Since the 1990s, developing students' autonomous learning ability has become a key point in different countries around the world. Researching on autonomous learning theory and its application has become flourishing. In China, the revolution of elementary course emphasizes the changing of learning. For a long time, teachers and students have been seeking for the proportion of students' entering the university, so students' autonomous learning ability has been ignored. It is a very important task to develop students' autonomous learning ability.By means of a review of the relevant documents, of questionnaires and analyses of an investigation on the students in one school in Zhejiang Province, we made the study. The objective of this study was to examine the status of students' autonomous learning ability and to explore effective methods for cultivating their autonomous learning ability. The outcome of the survey showed most of the high school students did not form good habits of autonomous study, and their autonomous learning ability was generally low. An experiment was carried out to train them to improve their autonomous learning- ability by teaching them how to learn out of the classroom. The results showed that training students in grasping English autonomous learning strategies helps improve the students' autonomous learning ability, thus facilitating their English study and improving their English level. |