Attribution Study in English Teaching and Learning in China

徐翠

Abstract： Attribution is elaborated on in the essay from the perspective of English teaching and learning. A literature review is presented both in general and specific skills of English in the field.

Keywords： Attribution； general and specific skills

The field of language teaching and learning has seen a shift in focus from teachers to learners since mid 1970s. As one of the interior individual learner factors， attribution is gaining the concern of linguists and language teachers both at home and abroad. This essay provides literature review on attribution study in English teaching and learning both in general and specific skills in China.

1. Attribution in General

In 20th century， there appeared many researchers from China constituting a substantial body of research on attribution in the area of second language acquisition， and English in particular.

Xu Xianqiao and Li Min [1] focuses the general correlation between attribution and English teaching in college， they indicate that students who attribute their successes of language study to their own learning abilities and efforts are more likely to feel happy and proud of themselves， these positive feelings may help them to enhance their confident to learn language better. Lan Xiaoxiao[2] goes through her study of attribution on English learners and believes that effort is the most important factor to attribute success to. Learners should be told that effort is controllable， and it is the main reason of successful learning， it helps learners to stimulate their learning motivation. Su Honglei and Wang Qiuhong [3]s study is a general survey of senior middle school students attribution inclination in English learning. The survey based on questionnaires shows that students of different grades and different sexes will attribute their English learning to different aspects. The paper also put forward some countermeasures to solve the problem. Lv Yan and Deng Guidong [4] have done a research of freshmens attribution preference of English learning. The results of English learning survey show that the attribution preference of freshmen is pleasing no big difference between the low achievers and the high ones except that the former are more concerned with the factors of study methods.

2. Attribution in Specific English Skills

In order to improve English learners efficiency and heighten their achievement， many studies have done in specific skill practice in terms of listening， reading， writing and speaking.

2.1 Attribution in Listening

Su Huanhongs [5]research finds out that listening comprehension is the biggest problem for listening study and learning strategy and listening skills are the main factors that students attribute their listening problems to.

2.2 Attribution in Reading

Chang Wenge [6] believes that teaching students to regulate and control their controllable factors effectively can improve their performance in advanced intensive reading. He holds that if students attribute their failure to controllable factors， such as their efforts or learning strategies， etc.， they may possess a good attitude in reading and make a great process. Zhang Yunqing[7]s study focuses on different attribution on reading ability among college students and work out many methods of great significance for teachers to know students better and to teach them more efficient.

2.3 Attribution in Writing

English writing reflects learners comprehensive abilities of thinking， understanding and linguistic application ； Yi[8] has done a research to explore error sources in intermediate students English writing. She gets all the errors in writing into three categories， discourse errors， grammatical errors and vocabulary errors. As a result， she attributes students writing errors to interlingual interference and intralingual interference. Zhang Yulan and Wang Xiaohui [9] think that university students should be skilled in English writing. Through their survey， Zhang and Wang find out that there are many problems in students writing， namely， spelling， part of speech and grammar. Through an investigation， Yu keyin and Tan Weis [10] analyses the cause of error from means of relocation and over-generalization.

2.4 Attribution in Listening

Zhang Qinzong [11] has done an attribution study of college students motivation in oral English learning， based on the data of college students attribution of their success or failure in oral English studying survey. He analyses characteristics and tendencies of their attribution and notes that incorrect attribution has a negative impact on their later study motivation.

References

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