A Survey Study On Investigating Correlations Between Junior High School Students’ Perceptual Learning Styles And L2 Motivational Self System

Emphasis on "learner-centered" in English teaching,individual differences and subject status of learners cannot be ignored,and learners’ perceptual learning style belongs to the important content of individual differences.In 2005,D?rnyei proposed the Second Language Motivational Self System（L2MSS）,which has become the latest theoretical achievement in the field of second language motivation.Moreover,L2 MSS is an important content that also studies learner differences.Therefore,this study chose 215 junior high school students from the No.90 Middle School in Tianjin as the research participants,and used the questionnaires and semi-structured interviews to investigate the relationship between perceptual learning styles and L2 MSS.The research questions are as follows:（1）What are the characteristics of junior high school students’ perceptual learning styles（visual and auditory）and the overall situation of L2MSS? And why?（2）What are the relationships between junior high school students’ two dimensions（visual and auditory）in perceptual learning style and three components in L2MSS?The research results show that:（1）Junior high school students mainly use visual and auditory learning styles in L2 learning,and they prefer visual learning styles.Junior high school students have relatively stable level in the development of the L2MSS: students’ L2 learning experience level is the highest,Ideal L2 self is followed by,and the lowest level is the Ought-to L2 self.All the above results are investigated by the questionnaire.While the interview results,as a supplement,reveal that:learning habits of learners,the facilities of teaching,and the teaching methods of teachers are the main influencing factors.（2）The results of the questionnaire also verify that there is a significant correlation between the visual and auditory learning styles and the L2 MSS among junior high school students.The auditory learning style has the highest correlation with the ideal L2 self,followed by ought-to L2 self,the correlation of L2 learning experience is the lowest;visual learning style has the highest correlation with ideal L2 self,L2 learning experience is followed by,then the ought-to L2 self.These results suggest that teachers should actively understand and help students use learning style preferences to promote learning,actively build an ideal L2 self,promote the formation of ought-to L2 self and enrich students’ L2 learning experience.For students,they should identify and use their perceptual learning style preferences to build their future L2 self-image and actively participate in L2 learning to gain experience.