A Study Of English Language Situation Of Non-English

In recent years,more and more attention has been paid to the environment or ecology on which language depends for its existence and use.As a result,a branch of linguistics--Ecolinguistics has emerged,while in the field of sociolinguistsics,many scholars have also begun to study micro language planning by focusing on language activities of a speech community or individuals,leading to the formation of a new research field of sociolinguistics--Language Situation.Ecolinguistics believes that language has its own ecological environment,and advocates using the theory of ecology to solve linguistic problems.Ecolinguistics and language situation are closely related.A healthy language ecological environment is the foundation for harmonious language situation,and is conductive to the construction of a harmonious society.The newly developed school of Chinese Language Situation believes that the quality of language situation can also evaluate the language ecological environment behind it,and then forces the improvement of language ecological environment.And they propose studying language in the language situation in order to build a harmonious language situation.At present,the study of ecolinguistics in the foreign language circle in China focuses on the ontological study of foreign languages,while the study of language situation in the Chinese language circle pays more attention to Chinese language situation,ignoring the study of foreign language situation.The weakness or deficiencies of the current domestic research of language planning mainly lie in the micro level of ecolinguistics and language situation.As the largest group of English learners in China,college students are the main subjects of language study at a micro level.Therefore,it's necessary to investigate the English language situation of college students.By investigating the actual situation of college student's English language situation,we can deeply understand the overall situation of English language situation and the differences of English language situation in different regions or types of universities.This can not only broaden the research field of micro language situation,but also contribute to the building of a more harmonious foreign language situationand promote the healthy development of English language situation of college students in China.Based on the theories of ecolinguistics and sociolinguistics,this thesis explores the English language situation of non-English majors,trying to analyze the similarities and differences of college students' English language situation in different regions and types of universities.And then some useful suggestions for the reform of college English teaching and learning are provided based on the findings.In this thesis,questionnaire-based research methods are used,and SPSS 26.0 and EXCEL are adopted to analyze the “frequency”,“mean”,“percent”,“total” of data,and various tables and figures are used to elaborate,trying to answer the following two research questions: 1.What is the general situation of non-English majors' learning and using of English in non-English majors' extracurricular activities? 2.What are the similarities and differences of English language situation in universities of different areas with different types?This thesis consists of five parts.The first chapter is the introduction,mainly discussing the research background,research purpose and significance,and layout of this paper.The second chapter discusses the theoretical framework of this thesis.First,the definitions,classification and research situation are summarized.Then,the definitions of language situation and foreign language situation,levels of language situation,review of research on language situation in foreign countries and China are explained.The third chapter elaborates the research methodology,including research subjects,research instruments and research procedures.As the main body of this study,chapter four makes quantitative and qualitative analysis of the data obtained from the questionnaires.First of all,an overall analysis of the questionnaires is conducted.In the aspect of English study,the students' performance is good as a whole,such as relatively sufficient time on English study after class and diversified ways to study English.However,the students' English application is not optimistic.Non-English majors have a relatively weak awareness of using English consciously.Be it in daily English communication or academic English communication,their frequency of using English is relatively low.Comparatively speaking,the frequency of English use indaily life is higher than that of academic English,and the frequency of written language communication in daily life is slightly higher than that of spoken language communication.Then,the differences and similarities of English language situation among the four universities are compared.It is found that the similarities are mainly reflected in the following aspects: the choices of “time on English learning every week after class” for students of the four universities are concentrated in the two period of “less than 7 hours” and “8~12 hours”,the number of the respondents who spend more than 13 hours is relatively small.And the choices of “frequency of written and spoken English use” focus on “sometimes” and “seldom”,and the number of students who choose “often” and “never” is relatively small.Compared the English language situation in the four universities,the differences are mainly embodies in the following aspects: the average time of learning English every week after class,ways to study English,average frequency of using written and oral English,resources of academic courses and situation of attending international conferences.In terms of the regions of the four universities,the English language situation of non-English majors in the two universities in East China(East China Normal Universities,Tongji Universities)is better than that of the two universities in Northeast China(Northeast Normal Universities,Jilin Universities).Meanwhile,judged by the types of universities,the differences in English language situation among students of the four universities are relatively small,and the English language situation of normal college students is better.Based on the analysis of the data,it can be found that in the English language situation of non-English majors,there exists some phenomena like “more input,less output”,“better performance of everyday English and worse performance of academic English”,and “emphasizing written language while neglecting oral English”.Finally,combined with the language ecological environment of the four universities,the possible reasons behind are analyzed.Chapter five first briefly summarizes the conclusions of this research,then discusses the implications on English teaching and learning and puts forward some corresponding suggestions.Finally,the limitations of this thesis are stated.