An Investigation Of The Cultivation Of Senior High School Students' English Learning Ability Based On English Key Competencies

With the continuous development of the society,the English curriculum reform has been carried out in basic education.Additionally,an increasing attention has been paid to the educational function of the English discipline in the aspect of fostering morality and cultivating students.The cultivation of students' English key competencies is also being valued.English Curriculum Standards for Senior High Schools(2017)points out that English key competencies include the following four aspects: linguistic competence,learning ability,cultural awareness and thinking quality.As one of the English key competencies,the learning ability is considered as the development condition that constitutes English key competencies.It refers to students' awareness and ability to actively use and adjust English learning strategies,expand English learning channels and strive to enhance English learning efficiency,which is also the English learning ability in this thesis.In the English teaching of senior high school,cultivating students' learning ability is advantageous for them to study efficiently with using various resources and learning strategies.Based on constructivism learning theory,humanistic learning theory,and learning strategies,starting from the definition of learning ability and the requirements for students' learning ability in English Curriculum Standards for Senior High Schools(2017),a questionnaire survey was conducted on 220 students of Senior High School A in Yantai city.Supplemented by interviews for teachers,this study investigates the current situation and influencing factors of the cultivation of senior high school students' English learning ability,aiming to discuss the following two questions:(1)What is the current situation of the cultivation of senior high school students' English learning ability?(2)What are the factors that influence the cultivation of senior high school students' English learning ability?The results of the study are as follows:(1)The current situation of the cultivation of senior high school students' English learning ability is not ideal.Most senior highschool students can understand the importance of English learning and are interested in it.However,they lack good learning strategies such as metacognitive strategies and cognitive strategies in English learning.Additionally,senior high school students' way to acquire learning resources is relatively single.Most of them mainly learn English through textbooks and reference books and they rarely study through the Internet and libraries.Finally,most senior high school students are able to study English with autonomous learning and cooperative learning.However,they don't have the habit of optimizing their study plan,and they seldom reflect their learning efficiency.(2)The factors that influence the cultivation of senior high school students' English learning ability are as follows.Teachers have poor understandings of the contents of English key competencies and they don't pay attention to cultivating students' English learning ability in the process of English teaching;students don't have the appropriate method of learning and their learning initiative is not high;the subject of teaching evaluation is single;teachers are the main subject of evaluation and they attach great importance to the grades of students.Consequently,in order to improve the situation of the cultivation of senior high school students' English learning ability,some constructive suggestions are put forward for teachers and students.The suggestions are supposed to improve the English learning ability of senior high school students.