Learners＇ Cognitive Styles and Foreign Language Teaching

Individual learners possess distinctive cognitive styles which have a great effect on foreign language learning. The present paper intends to study the relationship between foreign language learning proficiency and cognitive styles from the perspectives of psychology, psycholinguistics, and second language acquisition. Through the analysis, the author has arrived at a conclusion that learners with different cognitive styles adopt quite different strategies in learning a foreign language. The best-matched methods fitting for different cognitive styles may help learners improve their learning proficiency. Therefore, in order to improve teaching proficiency, foreign language teachers should keep a match between learners＇ cognitive styles and teaching methodologies.

A study of the effects of students' cognitive styles on their learning behaviors of online database search strategies

Purpose: Based on a quasi-experimental design, this study sought to investigate the effects of two different cognitive styles, field independence and field dependence, on students' learning behaviors of online database search strategies.Design/methodology/approach: An experiment was carried out among senior students in a Chinese university.Findings: The field independent(FI) subjects performed better in terms of their search strategy scores. When comparing how many people in each cognitive style group learned the targeted search strategies, more field dependent(FD) subjects were successors, whereas the FI subjects were more inclined to learn from their past experience. When analyzing the reasons for the subjects' selection of search strategies, we found that the FI subjects demonstrated more rational thinking behaviors than the FD subjects.Research limitations: Only 28 students participated in the study, which was a relatively small sample size. A larger sample will give more information and therefore more precise results.Practical implications: This research can provide some suggestions to the information system designers on how the system interface can be better designed to suit the cognitive styles of different users.Originality/value: So far, few studies have been published about the effects of users' cognitive styles on their learning behaviors of online database search strategies.

The Significance of Holistic-Analytic CognitiveStyle to Approach Reading Comprehension

Reading is a major way to learn a foreign language.In the past,reading is regarded as a passive process to receive information.The key point of reading is to comprehend.It requires learners to think,judge and reorganize the information according to one's own experience and to create meaning for the context.

A Study on the Correlation among FD-FI Cognitive Style,Working Memory Capacity and English Reading Performance among College EFL Learners

In the past few decades,there have been eminent interests in reading performance as essential means for language input.In view of that,extensive studies have been conducted to explore the factors that affect reading performance from various aspects.In the cognitive psychology field,some studies have examined the relationship between field dependent-field independent(FD-FI)cognitive styles and working memory capacity(WMC)on English reading,respectively.However,only limited studies focused on the correlation among FD-FI cognitive styles,WMC and English reading performance.Therefore,this study was conducted to explain these correlations.A total of 42 intermediate“English as Foreign Language”(EFL)learners participated in this study.In order to measure the learners’FD-FI cognitive style,WMC and English reading performance,the Cognitive Style Figures Test,reading span task and the International English Language Test System(IELTS)reading test were adopted,respectively.Data analyses such as Pearson’s correlation,independent sample t-test and two-way ANOVA were done using Statistical Package for the Social Science(SPSS)version 25.The results suggested a statistically significant correlation between FD-FI cognitive style and WM with English reading performance,respectively.The main effect of WM and FD-FI cognitive style is significant while the interaction between them is not significant in reading performance.

Gender Differences in the Incidence and Related Factors of Low Social Support among Adolescents with Subthreshold Depression

Background:Social support is related to depression,but the gender differences and related factors that contribute to low social support among adolescents with subthreshold depression remain to be elucidated.This study explores the relationship between social support and depression,in addition to the gender difference in the incidence of low social support among adolescents with subthreshold depression and its related factors.Methods:A total of 371 Chinese adolescents with subthreshold depression were recruited.All subjects were rated on the Social Support Scale for Adolescents,the Response Style Scale,the Self-Perception Profile for Children,the Individualism-collectivism scale.Results:Binary logistic regression indicated that the stability dimension of cognitive style,the generality dimension of the Cognitive Style Questionnaire,and the social acceptance dimension of the Self-Perception Profile for Children scale were significantly correlated with social support level in male adolescents with subthreshold depression.In contrast,the total score of the Self-Perception Profile for Children scale,the social acceptance of the Self-Perception Profile for Children scale,total individualism,and total collectivism were significantly correlated with social support level in female adolescents with subthreshold depression.Limitations:This study is a cross-sectional study,and its effectiveness in explaining factors that influence levels of social support is limited.Conclusions:The gender difference between low social support among adolescents with subthreshold depression is related to cognitive style,self-perception,and collectivism–individualism.

