A Study Of Fostering Learner Autonomy In High School English Teaching

With the reform of education in China, the so-called quality-oriented education is always a buzzword. The New English Curriculum Standard for High School states that to foster students'learner autonomy is an essential part of the quality-oriented education. In real teaching practice, what should be done to foster students'learner autonomy and realize the quality-oriented education? Meanwhile, because of the examination selecting system, the teaching of English in most high schools in China still remains to be examination-oriented. The concept of quality-oriented education seems to be considered opposite to good performance in English examinations. What interests the author of this thesis includes: whether it is feasible to foster learner autonomy among high school English learners; if so, how the enhanced autonomous ability affects their performance in English exams and the exact means to foster learner autonomy in high school English teaching.The thesis begins with the discussion of the background of learner autonomy theories, which includes human basic psychological needs for learning, cognitive learning theory, cognitive linguistic domain, and factors that influence second language acquisition. Taking the study of other researchers'as reference, the writer suggests some detailed ways of fostering learner autonomy, including in-curriculum activities and out-of-curriculum activities. In regular classroom teaching, the writer tries learner training activities with some modification according to the students'characteristics in SFLS. With students'poor autonomous ability in English learning, to foster learner autonomy, some detailed means are suggested. Talking of out-of-curriculum activities, the writer illustrates some of the ways that SFLS develops students'learner autonomy, such as social clubs, international week of culture, and exchange program and also discusses the effectiveness of these programs on learner autonomy development.Through the analysis of the experiment result, the author found it feasible to foster learner autonomy through in-curriculum approaches and out-of-curriculum approaches in the high school. Moreover, the fostering of learner autonomy doesn't conflict with the current examination talent selection system in China, as the enhancement of learner autonomy may benefit the students on their performance in standard exams.This thesis has only scratched the surface of the problem of learner autonomy fostering. I hope it would lead to further in-depth investigations in the future.