A Study Of Learner Autonomy Of Non-English Majors

In recently years, learner autonomy has become a prominent topic in the educational circles and it also becomes a new trend of foreign language teaching. The term "learner autonomy" was first put forward in 1981 by Henri Holec in his book Autonomy and Foreign Language Learning. According to Holec, learner autonomy is "the ability to take charge of one's own learning". A learner is considered autonomous when he or she is able to set the learning objectives; select the contents, the materials and methods to be used; determine the time, place and progressions and evaluate what has been acquired. Ever since the birth of the concept, many linguists and researchers have paid great attention to it and substantial researches and exploration on it have been carried out. Many language teachers are trying to put this idea into their teaching practice. Self-access centers have been set up in many countries and regions. More and more people have begun to realize the importance of learner autonomy as the ultimate goal of education.In China, with the teaching of language being more and more communication-oriented, the teacher-centered pattern, in which knowledge of the language and skills are imparted by the teacher in class only, is gradually replaced by the student-centered one, in which the ability to use the language and the ability to learn independently are cultivated in addition to language knowledge and skills. Learner autonomy is generally considered to be a prerequisite in language learning process. The establishment of the learner-centered teaching philosophy makes the cultivation of learner autonomy the common understanding of foreign language educational circles. In the newly drawn-up College English Curriculum Requirements (CECR), learner autonomy is listed as one of the objectives of college English teaching. It is clearly stipulated in CECR that "The objective of College English is to develop students' ability to use English in an all-round way, especially in listening and speaking... and at the same time they will be able to enhance their ability to study independently and improve their cultural quality so as to meet the needs of China's social developmentand international exchanges." Besides, the development of individualized study methods and the autonomous learning ability on part of the students is regarded as an important indicator of the successful reform of the teaching model. As a result, many educators and researchers begin to write a great many scholarly works on learner autonomy. However, due to the short history of learner autonomy studies in our country, most articles are confined to introducing the autonomous learning theories and related studies of foreign researchers or exploring the necessity and methods of learner autonomy cultivation in English teaching. Few empirical studies have been made so far. Even fewer researches are done on the part of learners. In the present study, an empirical study of learner autonomy was conducted on the part of learners. The author first investigated non-English majors' beliefs of learner autonomy and use of learning strategies by means of questionnaire and interview in order to find out problems with them in terms of autonomous learning. Then a training program was carried out based on the findings of the investigation. The study shows that strategy training is an effective way to promote learner autonomy and that it is more effective to combine strategy training with imparting knowledge of learner autonomy.The thesis consists of five chapters. Chapter One introduces the background to the research and the purpose of writing this thesis. Chapter Two deals with the introduction of learner autonomy, significance of studying learner autonomy in English learning and the brief description of previous studies. Chapters three to five are the body of the thesis. Chapter Three presents the design of the research, including the description of the objectives of the research, participants, instruments for data collection and the procedure. In Chapter Four, data collected from the investigation are analyzed. Based on the findings, suggestions are put forward, the feasibility of which are then tested via a training program. Chapter Five, the concluding chapter, summarizes the major findings, puts forward implications, recognizes the limitations of the study and suggests for further research.