A Study On The Effects Of CALL Program On College English Learners' Autonomy

Computer-assisted language learning (CALL) is becoming the trend in foreign language teaching all over the world due to the impact of information technology on today's society. So developing students'English autonomous learning capability in CALL environment is one key of college English educational reform. This thesis investigates the effects of a computer-assisted"New College English"course teaching program on the development of non-English majors'learning autonomy in a Chinese context. By exploring its impacts on learners, this thesis aims to improve learner autonomy in CALL environment that can create optimized language environment for learners so that we can implement such programs more effectively in future. The theoretical basis for this study is related SLA(Second Language Acquisition) theories.In the experiment, both quantitative and qualitative methods are employed. The quantitative data are collected from language proficiency test and two questionnaires of 36 first-year non-English major students who have undergone a computer-assisted"New College English"course teaching program and 39 on traditional teaching in the academic year of 2007-2008 at Shandong University of Science and Technology. Besides, interviews, the subjects, and writer's observation notes are employed as qualitative data in order to gain insights into the process and underlying reasons of learner changes.Based on the experiment, the writer finally concludes that CALL program does facilitate learner autonomy in three aspects: goal-setting, independent action and self-evaluation , thus its related issues are worth further researching. The thesis finally reveals some implications, limitations and suggestions for this experiment.