Oral Learning Strategies of Elementary Chinese Learners: Study Based on Learning Chinese as Foreign Language in Sri Lanka.

Abstract

Learning strategies are one of the most important individual differences in learners. It also provides a better understanding of metacognition, cognition, social and emotional processes in second language acquisition, which helps to reveal the learner's internal cognitive mechanism and external influencing factors. This study takes elementary-level Chinese learners of Sri Lanka as the research object, and explores the use of Chinese language learning strategies, influencing factors and their effectiveness in combination with the theory of second language acquisition learning strategies. Two research contents are conducted: the first is the difference of learning strategies between low score learners and high score learners, and the second is the relationship between the use of learning strategies and the effectiveness of Chinese oral acquisition. The study will use the language learning strategy scale proposed by Oxford (1990) to design the questionnaire of Chinese oral learning strategies. Through this study, the specific situation of learning strategies used in Chinese spoken language are studied by means of interview method and observation method. Research shows that the learning strategies used by high score learners which are not used by low score learners are effective learning strategies; and the learning strategies that positively correlated with the Chinese oral test scores are effective learning strategies. Teachers can use the research results to improve teaching skills and find the best teaching mode, adopt different teaching sills according to the factors of individual differences of students. On the other hand, it can help students to adjust their learning methods and improve their learning.