Development Of The Autonomous English Learning Guided By Learning Plans In Senior High School

Over the last two decades, the concept of autonomous learning has gained momentum. It became a 'buzz-word' especially within the context of language learning. In China, Education Ministry has set one of the main goals of English teaching and learning as "developing the students' ability of autonomous English learning" in The New English Curriculum Standard for Senior Secondary Schools in China (Ministry of Education, China , 2003).This urgently demands teachers and grassroots' education authorities to create the prerequisites for autonomous learning to guarantee all the students will be improved both in intelligence and overall abilities.As is argued by Rathbone(1971), the autonomous learner is 'a self-activated maker of meaning, an active agent in his own learning process'. Therefore, 'learning is seen as the result of his own self-initiated interaction with the world.' In other words, autonomous learning sees learners as the center of learning by shifting the locus of responsibility from teachers to learners. This reshaping, so to speak, of teacher and learner roles has been conducive to a radical change in the age-old distribution of power and authority that used to plague the traditional classroom.Increasing interest of EFL teachers in China in autonomous learning in recent years has manifested itself in a proliferation of papers, books and conference presentations. However, most experts focus on autonomous learning at the tertiary level, with only a little attention paid to the development of autonomous learning ability of high school students, or students at even lower levels. Therefore, what permeates this study is the belief that autonomous learning in senior high schools can be promoted through appropriate means, for example, via learning plans.Up to now,there is not definite definition for learning plans. According the author, a learning plan is a plan of learning for students to use in the process of learning, which aims at developing their creativity and learning ability. It can be designed by the students with the guidance of their teachers or by teachers themselves. Moreover, a teaching plan is the embodiment of teachers' thoughts of teaching, whereas a learning plan should embody and reveal students' thoughts of learning. It is a learning plan through which teaching objectives can be altered into learning objectives. Students will then, to a maximum degree, be involved in the process of learning and will develop autonomous learning ability.This thesis first studies the possibility of developing autonomy in English learning among high school students by introducing the background of and the former researches on the learner autonomy. Then the students' autonomous English learning is thoroughly analyzed in the background of English language teaching in China, including its definitions, focuses, the necessity of cultivating the student autonomy in the process of English learning in high school and its operability in teaching in terms of principle and action. The concept of learner autonomy falls into educational philosophy and derives from humanistic psychological, cognitive psychological and cognitive linguistic domain.Based on the theoretical inspection of learner autonomy, the paper presents an investigation into the current English teaching and learning in high school, using one questionnaire and some interviews in two senior three classes in No.27 Middle School, Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province. Then it makes a measurable analysis of the results gathered in the investigation in relation to the students' autonomous English learning in learning process in addition to the social constraints. From the findings obtained through analysis and generalization, the paper has drawn these elements concerning the autonomous learning guided by learning plan and factors preventing students' autonomous learning.(1) About 53% seniors are FD learners. It is challenging for teachers to adopt learning guided by learning plans to develop the students' autonomous English learning. Firstly, the teacher's authority in classroom teaching inhibited some students' freedom of choice in learning strategies and styles; Secondly, the teacher's inflexible teaching style could not meet the students' individual learning styles; Thirdly, classroom interaction patterns were often featured teacher-centered in which the students have less opportunities to practice their own learning potentials. And finally, the teacher's evaluation on the students did not provide the students with proper fair feedback on their work. (2) Students show positive attitudes and strong motivation for learning guided by learning plans. On the one hand, they feel strong motivation and devote themselves to tasks with practical value, and have intensive desires to be involved in the learning process. On the other hand, they believe in the value of effort and self-discipline. These crucial elements for learner autonomy make it possible and necessary for teachers to develop the students' autonomous English learning. (3) The students demonstrate more disadvantages in using met cognitive strategies due to complex situations.In order to better the current situation of English learning in high school, the author, based on the result of his study, ventures to bring forward some constructive recommendations with respect to high school English teaching. The students should be encouraged in autonomous learning by following the below steps: First guided autonomous learning, then semi-autonomous learning and finally full-autonomous learning. To train students in actual ability of autonomous learning, the teacher should work out a feasible program of training which should be framed on the basis of the following objectives: (1) Raising the students' awareness for the autonomous English learning; (2) Promoting the students' abilities to select and use learning strategies; (3) Testing approaches to monitor the autonomous English learning.A few tentative suggestions has also been made as to how to promote learner autonomy in the present pedagogic context and in the end, highlights that developing autonomous English learning in senior high school is a long-term pedagogical goal. On the condition of the provided systematic supporting circumstances and contexts, the ultimate goal of developing the students' autonomous learning can take shape.