A Study On The Correlation Between Identity Change Of Senior High English Students And English Proficiency From Sociocultural Theory

With the development of internationalization,learning foreign language is becoming more and more important.Identity may change in the process of learning foreign language,and identity change will affect foreign language learning.Therefore,more and more researchers of second language acquisition begin to pay attention to identity change of English learners.In recent years,Sociocultural Theory has provided a new perspective for identity change of foreign language learners.At present,many scholars in China have studied the identity change of college students after learning English based on the Sociocultural Theory while few scholars focus on the identity change of senior high school students.Based on the Sociocultural Theory,this paper studies the correlation between the identity change of senior high school students and their English proficiency after learning English.The purpose is to put forward some feasible suggestions for English teaching and learning.The subjects of the study are students from a senior high school in Yuzhou,Henan Province.There are three questions in this research.(1)Is there any change in students' identity in the process of English learning?(2)Is there a positive and significant correlation between self-confidence,productive change,additive change,subtractive change,split change,zero change and senior high school students' English proficiency?(3)How does the identity of excellent English learners change and why it is related to English proficiency from Sociocultural Theory? In this paper,qualitative and quantitative research methods have been used.SPSS 18.0 has been used to analyze the collected data.Through the descriptive analysis and correlation analysis of the questionnaire,it explores identity change of Yuzhou senior high school students and the correlation between identity change and language proficiency.In addition,based on the Sociocultural Theory,this paper studies the English learning experiences of 6 senior excellent English learners.The results of data analysis show that(1)identity of most high school students in Yuzhou hasn't changed after they learn English while their confidence has been improved a lot.(2)There is a positive correlation between confidence,productive change,additive change,split change,zero change and the English proficiency of senior high school students.There is no correlation between subtractive change and senior high school students' English proficiency.(3)On one hand,teachers' teaching methods have an influence on students' English proficiency.On the other hand,students' learning motivation has played an important role in their English proficiency.The improvement of English proficiency has built up their confidence,which makes their identity towards positive change.Based on the results of this study,the following suggestions are put forward.(1)As for English teachers,a variety of teaching methods and multimedia should be adopted in the teaching process to stimulate students' interest in learning English combined with Western culture.What's more,teachers should focus on students' identity change,guide and encourage them to promote their own identity towards positive change when necessary.(2)As for students,they should correct their own learning motivation and promote their own identity towards positive change.(3)As for parents,they should adopt the right educational concept and encourage their children to learn English in the right way.This study is expected to help senior English learners with their English and make a certain contribution to senior English teaching.