A Survey Study On English Learning Autonomy Of Non-English Major Postgraduates

Learning autonomy is the ability of learners to take charge of their learning actively andpositively. As the well educated talents in China, postgraduates should have high level ability ofEnglish learning autonomy. This research reports a survey study of English learning autonomy by220non-English-major postgraduates in Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics via theinstruments of questionnaire and semi-structured interview. It investigates the questions aboutpostgraduates’ beliefs of English learning autonomy, the extent they conduct their English learningautonomy (including the determination of the objective and plan, the selection of learning contents,the choice and the use of learning strategies, the monitor of learning process, and self-assessment),the differences between male and female postgraduates in English learning autonomy, and thedifferences of different majors in English learning autonomy.The main findings of this research are various. Though most postgraduates have positive attitudetowards English learning autonomy and are able to decide their aims and plans of English learning bythemselves, there still exsits some problems. First, the overall degree of the graduate students’autonomous English learning is not as satisfactory as expected. They fail to do well in selecting andimplementing learning strategies. Most of the postgraduates ignore the importance of English in theirmajor research and self-assessment. In addition, there are significant differences between male andfemale postgraduates. In details，female postgraduates perform better in determining their objectives,selecting and implementing learning strategies, and monitoring the process in English learningautonomy. Besides, there are no significance differences between different majors.What is more, some suggestions are proposed by the author to foster English learning autonomyof non-English postgraduates in the aspects of teachers, students, strategies training, internettechnology and major-related English learning.