign language school use all kinds of oral English learning strategies at a high frequency,especially meta-cognitive strategies,social strategies and cognitive strategies.Secondly,teachers play an important role in affecting the students' choices of strategies.Especially the scientific and overall evaluation system and the group-cooperation in oral English teaching have great effects on the use of learning strategies.However,the study also finds that the way of teaching by teachers is mostly based on their experience.They are not teaching the strategies systematically.So it's necessary for the teachers to improve themselves to excel in teaching learning strategies.The results of this study have some inspiration for junior high school English teachers to have oral English training.Knowing the use of the oral English strategies by the foreign language school students is helpful for the students in ordinary secondary schools to improve oral English.And the teachers can better know how to improve the efficiency of learning oral English,changing the ordinary English learners into excellent English learners.