An Experimental Research On Learner Autonomy In English Reading In Senior High Schools

With the new curriculum reform developing in depth, the focus of English teaching has shifted from language knowledge instruction to the development of students’abilities. The major objective of school education is to help change students’learning approach, to develop students’self-directed learning ability, as well as lifelong learning capacity. From the pedagogical perspective, learning autonomy is an effective learning method and a desired target as well.Massive reading is a must to language acquisition. It has already been proved by many linguists and educators that a large amount of reading is beneficial to the improvement of second language proficiency. Both curricular reading and extracurricular reading can provide comprehensible input for students and enhance learners’language competence.This paper is based on an experimental research of an19-week reading program, with the aim to know the current situation of senior high students’learning autonomy, to identify the problems learners may come across in English reading and to find out the effective ways to improve senior high students’learning autonomy particularly in English reading. 100senior one students in the High School Attached to Hunan Normal University participated in this study. The questionnaire employed consists of36statements and covers eight aspects:learning motivation and attitude, the establishment of learning goals and plans, the selection and adoption of appropriate learning strategies, self-monitoring in the learning process, the use of extracurricular resources and the self-evaluation of learning outcomes and corresponding adjustment. The data obtained from the questionnaire were then analyzed to work out the statistic data. In order to better understand the current situation of senior high students’learning autonomy and the possible ways of improving English reading learning autonomy effectively,30students were selected for interviews, which consequently increase the validity of the research. All questionnaires and interview questions used, either before or after the reading program, were the same.According to the results, senior high students’awareness and competence of autonomous learning were at a relatively low level before the reading program. Most students haven’t set any learning goals or made any practical learning plans. They had great difficulties in selecting appropriate learning strategies and extracurricular materials as well as in monitoring self-learning process. To evaluate learning outcomes is not an easy task for them either. After the implementation of the reading program for one semester, students’awareness of autonomous learning in English reading has been obviously increased. Most of their learning plans were carried out quite well. The same went to the self-monitoring of their learning process and evaluation of their learning outcomes.