A Survey Of English Learner Autonomy Oriented To Non-English Major Freshmen

People must have their own self-development abilities, if they want to survive and develop themselves in the future society. Students'competence of autonomous learning is the key point to gain more knowledge and achieve self-development. Therefore, school education should focus on the cultivation of students'learner autonomy. In order to provide scientific feedback and recommendations for cultivation and development of English learner autonomy of non-English major freshmen, the present study investigates the current situation of freshmen's English learner autonomy.In this study, a questionnaire survey is the primary means. Meanwhile, both interviews and classroom observation are adopted. The participants are 207 non-English major freshmen in the first semester in grade 2007 from Guangxi Normal University. The questionnaire takes reference to Xu Jinfen's (2004) Non-English Major Undergraduates'Autonomous English Learning Investigation Questionnaire and adds Zimmerman B.J.'s (1994) ideas on the major research framework of learner autonomy and Littlewood's (1996) opinions on components of autonomy. The whole questionnaire includes nine dimensions: learners'attitudes towards LA; learners'motivation; identifying what has been taught; formulating appropriate learning objectives and plans; arranging learning time reasonably; selecting and implementing learning strategies; monitoring the use of learning strategies; monitoring and evaluating learning process; choices of learning environment.The four research questions of the present study are addressed as follows:(1) How about the whole picture of freshmen's autonomous English learning?(2) How about the students'performance in the dimensions of learner autonomy included in the questionnaire?(3) Is there any correlation between learner autonomy and students'English learning achievement?(4) Are there any statistically significant differences between male and female students on learner autonomy?The findings of this study can be summarized as follows: (1) The overall degree of the freshmen's autonomous English learning stays on a relatively low level. Students are mentally autonomous but behaviorally not.(2) The majority of the freshmen have been fully aware of their responsibility to take charge of their own English learning; these freshmen have strong instrumental and integrative motivation but their intrinsic motivation is weak; freshmen lack knowledge of learning strategies and they are inactive in cooperative learning.(3) Achievement of English and LA has positive correlation with each other.(4) Female students perform better in the section of learners'attitudes and learners'motivation than male ones and they do better in planning learning time than male students, too. But the differences in the whole questionnaire between male and female students are not of statistically significance.Based on these findings in the survey, this thesis brings up some suggestions for fostering learner autonomy in the future. Firstly, teachers should get reasonably and efficiently involved in students'learner autonomy. They should abandon their traditional roles and accept new ones such as facilitators and counselors. Secondly, teachers should stimulate freshmen's intrinsic motivation for learner autonomy; they also take responsibility for systematic strategy training to raise freshmen's strategy awareness and their competence of using all kinds of strategies. Meanwhile, they ought to encourage freshmen to take an active part in monitoring and assessing their own learning process, improving study methods and increasing the efficiency of learning. Thirdly, teachers should take gender differences into consideration. They should create teaching environments which are suitable to both male and female students and stimulate their interests in English learning, so that the classroom teaching can be learner-centered.