An Investigation Of Chinese College Students’ Use Of Autonomous English Learning Strategies In Web-based Environment

With the rapid development of technology and the gradual development of thetheory of foreign language teaching and learning, more and more people haveintegrated computer and internet technology into language learning curriculums.Web-based autonomous English language learning mode has gradually gainedpopularity in China. It is believed that computer and internet have the potential tofacilitate autonomous learning when used appropriately. However, compared withtraditional learning environment, web-based learning strategies are new kinds oflearning strategies. Mastering web-based learning strategies is an important standardto measure whether the students can learn and think under the network environment.Due to the lack of the training of web-based learning strategies, most of the studentshave encountered many difficulties in the web-based autonomous learning. Therefore,it is important that students should have autonomous learning ability and a goodcommand of language learning strategies in web-based environment.This paper aimed to investigate Chinese college students’ use of autonomousEnglish learning strategies in web-based environment. The research took234non-English major students of Huazhong University of Science and Technology as thesubjects of the present study to investigate their use of autonomous English learningstrategies in web-based environment using the methods of questionnaire survey. Tenof them were interviewed in order to better illustrate the results of the survey. All thestatistic data were processed and analyzed by SPSS17. Descriptive statistics,including percentages, means, frequencies and standard deviation, P-value andT-value of each item were calculated.The results of the study showed that language learning strategies the studentsused were very limited, and they had a relatively lower degree of autonomy, however, affective strategies and compensation strategies were used more frequently by thestudents. It was found that there were some differences on the use of web-basedautonomous language learning strategies between male and female students. Femalestudents were more flexible and active than male students on the use of languagelearning strategies due to their different interests and learning habits. It was alsorevealed that there existed a difference between successful and less-successfulstudents on the use of web-based language learning strategies. Successful studentstended to use web-based language learning strategies more frequently thanless-successful students. According to the findings of the study, some suggestionswere put forward centering on the several aspects, such as the web-based autonomouslanguage learning strategies training, college English course design and web resourcesdesign.