A Correlation Study Between The Cognitive Style Of Field Independence/Field Dependence And English Achievements Of Middle School Students

With the rising and spreading of the individualized teaching,many linguists and researchers have gradually realized the important factors of learners to their second language acquisition,thus shifted the focus from teaching methods to the study of individual differences among learners.Different cognitive styles show the individual differences.Based on the Psychological Differentiation Theory and the Self-control Theory,the study investigates the correlation between the field-independent/field-dependent cognitive style of middle school students and their English achievements,and mainly explores the following three questions.(1)Is there any correlationship between field-independent/field-dependent cognitive style and English achievements of middle school students,and what is the correlationship?(2)What is the relationship between field-independent/field-dependent cognitive style and English listening,reading and writing achievements of middle school students?(3)How does the field-independent/field-dependent cognitive style of different grade students affect English achievements?In this study,308 students of grade one,two,three from Chengdu NO.7 Wanda High School were selected as the study subjects.First,They would finish the Cognitive Style Figure Test to determine their cognitive styles.Next,the writer collected English mid-term scores and the results of each item.Then,The writer interviewed the English teachers involved in the class,the purpose was to verify the authenticity and reliability of the students’ English achievements,and finally through the statistics of the test results and the help of the teachers,298 valid data were screened.In the end,the statistical software SPSS21.0 was used to analyze the data,and the independent sample T test and the multiple analysis of Tamhane’s method were used to study the correlation between students’ cognitive style and English achievement.The results of this study indicate that the field-independent cognitive style of middle school students is positively related to their English achievement.Contrasting with field-dependent learners,field-independent students performed better in English,and the differences were more obvious.From the research results,it can be seen that middle school students’ cognitive style isrelated to their English achievements and basic skills.Therefore,this study can inspire teachers who teach English and learners who learn English.It is suggested that the English teachers should try to teach students according to their individual differences of their cognitive styles,and design various teaching activities in teaching procedures accordingly,thus it can maximize the teaching efficiency.Students should also find suitable learning strategies and methods to develop their English learning efficiency.