An Investigation Into Non-english Majors' Learner Autonomy In Oral Communication

Learner autonomy has gained great popularity among many researchers at home and abroad since Holec first formally put forward its definition in 1981. In recent years, learner autonomy is becoming more and more important in China. However, almost all of these studies focus on autonomous English learning as a whole. Studies devoted specifically to investigating students'learner autonomy in oral communication can barely be spotted; As oral communication is of great importance in one's English study,we should give more attention and support to it. Moreover, to have a clear and complete picture concerning students'characteristics of learner autonomy in oral communication will certainly provide teachers with some insight and guidance in their future oral communication teaching.Taking all of the above into consideration, we have carried out the current research through a questionnaire and an interview study. The main body of the questionnaire consists of students'belief and behavior in learner autonomy in oral communication. The questionnaire is adapted from Professor Xu (2004). The subjects are 500 non-English majors from Huazhong University of Science and Technology. This study aims to investigate the general situation of Chinese college non-English majors'learner autonomy in oral communication as well as the difference between male and female, and the key factors affect their learner autonomy in oral communication.The analysis of the collected data indicates that: (1) most college students have certain knowledge of learner autonomy in oral communication learning, although a small number of them have no idea of responsibility about their oral communication learning. The students'attitudes toward learner autonomy show that a small potation of the students has been fully aware of their responsibility to take charge of their own English learning, which means they are psychologically prepared for autonomous learning in oral communication. (2) The present study finds significant gender differences on the learner autonomy in oral communication. It confirms that female students have a higher level of both autonomous beliefs and autonomous behaviors than male students in oral communication do. (3) Students have poor meta-cognitive knowledge and strategies in oral communication learning. They are almost unable to conduct self-planning, self-monitoring, and self-assessing, etc.Based on the results and discussions of the present study, we put forward a few tentative suggestions related to how to foster the development of learner autonomy in oral communication learning in the Chinese context. In the end, the limitations of this present study are summarized and the recommendations for the future studies on the similar topic are proposed.