Autonomous Learning On Senior High School English Study

Education Ministry has set the main goal of English teaching and learning as "developing the students' autonomous English learning" in The New English Standard Course Standard for the Basic Education Stage. However, there are few studies about autonomous learning for high school students in China. So this thesis focuses on how to promote learner autonomy in English learning among high school students by introducing the background of autonomous learning, the former researches, the definition and the relative theories. Based on the theoretical inspection of learner autonomy, the author did an investigation into the current English teaching and learning in high school. (N=365), one questionnaire and some interviews in two different schools located in Fuzhou, Fujian Province are used. According to the result of the investigation, the paper has drawn these elements concerning the autonomous learning and factors preventing students' autonomous learning. (l)Students show positive attitudes toward and strong motivation for the autonomous English learning. (2) More than half of seniors are FD learners. It is challenging for teachers to develop the students' autonomous English learning. Firstly, the teacher's authority in classroom teaching inhibited some students' freedom of choice in learning strategies and styles. Secondly, the teacher's inflexible teaching style could not meet the students' individual learning styles. Thirdly, classroom interaction patterns were often teacher-centered, in which the students have rare opportunities to practice their own learning potentials. And finally, the teacher's evaluation on the students did not provide the students with proper fair feedback on their work. (3) The students demonstrate more disadvantages in using meta-cognitive strategies due to complex situations. Based on the result of the study, a few tentative suggestions are made on promoting learner autonomy in ESL, helping students to be autonomous learners. Finally, some questions that remain to be solved are presented.