ABSTRACT

With the development of foreign language learning, tolerance of ambiguity, as an essential cognitive variable, has gained more and more attention from both home and abroad. Reading competence is considered to be a comprehensive ability of second language acquisition. This study aims to investigate the correlation among university students’ tolerance of ambiguity (TOA), English reading competence and choice of reading strategies. 

The research subjects are composed of 102 non-English-major senior students from Jiangsu University. The instrument used to measure tolerance of ambiguity here is a modified version of Ely’s (1989) Second Language Tolerance of Ambiguity Scale; Reading competence is measured by the reading section of the College English Test Band 6 (CET 6); and Chamot & Kupper’s (1989) Reading Strategies Questionnaire is used for measuring utilization of reading strategies. SPSS 17.0 is used here for data analysis. 

Chinese university non-English-major students showed a moderate level of ambiguity tolerance. A positive significant correlation is found between tolerance of ambiguity and reading competence. Also, TOA has a significant impact on reading strategy utilization.

Key words：Tolerance of ambiguity, reading comprehension, reading strategy  

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

ABSTRACT

摘要

Chapter One INTRODUCTION-1

Chapter Two LITERATURE REVIEW-2

2.1 Tolerance of Ambiguity (TOA)-2

2.1.1 Definition of tolerance of ambiguity-2

2.1.2 Measurement of tolerance of ambiguity-3

2.1.3 Related research towards tolerance of ambiguity-4

2.2 Reading and Reading Strategies-5

2.2.1 Nature of reading and reading comprehension-5

2.2.2 Reading strategies-5

2.3 Tolerance of Ambiguity and Foreign Language Learning-6

2.4 Summary-7

Chapter Three RESEARCH DESIGN-8

3.1 Research Questions-8

3.2 Research Subjects-8

3.3 Research Instruments-9

3.3.1 Measurement of tolerance of ambiguity-9

3.3.2 Measurement of reading competence-10

3.3.3 Measurement of reading strategies-10

3.4 Research Procedures-10

3.4.1 Data collection-10

3.4.2 Data analysis-11

Chapter Four RESULTS AND DISCUSSION-12

4.1 Learner’s Tolerance of Ambiguity-12

4.2 The Relationship between Learners’ Tolerance of Ambiguity and Reading Competence-13

4.3 Tolerance of Ambiguity and the Use of Reading Strategies-15

4.3.1 Reading strategy preference of learners with higher level of TOA-16

4.3.2 Reading strategy preference of learners with lower level of TOA-18

Chapter Five CONCLUSION-20

5.1 Major Findings of the Research-20

5.2 Pedagogical Implications-21

APPENDIX Ⅰ-25

APPENDIX Ⅱ-26