An Empirical Study Of Non-English Major Freshmen's Learner Autonomy In EFL

With the globalization of world economy and China's entry into WTO, English is playing a more and more important role in our life and is given unprecedented attention. English learning becomes more important for students. However, due to the traditional"spoon-fed"education, Chinese students always show strong passiveness and dependency in the process of English learning. After entering college, they feel confused with a new teaching and learning mode which stresses individual responsibility for one's own study and is quite different from that of middle school. How to help students successfully transit and adapt to the new learning concepts and methods? Promoting learner autonomy is one of the best ways and the unavoidable choice. As one of the objectives of college English teaching, learner autonomy is listed in College English Curriculum Requirements (for Trial Implementation).The advent and development of the concept"learner autonomy"are the reflection and continuation of language teaching theory characterized by learner-centeredness. Since 1970s, researches on learner autonomy have begun and become the new buzzword in the field of applied linguistics throughout the world over the last two decades. Although the study of this issue in China is only at the initial stage, learner autonomy arouses great concerns. Many teachers and researchers come to realize that the goal of school education should not be confined to knowledge transmission. The education should aim to foster students'ability of independent thinking and self-management and develop the necessary skills for lifelong learning so as to promote learner autonomy in them.This thesis begins with an introduction of the previous researches on learner autonomy both at home and abroad and emphasizes the significance of learner autonomy. Then, literature review of the concept"learner autonomy"and the related theories and notions in this field are elaborated.After the discussion of learner autonomy at the theoretical level, the thesis explores the effective ways to foster learner autonomy in EFL classroom settings based on a survey research. By means of questionnaire and interview, the author investigates the first-year non-English majors in China University of Petroleum (Qingdao campus) in order to understand non-English major freshmen's willingness for learner autonomy and their existing level of autonomous English learning. The results show that students as a whole have a positive attitude towards learner autonomy and express the willingness to study autonomously; their level of autonomous English learning is above average.Yet, they lack, to some extent, knowledge of learning strategies especially metacognitive strategies.In view of the results, the thesis suggests several ways to promote learner autonomy among non-English major freshmen. In the conclusion, the author summarizes what has been done in this thesis and points out the room left for further study in the field of autonomous English learning.