An Action Research On The Cultivation Of Learner Autonomy In Junior High School

The purpose of the course reform in basic education is to get the basic education in China accustomed to the development of the times so as to pro-mote quality education in an all-round way with stress on the cultivation of the students'creativity and practicality. Attentions have been paid to the students'individuality and independence. Some students have difficulties in learning English because of various reasons. Action research may be a good way to help them. Action research is a form of self-reflective enquiry undertaken by participants in social situations. It's more concerned with the immediate application rather than the development of the theory. It focuses on a specific problem in a particular setting. Action research takes maximum advantage of the assumption that the best sources of effective educational practice are those most directly involved with teaching---teachers and principals. This paper aims to find a way to cultivate the learner autonomy in junior high school by action research. First the writer studied the autonomy of the students by questionnaire. Then the writer interviewed some of the students about their autonomy. After analyzing the results, the writer began to design a plan for an action research. In the action research, students'motivation is excited. The writer guided the students to preview the lessons that they were going to learn. She taught them good ways to review their lessons, for example how to arrange time, what to review and how to review. When the students tried the ways, the teacher helped them use Zimmerman's autonomous recycling models. After analyzing the homework and text papers, we found after four-month study, most students can study autonomously. They have had preliminary information about autonomy. And we also found something that should be studied further. So we have a new idea about next action research.