Abstract：This paper investigated the general situation of senior high school students’ strategy use，and examined the correlation between gender and language learning strategy use.The result as follows：1）Descriptive statistical analysis shows that both males and females employ overall language learning strategies at a moderate level in this study；2）The frequency of female students using strategies is higher than that of male students.
　　Keywords：English learning strategies；Gender；Difference
　　1.English learning strategy
　　There are a great number of educators and linguistics giving definitions to the language learning strategies.Oxford（1989）expanded the definition of the language learning strategies as “specific actions taken by the learner to make learning easier，faster，more enjoyable，more self-directed，more effective，and more transferable to new situations.” In the study of learning strategies，different researchers have different classification standards for learning strategies due to different aspects.Oxford（1990）classified language learning strategies in two dimensions，namely，direct strategy and indirect strategy.Direct strategies refer to the direct impact of learning strategies，in various language environment in the application of language itself，including cognitive strategy，memory strategy，compensation strategy；indirect strategy means directly affect learning，is to help learners plan the learning process，including metacognitive，social and affective strategies.The present study of English learning strategies is based on this classification system.
　　2.Methodology
　　The participants in English learning strategy questionnaire survey are 92 senior high school students in class 1 and class 18 of Xing Guo High School in Jiangxi province.They entered high school in September 2015.Among them，there are 52 boys and 40 girls.After the preliminary examination，7 male questionnaires and 5 female questionnaires were ineffective.Finally，the comprehensive effective data of 46 men and 34 women were obtained.
　　3.Results and Discussion
　　First of all，the results of descriptive statistics reveal the frequency of overall strategies used by both male and female senior high school students.According to the results，both male and female students employ overall language learning strategies at a moderate level in this study，with the mean scores of 2.659 and 2.817 respectively.The mean score indicated that generally speaking，the participants of the survey used language learning strategies in a medium degree.The results also shows that the frequency of strategy use of female students is higher that that of male students. 　　When it comes to the six categories of SILL，we can see the different frequency in using language learning strategies by the participants.The most frequently used language learning strategies are：compensation strategies，memory strategies，metacognitive strategies，while the least frequently used strategies are cognitive strategies，affective strategies，and social strategies.The detailed analysis as follows：
　　1）Memory strategy.On the whole，females pay more attention on using memory strategies.The reason is the learning environment difference.For most Chinese students，the competence of reading and writing is far more important than that of speaking.
　　2）Cognitive strategy.Females learn English more frequently than boys do by repeatedly reading and writing new words，decomposing new words and using words flexibly，while males use more strategies such as communicating in English，reading English books.
　　3）Compensation strategy.Females are better in using synonymous words instead of the forgotten words，and guessing the meaning of new words.Males tend to predict the content of writing.
　　4）Metacognitive strategy.Females are more likely to concentrate on listening and speaking than males，and pay attention to their mistakes in learning process.
　　5）Affective strategy.Within this strategy，the biggest difference between males and females is the communication strategy.Females are more accustomed to communicating with others than others in learning English.
　　6）Social strategy.Although females are better in negotiating with others，Overall there is no significant difference between males and females in this strategy.
　　4.Conclusion
　　The results of this study show that there is a significant correlation between the gender and English performance of Chinese senior high school students.There are obvious gender differences and similarities in the application of English learning strategies among high school learners.Learning strategies are the most important factor in the success of English learning.Female learners are more active and flexible in using learning strategies than male learners.Therefore，the average English performance of female learners is higher than that of the male learners.Teachers should improve their understanding and application of English learning strategies by training them，so as to better improve their English level.
　　Bibliography
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　　[2] Cohen， A.Strategies in learning and using a second language.Beijing： Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.2000
　　[3] Ellis， R.Understanding Second Language Acquisition[M].Oxford： Oxford University Press，1985.
　　[4] Holmes， J.Language and gender.Language Teaching.1991.24（4）， 11-24.
　　作者簡介
　　许慧君（1993.05-），女，汉族，籍贯赣州市，现就读于江西师范大学外国语学院2016级学科教学（英语）专业，硕士研究生，主要研究方向：教育学。
　　（作者单位：江西师范大学外国语学院）