Existing Problems and Solutions on Rural Primary School Language Education

At present,there are still many problems in language teaching in rural primary schools,which will affect the quality of teaching if we don't pay much attention to them.This article focuses on the existing flaws in current language teaching and provides some solutions.

Metaphor Competence for Second Language Learners

This paper shows that metaphoric competence depends heavily on the psychological processes of associative recognition and analogical reasoning, and that to form interactive mental image can activate these psychological processes. Students＇ cognitive styles were found to affect their tendency and ability to use these strategies. Students can be trained to use metaphoric strategy, just as to use grammar rules, to help them in second language studies.

THE INFLUENCE OF COGNITIVE STYLE AND READING STRATEGIES ON ENGLISH READING: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY

This paper presents the results of a research study carried out with students of China University of Geosciences to analyze the influence of readers' cognitive styles (field dependent/field neutral/field independent) and reading strategies on their reading performance, including the total reading score, global inference questions, factual and detail questions, main idea questions, lexical inference questions. Results show the correlations between cognitive style and most of the reading questions are not statistically significant, except for the total reading scores and performance of global inference question. One-way ANOVA shows that there is significant difference between the FN and FD group in total reading score and global inference question. However, when the reading strategies have been partialled out of the correlations between cognitive style and reading scores, the remaining correlation with the total reading score and global inference and lexical inference reaches significance. This indicates the different information processing of FD/FI learners and the important role of direct reading strategies for all learners. Teachers can help their students become more effective readers by encouraging them to apply direct reading strategies, and apply different indirect reading strategies based on their different cognitive styles.

Analysis of the Impact of Inductive Reasoning on the Mathematical Thinking Style of Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Students

In this paper,we combine the teaching and learning situation of deaf and hard-of-hearing students in the Linear Algebra course of the Computer Science and Technology major at the Nanjing Normal University of Special Education.Based on the cognitive style of deaf and hard-of-hearing students,we apply example induction,exhaustive induction,and mathematical induction to the teaching of Linear Algebra by utilizing specific course content.The aim is to design comprehensive teaching that caters to the cognitive style characteristics of deaf and hard-of-hearing students,strengthen their mathematical thinking styles such as quantitative thinking,algorithmic thinking,symbolic thinking,visual thinking,logical thinking,and creative thinking,and enhance the effectiveness of classroom teaching and learning outcomes in Linear Algebra for deaf and hard-of-hearing students.

LEARNERS' CULTURAL FRAME OF REFERENCE

Acquaintance with learners' cultural frame of reference can help second language teachers adjust and extend patterns of communication and create the optimal classroom conditions for acquisition of target language. This paper concentrates on reviewing diverse motivational, cognitive, and communicative styles; exploring their respective common patterns that arc grounded in the Chinese cultural and social and educational context; and examining the implications these three important components have for oral English teachers to work out ways to promote communication.

A Method for Reducing Disorientation in Hypermedia Educational Systems

Learners in hypermedia educational systems （HES） often become disorientated and experience cognitive overhead. This study presents a method for reducing disorientation in HES. The study uses two usability methods, retrospective thinking aloud （RTA） and performance measure （PM）, to find usability problems in HES that impact participant disorientation. The participants had field independent （FI） and field dependent （FD） cognitive styles. The results indicate that the participants＇ disorientation degree using the RTA method is significantly less than those using the PM method. For the effect of cognitive styles, only the average search steps index showed that FI learners are significantly less disorientated than FD learners. The results can help designers of hyperrnedia systems design tools to reduce user disorientation.