A Study Of Autonomous English Learning In Senior High Schools

There has been a remarkable growth of interest in the theory and practice ofautonomous learning in language teaching and learning in recent years. Amongnumerous studies, autonomous English learning can be regarded as a learning processor activity as well as a learning ability. In this connection, based on more relevantstudies and references, in this paper, autonomous English learning is viewed as a kindof learning ability, which makes students take advantage of English learning strategiesconsciously under the driving of motivation to learn English effectively.Meanwhile, this paper cites the constructivism theory and the zone of proximaldevelopment theory as theoretical foundation. Constructivism Learning Theory, inessence, plays a full role of the principal part of students. And it points out thatlearning activities do not transfer knowledge from teachers to students, but theprocess that students actively construct their own knowledge, which confirms to therequirement of autonomous English learning. Similarly, the Vygotsky’s Zone ofProximal Development theory advocates the teaching mode of teaching after learning,which can maximize the students’autonomous English learning ability.In this context, this paper does the research on senior high school students’autonomous English learning ability, which aims to find the status quo and problemsof students’ autonomous English learning and explore effective ways to improvesenior high school students’ autonomous English learning ability. The subjects of thisstudy are200students from Senior One and Senior Two in certain Senior High Schoolin certain City, certain Province. The author uses the questionnaire and interviews asthe survey tools.This paper is divided into five parts. To begin with, the first part gives anintroduction of the background and the significance of the autonomous Englishlearning, and demonstrates the necessity of fostering senior high school students’autonomous English learning ability. Next, the second part makes a clear definition ofautonomous English learning and theoretical foundation, and reviews the status quo ofautonomous English learning at home and abroad. Then, the third part and the fourthpart are the main body of this paper. We firstly do a research on the status quo ofstudents’ autonomous English learning ability by means of the questionnaire and interviews. On this basis, we make a descriptive analysis of factors affecting seniorhigh school students’autonomous English learning ability. And finally, in the last part,an attempt has been made to provide the suggestions on fostering senior high schoolstudents’ autonomous English learning ability, in the hope that it is of enlightenmentfor foreign language teaching.