A Study On English Learner Autonomy In Senior High Schools

Learner autonomy has been a buzzword in foreign language field over the past twenty years. It is also a learning style strongly advocated in the world. From pedagogical point of view, learner autonomy is a means of effective learning and a desirable goal of teaching as well. Learners in senior schools are no longer satisfied with the traditional teacher-centered way of teaching English, which neglected the central role of learners. It should be replaced by the learner-centered approach so that learners'comprehensive language use ability can be improved. The development of learner autonomy has received more and more attention in the field of EFL teaching and learning. In 2000, the Chinese Educational Ministry set the main goal of English teaching and learning as"developing the students'autonomous English learning"in the New English Curriculum Standard for the Basic Education Stage. This urgently demands teachers and grassroots'education administration to create the prerequisites for autonomous learning to guarantee all the students will improve both in intellect and in overall abilities. The new basic education curriculum reform also emphasizes the sustaining development of learners. Therefore, it becomes imperative to foster learner autonomy in English teaching in senior high schools. To promote learner autonomy in the course of English teaching is one of the major purposes of English teaching in senior high schools and an important research subject to the teachers. This thesis discusses the ways to promote learner autonomy in senior high schools according to the questionnaire done in Chapter Three using the method of combining theoretical analysis with teaching practice. The thesis aims at exploring the development of learner autonomy of senior high school students.This thesis first of all gives a brief review of the current literature and the present research on learner autonomy at home and abroad. In the thesis, the author discusses the significance of developing senior high school students'learner autonomy from the perspective of reforming English classroom teaching and learning and introduces the research methods the author has used in the thesis. The thesis looks into the possibility of developing learner autonomy in English learning and different definitions of learner autonomy and the theoretical basis for learner autonomy from the perspectives of psychology and philosophy is also thoroughly presented. To make effective exploration, the author first took the students from two parallel classes of grade one in senior high school as subjects and made an investigation of the current- situation about learner autonomy through interviews, then found out the real situation about the learner autonomy through questionnaire, analyzing the factors that have an influence on learner autonomy, such as learner's motivation, cognitive strategy and meta-cognitive strategy.This thesis presents an investigation of learner autonomy in senior high school by means of one questionnaire made in NO.2 Senior High School of Pingdu, 130 students in Grade One from two classes participated in the survey, which concerns students'motivation, their cognitive strategies and meta-cognitive strategies. All the results were presented in tables. From the results of the questionnaire, it is concluded that the senior high school students are weak in awareness and abilities of learner autonomy. To improve their comprehensive language use ability, it is imperative to cultivate learner autonomy.This thesis, based on the theories of constructivism as its guidance, analyzes the different factors that influence learner autonomy and presents approaches to help the teachers in senior high schools cultivate learner autonomy. It first states the concepts of learner autonomy and factors that influence learner autonomy, then the information about the current situation of the senior high school students'EFL autonomous learning is collected by means of questionnaires and interviews. Finally the thesis focuses on the approaches that help the EFL teachers cultivate learner autonomy.Based on the results of the study, the author comes up with corresponding methods to deal with the problems. The author thinks that cognitive strategy and meta-cognitive strategy are the two main methods in developing learner autonomy in their English learning for senior high school students. For students'lack of internal motivation and depending on the teachers, teachers can take advantage of it to supervise them. And the author advocates direct instruction in English classroom by combining learning strategy instruction with English course. After analyzing the results of the investigation, the author points out that students who have achieved greater autonomy will make greater progress in their English learning.