Studying Autonomous Language Learning Outside The Classroom

The concept of learner autonomy has been widely accepted in the field of language teaching and learning since 1980s. The basic idea of autonomy is harmonious with the major innovations in language teaching theory and methodology over the last 30 years. The shift from "teacher-centered" classroom teaching mode to "learner-centered" teaching mode calls for learners' responsibility for their own learning.Learner autonomy can be broadly defined as "the capacity to take control over one's own learning" (Benson 2005:2). In the field of language teaching and learning, researchers and teachers have taken the position that autonomy is a legitimate and desirable goal of language in the recent thirty years in China and abroad.The term "learner autonomy" is used in somewhat different ways by different scholars. However, there is a consensus that "the heart of concern is decision-making in the learning process" (Crabbe 1990:30). Self-directed learning and autonomous learning are often interchangeable in the literature of autonomy.Self-directed language learning can happen within and outside the classroom. The present study focuses on outside-classroom autonomous learning. The researcher aims to investigate what the autonomous learning process is like: what the learners choose to learn and what objects they set for their own learning; what problems the learners encounter and how they cope with them; how self-directed learners help each other and what they gain from group study; and finally how learners evaluate their own learning .The participants are involved in carrying out a specific form of self-directed learning for a whole semester, that is, language learning projects, which, for the present study, are designed to improve the participants' listening comprehension of English news.The data is collected from four channels: the field notes from interviews once a week, the participants' journals, the researcher's memos and the final reports of the participants. The data is analyzed based on the framework of the theory of autonomy and studies in the literature of autonomy. The findings include 1) the participants are willing to and capable of carrying out their own language learning in terms that they can choose appropriate listening materials, choose the evaluation method and arrange the learning activities; 2) language learning projects can improve their listening ability and skills, and at the same time increase their sensitivity to language learning process; 3) Group learning has a positive effect on the participants' self-directed learning.The findings of the present study give insights into an area of students' learning outside the classroom which teachers have little access.In the present study, students displayed creativity and determination in their own leaning out of the classroom, which gave teachers ideas on how can promote more effective out-of-class learning, building on the strengths and preferences that the students already displayed.The problems and difficulties students encountered in the study indicate that teachers play an important role in promoting learner autonomy. Teachers as facilitators and helpers can scaffold learners in strategy training in classroom teaching.Third, group work as an effective strategy should be applied into the process of learners' self-directed learning.