Survey On EFL Learner Autonomy Of English Majors In Northwest A&F University

Learner autonomy has gained great popularity among researchers home and abroad fromthe time Henri Holec first defined it in1981. In China, scholars in the field of EFL teachingand learning have recently been advocating learner-centered methods and autonomouslearning modes. Therefore, students’ performance in learner autonomy has received more andmore attention.This study was based on constructivist learning theory. It involved280undergraduateEnglish majors in Northwest A&F University. Questionnaires and interviews were adopted tofind out the English majors’ general level of learner autonomy, the existing problems, and thepractical ways to develop the students’ autonomous learning abilities.The analysis of the collected data and the interview results indicate that:(1) Learners hadpositive attitudes towards learner autonomy and strong desires to be involved in languagelearning process, but their lacking of proper motivation and confidence led to their lacking ofactions in reality.(2)Learners relied on teachers too much and classroom interactions wereoften featured as teacher-centered.(3)Learners were active in classroom interactions, andespecially, cooperative learning in groups.(4) Learners were poor in meta-cognitiveknowledge and strategies, and they performed badly in self-planning, self-monitoring,self-assessing, and etc.Based on the results of the study, some suggestions for arousing and improvingautonomous learning abilities of English majors in the Chinese context are put forward.(1)Stimulate students’ motivation, especially integrative motivation.(2) Improve students’learning strategies, including trainings for meta-cognitive strategies, cognitive strategies andsocial affective strategies.(3) Adjust the teacher’s role.（4）Create autonomous learningatmosphere by taking advantages of multi-media technologies.This survey study has probed into the current EFL learner autonomy of English majors inNorthwest A&F University through questionnaire and interview, and has made suggestionsfor improvement accordingly. Due to the limitation of time and resource as well as the author’s limited knowledge and ability, this paper must have a lot of defects.