Out-of-Class Autonomous Learning On EFL Writing Via Internet-A Case Study

The present study attempted to look for the approach to the out-of-classroom autonomous learning of English writing via Internet to develop the writing skills of the EFL students, Guizhou, China. The study set out to probe into three issues: (1) what the subjects' attitudes were towards participating in the activity of the out-of-class autonomous learning of English writing via Internet, (2) whether the writing skills of the students in the experimental group would be promoted more quickly than those of the students in the control group through the training of the project, and (3) whether the students' learning motivation and autonomous learning ability of the experimental group would be enhanced through the three months oftraining.The project consisted of three phases. Phase I focused on the view whether thestudents of the experimental group got familiar with the activity of the out-of-class autonomous learning of English writing via Internet: the subjects were encouraged to complete their writing assignments by searching for information related to the writing tasks over Internet and hand in their homework to the researcher through email. Phase II encouraged the subjects to pick up English writing through two ways: participating in the online writing program and joining in the online chat. Phase III emphasized on the peer-interaction of written products among the subjects.Throughout the three Phases, qualitative and quantitative research instruments were employed for data generation and analysis.The major findings of the present study are: (1) the EG members attitude toward the activity was positive, (2) the outcomes of the posttest demonstrated that the writing skills of the students in the EG were promoted more quickly than those of the students in the CG, and (3) the subjects' learning motivation and autonomous learning ability of English writing were strengthened after the three months of training.