Fostering Learner Autonomy In A Collaborative Classroom: An Experimental Study Of The College English Speaking Class

The main purpose of this thesis is to develop learners' responsibility and autonomy for their own English learning. It firstly proved the feasibility of autonomy development in a collaborative English classroom at the level of theories, and then verified its effectiveness through an experimental study. Based on it, it tried to find the relationship between learner autonomy development and the improvement of oral English proficiency. First of all, the author described the background of this thesis; stated the significance of promoting learner autonomy in the field of language education from the purposes of education and the needs of modern society; and also emphasized the necessity of it in English teaching and learning based on the current situation in China.Then, the origin of "autonomy", its various definitions and some related concepts have been introduced; and some concerned researches on learner autonomy in foreign countries and in China have been reviewed. According to them, it has been theoretically proved that it is feasible to raise students' awareness of responsibility and to promote their learner autonomy in a collaborative English classroom in the Chinese cultural background. Meanwhile, it is very necessary to research on the relationship between autonomy development and one skill of English learning. The model of autonomy development in this study was established based on "the self-regulated learning model of Winne and Butler". The experiment was carried out among 74 freshmen in Chongqing University in the collaborative speaking class to foster learner autonomy. It aimed to answer two questions: 1) Can the awareness of students be enhanced? Do they learn to take charge of their English learning effectively provided with enough chances of choices and decisions such as planning, management and self-assessment? 2) Will the students' oral English proficiency be improved effectively with the increased level of learner autonomy?The questionnaires and oral English tests were respectively used to test subjects' learner autonomy and oral English proficiency before and after this study. The results indicated: 1) This study has been proved to effectively improve the subjects' responsibility and learner autonomy in English learning on the whole. However, most of them have some difficulty in "self-assessment", which led to their doubts about its benefits. Besides, the students with the "authority-oriented" learning style have more difficulty in developing learner autonomy than others. 2) The subjects' oral English proficiency has not improved very effectively; however, with the improvement of learner autonomy, the length of their speeches has obviously increased, which is the good beginning to the success of oral English learning.