The Development Of Undergraduate Non-English Majors' Autonomous English Learning

The present study, from the perspective of learner, is to investigate the development or the variations of after-class autonomous learning during the period of the first three semesters of college English learning. Specifically, the study is to address the following questions: (1).Generally, how does autonomous English learning of non-English majors develop in the period from the first semester to the third semester? What accounts for the development? (2). How does each aspect of autonomous English learning develop? What are the underlying factors responsible for them? (3).What the major problems with autonomous English learning are and the underlying factors responsible for them?The primary instrument used to measure the development in the present study is a questionnaire, which was designed on the basis of the questionnaire used by Xu Jinfen in 2004. It covers the following six aspects: learning motivation, understanding of the purpose and requirements of college English teaching and learning, goal-setting & planning, familiarity with English learning strategies & strategy employment, monitoring & evaluating the learning process, evaluating learning outcome & taking remedying measures. The subjects are 221 non-English majors selected by stratified random sampling from Northwest A&F University. The returned valid data were processed by the SPSS16.0. Interview is utilized as supplementary instrument to shed light on the factors responsible for the development of learner autonomy and get more in-depth information.The findings are as follows: On the whole, the AEL of non-English majors at Northwest Agricultural & Forestry University doesn't progress steadily with AEL carrying on from the first semester to the third. The AEL in the second semester is the best, and there is no difference between the first and third semester. Such result is mainly attributed to students'exam-oriented English learning motivation.At the individual aspect level, students'understanding of the purpose and requirements of English teaching& learning as well as their familiarity with learning strategies and strategy employment advances with AEL carrying on from the first semester to the third. An unsteady development with a rise in the second semester and then a retreat in the third occurs in goal-setting& plan-making, monitoring& evaluating learning process and evaluating outcome learning &take remedying measures. Nevertheless, the development of non-English majors'English learning motivation shows a slow decrease trend.The major problems with learner autonomy are: comparatively speaking, students are not better at monitoring &evaluating the learning process as well as familiarity with English learning strategies & strategy employment; students couldn't use the online resources well cooperative learning is not effectively conducted; passive and dependent learning is still popular among students in the process of their AEL; most students show weakness in self-control and are reluctant to persevere in their efforts. The major factors account for these problems are the exam-oriented English learning motivation, lack of metacognitive strategy and lack of proper orientation of the evaluation system.