An Empirical Study On The Effects Of Metacognitive Strategies Training For Junior High Student’s English Autonomous Learning Ability

With the reform of education in China, the so-called quality-oriented educationis always a buzzword. Learner autonomy is commonly described as active,self-directed and independent learning. At the same time, learner autonomy is animportant guarantee of learner’s sustainable development. The New EnglishCurriculum Standard for Senior High School states that to foster students’ learnerautonomy is an essential part of the quality-oriented education. This paper aims atexploring the development of learner autonomy through the metacognitive strategiestraining. To make effective exploration, the thesis begins with the discussion of thebackground of learner autonomy theories and the current teaching situation in juniorhigh school, then the writer reviews the definition and theoretical bases of learnerautonomy, analyzes the necessities of developing learner autonomy.This thesis aims to identify students’ autonomous problems,and find out effectiveways to promote learner autonomy for Chinese junior high school English as foreignlanguage (EFL) students so as to improve the efficiency of English learning. Based onhumanism and constructivism, the key questions addressed in this paper are:1)What’sthe current autonomous situation of learners at junior high school?2)Is there anydifference between excellent (higher achievements) and moderate learners (averageachievements)regarding autonomous English learning (AEL)?3)Can students’ Englishlearning achievements be improved accordingly after metacognitive strategiestraining?Through data analysis, the empirical study and comparison of the results are:1)The findings show that the current level of autonomous English learning amongjunior high students remains at a low level. Most students in the experimental grouphave enhanced learner autonomy awareness after one-semester training ofmetacognitive strategies, learning English time is increased obviously, they arewilling to take responsibility for their learning with the teachers’ help.2)The studyalso reveals that there are significant differences between excellent and moderatelearners in terms of awareness, attitude, goals, planning, self-evaluation, learning strategy and learning time, that is to say, excellent learners are more autonomous thanmoderate learners in language learning.3)Students’ English learning achievementscan be improved accordingly after metacognitive strategies training. The students’learning techniques have been greatly improved and more appropriate learningstrategies have been used in their language learning. Their abilities to use learnerautonomy have also been improved to different extent after metacognitive strategiestraining. Therefore, the author hopes that what is made in this thesis can bring someenlightenment to language teaching and learning.