On The Development Of Students' Autonomous Learning In Vocational College

The rapid development of science and technology has turned the 21^st century into an epoch of knowledge-based economy, which is characterized by the explosion of information, thus urging for human beings' life-long learning capacity. Meanwhile, the acceleration of globalization has been attaching more and more importance to English since English is the most important international language for cross-cultural communication. It is under such global social contexts that 'learner autonomy' (LA) became a buzzword in the field of English language teaching and learning all over the world. In China, Education Ministry has set one of the main goals of English teaching and learning as "developing the students' autonomous English learning" in The English Course Teaching Demand for the College English. This urgently demands teachers and advanced education authorities to create the prerequisites for autonomous learning to guarantee that all the students will improve both in intellect and in overall abilities. Most language learners in the current Vocational College (called VC below) in China learn English with passive attitudes. This negative situation has been caused not only by the learners' motivation problem, but also by the problem of learning strategies, the inadequacy of evaluation systems and the teachers' inappropriate contribution to their teaching process. For the students in vocational colleges they will meet more challenges if they cannot keep on learning English after graduation. So it is necessary for them to learn how to take responsibility for their own learning at school so as to develop the ability to continue learning and become more valuable to the society after they complete their formal education.Learner autonomy is the focal topic of study, relevant with three theoretical bases, which are humanistic approach, self-regulated learning and constructivism theory. The thesis is composed of five chapters.Chapter One is a general introduction to the study, including definition of learner autonomy, statement of the problem and the significance of the study. Chapter Two is a literature review of learner autonomy, its theoretical bases, and some issues concerning autonomous learning, such as characteristics of an autonomous language learner, key factors affecting learner autonomy.Chapter Three provides needed knowledge associated with Vocational College Education, the specific features of students in vocational college and some principles of autonomous language learning. It lays theoretical foundation for us to do some research on investigating the current situation of VC students' autonomous English learning (AEL).Chapter Four presents an investigation into Vocational College students' autonomous English learning. It investigates the current English teaching and learning in College of Engineering and Technology, an ordinary unit in Shandong University of Technology(N=160), using one questionnaire and some interviews. It also makes a measurable analysis of the results. From the findings obtained through analysis and generalization, the paper has drawn the elements concerning the autonomous English learning and factors preventing their autonomy. Firstly, from the students' side, the students show positive attitude towards and strong enthusiasm for autonomous English learning, which makes the development of autonomous learning possible. However, their poor foundation and lack of confidence lead to their learning helplessness. Secondly, from the teacher's side, the teachers can fully realize the importance and necessity of student autonomy, but their too heavy teaching task, too old teaching content, and too large teaching classes lead to inflexible teaching style. Thirdly, the students in vocational college have poor autonomous English learning strategies, and their autonomous English learning environment is in great need of improvement.Chapter Five lists Nunan's and Benson's suggested ways to foster learner autonomy. Based on these suggested ways to foster learner autonomy, we propose our own ways to foster leaner autonomy, which are suitable for vocational college students. We believe that the learners' willingness, attitude and motivation are the crucial factors to the development of learner autonomy. Moreover, English teachers should focus on the aspects of themselves including improving their personality and improving their teaching styles. We provide the solution that cultivating group-work learning can help develop autonomous learning ability. It is hoped that the study will benefit EFL educators in terms of developing learner autonomy, thus sparking more interest in research on this aspect.