A brief analysis of factors influencing the selection of language learning strategies of business English majors

XU+Ying

【Abstract】Business English majors need to acquire business knowledge and high English proficiency. In order to meet the academic requirements， these students need to improve their English leaning efficiency. This paper reviews factors influencing the selection of learning strategies of business English majors for better English performance.

【Key words】influencing factors； business English majors； learning strategies

1. Introduction

A booming number of students choose business English majors. These students are facing challenges from two aspects： business knowledge learning and English skills training. To meet academic requirements， these students may need to employ more language learning strategies to achieve better English competence. This paper will introduce language learning strategies and briefly analyze factors influencing the selection of learning strategies of business English majors.

2. Language learning strategies

2.1 Definitions of language learning strategies

Language learning strategies have been developed from 1970s. Rubin （1975） defined language learning strategies as tools that excellent language learners may use for achieving knowledge. Stern （1975） compared the different behaviors between excellent and poor language learners and defined language learning strategies as particular forms of observable behaviors. Chamot （1987） analyzed language learning strategies from functional perspective and referred the term as techniques or methods or purposeful actions that language users take to facilitate learning linguistic and content information. Tarone （1980） concerned more from social aspect and added sociolinguistic information to the area of learners information acquisition. Rubin （1987） redefined this term from the angle of learning effect and viewed strategies as a whole to develop the language system. Oxford （1990） gave a comprehensive definition of this term since it covered all processes of language learning including internalization， storage， retrieval and use of the new language and considered the language development of L2 learners.

2.2 Classifications of language learning strategies

OMally and Chamot （1990） divided language learning strategies into three major categories： metacognitive， cognitive and social/affective strategies. The three-way classification can be used as conceptual framework to various language learning tasks. They pointed out that metacogintive were used to describe the executive skills involving planning， monitoring or evaluating successful learning activity while cognitive strategies were relevant to cognitive process， such as perceiving and problem-solving， which facilitated to gain information to improve learning. Whats more， social/affective strategies were related to mental or psychological process， including “cooperation， question for clarification and self-talk” （OMally and Chamot， 1990， p.44）. Oxford （1990， p.35-55） developed their theory and categorized learning strategies into two main groups， direct strategies and indirect strategies. In his subcategories， memory， cognitive and compensation strategies were under direct group， whereas meta-cognitive， affective and social strategies were under indirect group. Stern （1992， pp. 262-266） further developed Oxfords theory and divided language learning strategies into five categories： “management & planning strategies， cognitive strategies， communicative-experiential strategies， interpersonal and affective strategies”. However， the classification was not clear. For example， interpersonal strategies may overlap affective strategies. In some situation， it is impossible to draw a clear-cut line between the above-mentioned five kinds of strategies. Cohen and Wen （2000） grouped learning strategies into two classes： language learning strategies and language use strategies， which seems to be more comprehensive and concise， but it is difficult to distinguish the two types of language learning strategies in a particular language learning activity， especially in the second or foreign language learning context. The research in this paper will adopt Oxfords model because majority of researchers and scholars believe that language should be used for communication， which exactly the emphasis of Oxfords theory.endprint

3. Factors Influencing language Learning Strategies

As a human being， each individual may apply language learning strategies to cope with different learning difficulties. This study reviews the factors influencing the selection of language learning strategies of business English majors to enhance the English competency of business English majors.

3.1 Gender as a determining factor

Zheng （2008） proved that female and male language learners favored different language strategies and female leanerers devoted more time to language learning and used more language learning strategies. The result confirmed the general belief that female learners cared more about language learning and language use than male students. In his finding， female learners liked to use more memory strategies， compensation and affective strategies than male participants in the study. Thus， women and men have born human nature in language learning， which needs to be taken into consideration when exploring the factors influencing the selection of language learning strategies of business English majors.

3.2 Language proficiency as a determining factor

Han （2003） conducted an empirical study to investigate English learning strategies between high and low score group of college English students. The finding revealed that high proficiency learners used strategy more frequently than low proficiency learners and they have distinguishing differences in using metacognitive strategy， which manifested O Mally and Chamots finding （1996） that intermediate learners were better at using metacognitve strategies than beginners. The use of language learning strategies can be decided by learners different language proficiency. Probably， smart people have better way. This determining factor needs to be taken into account when exploring the factors influencing the selection of language learning strategies of business English majors.

3.3 Major as a determining factor

Major itself can not explain the choice of English learning strategies， however， major related to motivation. It is usually believed that English majors have higher motivation than non-English majors since major learning may affect their future career. According to He （2008）， English majors used English learning strategies more frequently than non-English majors， however， the two groups had different frequency in using different classes of strategies. For example， metacognive and compensation strategies were most frequent used by the participants and cognitive and memory strategies were least used by English majors. In contrast， the most frequent used strategies were compensation and metacognitive while memory and social strategies were least used by non-English majors. Thus， the motivation of business English majors can be explored to explain the factors influencing the selection of language learning strategies of business English majors.endprint

4. Summary

The factors influencing the selection of language learning strategies of business English majors can be examined from three perspectives： gender， language proficiency and major. This exactly proves that research in applied linguistics is inter-disciplinary and can be analyzed from the above-mentioned angles.

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作者簡介：徐瑩（1986-），女，湖北人，廣東海洋大學講師，碩士，研究方向：商務英語，英語教育。endprint