A Study Of Learner Beliefs Of Non-English Majors About Web-based Autonomous Learning

Since1980s, learner autonomy has been introduced into the field of foreign language education. In the1990s, Internet-related technologies rise and develop rapidly, based on which, web-based autonomous language learning has become a major concern of both learners and instructors. In China, College English Curriculum Requirements (2007) explicitly states that the development of students’ autonomy is one of the objectives of college English teaching.Previous literatures reveal that theoretical and empirical researches on web-based college English autonomous learning mainly concern with the curriculum reform and the description of its advantages (Cheng,2006; Fu&Yang,2007; Warschaucer&Kern,2000). There is little research on the learner beliefs about web-based autonomous English learning.Against this background, this thesis reports a survey study of the learner beliefs of college non-English majors about web-based autonomous learning via the instruments of a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews after the questionnaire. It aims to explore:1) the general picture of learner beliefs of college non-English majors about web-based autonomous learning;2) the differences of learner beliefs about web-based autonomous learning between more proficient learners (MPLs) and less proficient learners (LPLs).All together173college non-English majors from Taishan College were involved in this investigation. All the. statistic data collected from the questionnaire were analyzed by statistical instrument SPSS.11.0. Descriptive analyses were conducted to identify the frequency and percentages of the seven key variables concerning learner beliefs. Independent-samples T test was employed to investigate differences of learner beliefs between MPLs and LPLs. The findings of the present thesis are as follows:(1) The majority of college non-English majors hold positive beliefs about web-based autonomous learning.(2) Most of the college non-English majors have a low sense of efficacy in web-based autonomous learning.(3) The guidance of teacher is needed in web-based autonomous learning.(4) There is no significant difference of learner beliefs between MPLs and LPLs as far as non-English majors from Taishan College are concerned. However, beliefs on the role of teacher are of significant difference.(5) The majority of college non-English majors are not satisfied with the management over web-based autonomous learning.According to the above findings, the study drew the following pedagogical implications:firstly, exploring a new role for the teacher; secondly, enhancing learners’ confidence; thirdly, improving the management over web-based autonomous learning. Afterwards, the limitations were also pointed out in this study, such as the small sample size, static description of the study. To overcome these limitations, the present thesis also gave some tentative suggestions for the future research in this field.