A Study On Learning Strategies Of English Major Students In English Autonomous Learning

In the information explosion era, autonomous learning is of sizable importance.Knowles (1975:143) states “autonomous learners learn more things and better than dopeople who sit at the feet of teachers, passively waiting to be taught (reactive learners)”.China’s Ministry of Education also attaches great importance to autonomous learningby stating clearly in College English Curriculum Requirements,“colleges should adopt anew teaching model to improve the original one, which is a single classroom teachingmodel dominated by teachers’ teaching. New teaching model should be supported bymodern information technology, with which English teaching and learning can bedeveloped towards the direction of individuation and autonomous learning”(HigherEducation Department, Ministry of Education,2007). One of the primary targets of theEnglish teaching lies in cultivating students’ capability of autonomous learning. Thusfostering students’ autonomy in English learning becomes an urgent and important issue.Mastering learning strategies is the sure way to attain learner autonomy. A successfullanguage learner is always an autonomous learner capable of employing proper learningstrategies in his language acquisition process.This thesis investigate usage of learning strategies among English majors in JiNingNormal College during the process of autonomous learning and analyzes differences ofusing learning strategies between high TEM-4score group and low TEM-4score group.On the basis of the analysis, the author suggests28out of the total50strategies that cancontribute to the improvement of English proficiency for the English learners.24out of thetotal28strategies concern using all one’s mental processes, compensating for missingknowledge, organizing and evaluating one’s learning, learning with others, all of whichplay a significant role in the success of English learning for the English learners.