Learner Autonomy Of College English And Teacher's Involvement

Recently, the focus of English teaching research has been put on the learner and great emphasis on the"learner-centeredness"in the teaching practice. This means that learners will assume greater responsibility for their own English learning. Thus, fostering learner autonomy is of the utmost importance in the teaching of college English. Over the last two decades, fostering learner autonomy has become the chief concern in the field of English language teaching. As a result, successive observations and insights have been obtained in diverse researches and studies of learner autonomy. This M.A. thesis aims at an exploration of fostering learner autonomy in the teaching of college English based on the illustration of the concept of autonomy and an investigation on learners'autonomous learning competence as well as the teacher's involvement in the learner autonomy class. As a matter of fact, autonomy does not mean any reduction of teachers'roles. Humanism and constructivism, the theoretical support of autonomy, also imply that autonomy does not mean that learning in isolation or learning without the assistance of teachers and other learners. In effect, autonomy entails the interaction with teachers and with other learners. As a result, teacher's involvement is necessary to guarantee and enhance learner autonomy. Then, what is the specific role of the teacher to play in autonomous class? In fostering learners'autonomous learning class, it is of great importance for the teacher to explore how to create an effective environment, provide necessary conditions, help learners facilitate appropriate learning strategies and metacognitive knowledge, and develop positive attitudes towards English learning. Teachers should recognize that their proper and prompt involvement is the significant and necessary condition for realizing autonomous learning as well as for promoting the learners'autonomy.Different learners will manifest different learning attitudes, motivation and metacognitive knowledge in their English learning. Therefore, fostering learner autonomy in the teaching of English should take into full consideration learners'attitudes, motivation and metacognitive knowledge that serve as three important conditions for learner autonomy. These conditions will largely influence and probe into their relationships with learner autonomy.Based on the above theories of learner autonomy, an investigation on learners'autonomous learning competence is conducted in the thesis. This investigation includes a quantitative questionnaire and a qualitative interview. The results of the investigation are analyzed in terms of 4 factors: the learner's attitude towards autonomous learning, their autonomous competence, their metacognitive knowledge and their expectations on the teacher as well. The findings from the investigation reveal that most learners have strong dependence on the teacher for their English learning. They lack proper motivation and enough confidence in their English learning and their metacognitive knowledge is too limited to allow them to learn independently. In accordance with the findings, much attention should be paid to the teacher's involvement in English autonomous class, which includes arousing learner's integrative motivation, developing learner's metacognitive knowledge and encouraging learners to facilitate learning strategies for autonomous learning.The following is the framework of this thesis, which consists of six chapters. Chapter One serves as an introduction, aiming at stating the aim and overview of the thesis.Chapter Two makes a detailed introduction to the concept of autonomy, including the types and theoretical support.Chapter Three elaborates on three preparations for learner autonomy: attitudes, motivation and metacognitive knowledge, as well as their relations with learner autonomy.Chapter Four and Chapter Five are the main body of the thesis. Chapter Four presents an investigation on learners'autonomous learning competence in terms of questionnaire and an interview.Chapter Five concentrates on teachers'involvement in facilitating learner's autonomous learning on the basis of the research findings of the investigation from different angles as arousing learner's motivation, fostering learner's metacognitive knowledge and training learner's learning strategies.Chapter Six functions as a conclusion of the whole thesis.