An Empirical Study On Promoting Learner Autonomy Of English Majors

Nowadays, individuals are required to be equipped with sustainable learning ability to adapt themselves to the rapid social development and cope with various challenges. Life-long learning is becoming the calling of the current and future society. The focus of education turns from "how to teach" to "how to learn". Learners become the center of the class. McDevitt (1997:34) raises the idea that the end product of education is an independent learner and that cultivating a learner’s independence or autonomy should be regarded as the ultimate goal that teachers or educators try to pursue.The motivation of doing this research comes from the author’s class observation and communication with some freshmen of English major. Based on an investigation of freshmen’s learner autonomy of English major, it is found that, most students don’t think they are the central roles in learning and have no or little awareness of taking responsibilities of their own learning. They get used to taking teachers as the authority in their study. They hope teachers say more in class and rely more on teachers to direct their study, and to tell them what the problems are in their studies. It is also found that high-achieving learners perform better learner autonomy than low-achieving learners, particularly in the aspects of learning content, learning strategies and learning assessment. Learner autonomy is important and beneficial to learning performance. It is a matter of great urgency to foster students’learner autonomy.In terms of these findings, an empirical study was carried out to offer suggested ways to solve these problems and to promote students’learner autonomy. Based on the theoretical framework of Social Constructivist Model, the paper carried out the empirical study from the four aspects of teacher, students, task and learning environment, which are essential factors in the dynamic teaching-learning process. Two classes were chosen as the subjects of this empirical study, one is experimental class (EC) and the other one as comparison class (CC). After one-term study, it is found that, with the interaction of teacher, students, task, and learning environment, students in EC have better learner autonomy and better English learning performance than students in CC. Learner autonomy can be promoted and improved. It is also found that learner autonomy does have a positive correlation with learning performance. The higher the level of learner autonomy is achieved, the better the learning is performed.The whole paper consists of six chapters. Chapter one is the brief introduction of the research background,research motivation and the structure of this paper. Chapter two is literature review. It introduces the relevant knowledge of learner autonomy, and the theoretical basis of learner autonomy. Chapter three and chapter four are the study parts of this paper. Chapter three is an investigation of the present condition of learner autonomy of freshmen of English major. Chapter four is an empirical study on how to promote freshmen’s learner autonomy. Chapter five is the results and discussion of the empirical study. Chapter Six is the conclusion of this paper. It summarizes the results of the present study and gives implications for promoting learner autonomy in English teaching and learning. The limitations of the study and suggestions for further study are also provided.