A Survey And Analysis Of Non-English Major's English Extra-curricular Autonomous Reading

The teaching and learning of English as a foreign language have experienced a long period of history in China, and there have been great achievements. However, there are some negative phenomena over which both language learners and language teachers feel puzzled and depressed: from their first exposure to English at the beginning of their middle-school education till their graduation from the university, learners have spent around ten years in the learning of English as a foreign language, but the learning results are far from satisfactory. In recent years, with the further development of science and technology, knowledge is being updated faster and faster, thus promptly acquiring an enormous amount of information appears quite emergent and necessary. To English learners, reading is becoming irreproachably the most effective way in the context of English learning in China.In an epoch of knowledge-based economy, more and more criticism therefore is pouring on the system of teaching English as a Foreign Language(EFL), especially English reading. At the demand of the improvement of English learning efficiency, various kinds of English textbooks come up to the market and different teaching theories have been put forward. In the view of the researcher, however, more attention should be fixed on the learners, because it is the learners who act as the subject of the learning process and they determine the outcome of the process. The present researcher realizes that it is virtually impossible for students to perfect a set of overall abilities through limited class hours, and the traditional classroom-based approach cannot suit the new situation, to say nothing of exploiting students' potential abilities. Therefore, extra-curricular autonomous reading, as an indispensable complementary means to the in-class EFL reading, should become a valid way to improve students' reading ability.In this study, the researcher adopts both quantitative and qualitative approaches to survey the learners' behavior in extra-curricular autonomous reading in terms of the three phases of the reading process: before-reading, while-reading and after-reading, and tries to analyze learners' readiness towards extra-curricular autonomous reading. It is hoped that the study will benefit EFL learners by heightening learners' understanding of extra-curricular autonomous reading, and arousing their awareness of taking responsibility for their own EFL reading, thus developing their ability of extra-curricular autonomous reading.The survey results of the present study indicate that the subjects could exert some control over their extra-curricular reading procedure in general, but there are some significant differences between learners of distinct levels of proficiency: the better readers the students are, the more autonomously they behave, and vice versa.So we can make this inference: If the learning pattern of Learner Autonomy (LA) can be carried out effectively in the field of English extra-curricular reading, the students' English performance will be improved, their capability of LA be heightened, a solid foundation be laid down and intellects with good learning capabilities be fostered for the future society. It proves that the LA learning pattern is practical and effective in the learning practice of English extra-curricular reading.The researcher believes that LA is universally applicable in the learning practice of English extra-curricular reading and should be popularized.Firstly, the researcher indicates the background of the study, the purpose of the study, and the significance of the study, and describes the research questions and definitions of terms. Secondly, the related literature on learner autonomy is reviewed and the relationship between learner autonomy and two related factors is discussed. Thirdly, the methodology of the study, including the research questions, the subjects, the instruments and the process of data collection is explored. Fourthly, findings derived from the study are reported and some possible factors that contribute to those results are discussed. Lastly, the inspirations, which will stimulate students to learn voluntarily in extra-curricular reading, are concluded, and limitations of the present study and suggestions for future research are put forward.