Pros And Cons Of Autonomous Listening: Course Designed For Non-English Major Postgraduates

Autonomous listening (AL), as a new course designed for non-English major postgraduates, plays an important role in the teaching of English listening. As a matter of fact, it has caused a stir among the whole teaching field, from policy-makers, course-designers, teachers to learners as well. Many learning theories, such as Constructivist learning theory, Schema theory, Intrinsic learning theory and course-designing theories, provide a solid basis for autonomous learning. Constructivism holds that it is a learner's former experience that constructs and influences his understanding to the world and the people around him. Schema theory describes the dynamic process of listening. Based on intrinsic learning theory, only after learners are inherently motivated can the whole learning process become effective and meaningful. It is the learner himself, not the teacher who determines the outcome of learning. This paper has investigated the different attitudes and feelings towards AL by means of questionnaires and interviews responded by 40 English teachers and 900 students. Facts regarding the survey have shown that AL course can meet learners' needs and satisfy learners' interests by offering learners freedom to decide for their own study; cultivating learner' self-control ability; improving learners' learning autonomy awareness; ensuring learners' full development; and preparing learners' life-long learning. Meanwhile, this study points out that there are still some limitations in AL, which deserves our attention. Namely, AL gives students freedom but some students, esp. low-achieved students may not be revealed to teachers immediately and may not receive teachers' timely help. Besides, in AL course designing, it's hard for teachers to catch up with the learners' learning pace, therefore it's hard for teachers to adjust their teaching plan according to actual situation of learning and teaching. As a new promising teaching model, AL shows strong vitalities and potentialities, which get highly praised among many educators and learners. However, AL is still in a tentative stage, and how to optimize its strong points and minimize its weak ones needs our further study.