A Correlative Study Of Tolerance Of Ambiguity In English Learning And Communication Strategies Use Of Demonstrative High School Students

At present,although most middle school students in China have been learning English for many years,they are not good at using communicative strategies to communicate smoothly.One of the reasons can be that learners’ tolerance of ambiguity in English learning is low,which prevents them from adopting new learning strategies.Therefore,the present study attempts to explores the correlation between demonstrative senior high school students’ tolerance of ambiguity in English learning and their communication strategy use.The author uses two questionnaires as the research instruments for the research,and grade Two students from three demonstrative high schools in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region are involved.The Questionnaire1-Tolerance of Ambiguity Scale of English Learning,which is taken reference from the Second Language Tolerance of Ambiguity Scale(SLTAS)by Ely(1995),which mainly includes five components: tolerance of ambiguity in listening,speaking,reading,writing,grammar.And Questionnaire 2-English Communication Strategy Inventory,which is designed based on the communication strategy classification by Dornyei’s(1995).And six dimensions are involved in this part: reduction strategy,L1-based strategy,L2-based strategy,stalling strategy,para-language strategy,cooperative strategy.The present study tries to answer the following three research questions:(1)What is the overall status of demonstrative high school students’ tolerance of ambiguity in English learning?(2)What is the general status of senior high school students’ communication strategies utilization?(3)Is there any correlation between the tolerance of ambiguity intensity and English communication strategies utilization in senior high school students’ English learning? If yes,how are they related with each other?The author has obtained the following results through the research:(1)Students under investigation present a moderate level of tolerance of ambiguity,and students show a relatively higher level of tolerance of ambiguity in listening,grammar,reading,lower lever of tolerance of ambiguity in speaking and writing.(2)The students use English communication strategies at the medium frequency;cooperative strategies and reduction strategies are used most frequently,followed by para-language strategies,stalling strategies,L1-based strategies,while L2-based language is used least.(3)The students’ tolerance of ambiguity and their use of communication strategies are moderate correlated.And there exists significantly positive correlation between students’ tolerance of ambiguity and their reduction strategies use;highly positive correlation between students’ tolerance of ambiguity and their L1-based strategies use;negative correlation between students’ tolerance of ambiguity and their cooperative strategies use,weak correlation between students’ tolerance of ambiguity and their L2-based strategies and no correlation between students’ tolerance of ambiguity and their para-language strategies use and stalling strategies use.Based on these findings,the author puts forward some feasible suggestions from the perspective of English teachers and students in order to better ameliorate the situation of communicative English teaching in senior high schools and improve the efficiency of English learning.To the English teachers: they need to arouse students’ sense of tolerance of ambiguity,expand the learning of language culture and help students develop appropriate tolerance of ambiguity in English,increase their own tolerance of ambiguity towards students,guide the students to master and flexibly use communication strategies as well.On the part of students,they need to establish the correct sense of tolerance for ambiguity in English learning,aggrandize the learning of Chinese and western culture as well as actively cooperate with the strategy training carried out by teachers and so on.