Promoting Learner Autonomy In English Learning For Higher Vocational College Through Task-based Language Teaching Approach

As science and technology develop rapidly, we are bound toengage ourselves in the reform of Vocational College English Teachingto bring out more talents with skills in both technology and English.Therefore, to improve their communicative competence andenhance their overall quality becomes a main task on which more andmore efforts have been exerted by the people concerned.In recent years, task-based language teaching (TBLT) andautonomous learning has received more and more attention in theeducation circle. Through literature review, the author of the paperfound that task-based language teaching (TBLT) and autonomouslearning have much in common in teaching ideas. For example, both ofthem are “student-centered” and teachers have become theorganizer, instructor and facilitator. And their teaching modes are alsoquite similar. Thus, the author attempts to introduce TBLT into Englishclassroom in higher vocational English teaching in the hope that thesituation could be improved.The study is carried out in2classes taught by the author herself.One class is experimental class in which TBLT is employed in classroomactivities; while the other is control one in which3P teaching mode isused. The experiment lasts one semester, about20weeks. The purposeof the experiment is to prove the following hypothesis: by employingTBLT into English classroom in higher vocational school，the students areoffered more opportunities to use the language and experience thefeeling of success， so their interests and immanent motivation in Englishlearning can be aroused; by completing the designed tasks， thestudents can master some cognitive and meta-cognitive strategies, asa result, some changes could take place in their abilities of making fulluse of resources they encounter in their study and later work. Through all these efforts, the students’ situation in leaner autonomy is promoted.The author uses the same questionnaire separately before andafter the experiment to see whether the students have got anyimprovement in motivation, cognitive and meta-cognitive strategies,and the abilities of making use of resources, all of which are closelyrelated to leaner autonomy.Also, the data of pre-test and post-test resulting from the English testpapers are collected and analyzed.Hopefully, the findings show that the students’ academicperformance in experimental class has been much better: includingtheir learning motivation，cognitive and meta-cognitive strategies，andthe abilities of making use of resources they have.These data indicates that TBLT is effective in stimulating students’learning interests and motivation, building up their confidence in Englishlearning and helping them to grasp cognitive and meta-cognitivestrategies. TBLT also can form a better learning atmosphere for highervocational students at which they can make full use of their resources.As mentioned above, a conclusion can be drawn that TBLT ishelpful to promote students’ learner autonomy.