Online Resource And Learner Autonomy

The21century is a cent“ury of information explosi”on，in which new knowledge faroutpaces the renovation of textbooks. Therefore, modern college students ought topossess the ability of autonomous, continual and lifelong study. With respect to the new’requirements of time，in2007Chinas Ministry of Education put forward some newrequirements for college English course, followed by a nationwide reform of collegeEnglish teaching. In the “new requirements”，the traditional learning methods shouldswitch to those of innovative learning, and the recipient learning mode to that ofconstructive learning. In other words，students should become the center of teaching，andcomputer and internet resource will replace classroom and textbook as the major mediafor language teaching.Theoretically, the Constructivism ideal of teaching design lays emphasis on student’ scentral role in language teaching and learning, the importance of language scene,cooperative learning, the construction of language environment, as well as on the relianceon the use of various information resources, in order to reach the goal of meaningconstruction. Practically, the computer assisted English teaching design should encourage’’students autonomous study and insist on teachers new role of being an assistant, and atthe same time encourage student’s intercommunication and promote the exploitation ofgood internet resources in order to achieve long-term language acquisition ability.A’nother focus of the new curriculum is to improve students autonomous learning ability,not only in class but also outside of class. As more and more students openly reach tovarious internet resources for self-study, questions emerge: Can the learners’ learningautonomy be improved regarding goal setting, independent-action and evaluation byusing popular online resource? Does the online resource have any effect on students’development of learner autonomy? What are the common obstacles for the students’development of learner’s autonomy? What is the role of teacher and classmate in thedevelopment of student’s learner autonomy when studying on the internet? To answer these questions, the author of the present thesis conducted an eight-weekaction research on39students in their last half of freshman year at Hunan NormalUniversity, all non-English majors who attend the same English Class. The authoradopted one group pre/post test methods to compare these variables: student’s goal setting,their learning material, their learning strategies and evaluation. After processing thesefindings from8-week action research the author was able to obtain the quantitative data;then he went on to operate several interviews where data seemed extreme or implausible,which combined with the analysis of field journals and teacher’s diaries will form thequalitative data. In the end，the author reached the conclusion:1.After8weeks, the results of research shows no significant change in students’ beliefsregarding goal setting, independent action and evaluation, however their strategiesregarding these aspects have been greatly improved. The overall tendency of changes ofthe learner autonomy development is heading to the expected direction, which proves thatstudents’ learner autonomy can be improved by using internet resource.2.Internet stores large amount of information, rich in contents and various in forms,which can provide students an ideal platform for language learning and communication.Besides, the knowledge that students learn from internet will make up to the narrownessof teaching materials in the classroom’. In the long run, students motivation and interestsin learning English will be increased.3.Many factors inhibit the development of learner autonomy and these are the mostcommon ones: the lack of motivation and appropriate goals; wrong learning materials andstrategies; the constraints from teacher-centered teaching and achievement-orientedtesting.4.Teachers play an indispensable part in fostering students’ learner autonomy whileusing internet resources: they provide training on learner autonomy; they help students setproper goals and adopt better learning strategies; they coordinate between students’classroom study and after-class learning.It is hoped that the findings of this study can shed some light on the study of computer ’assisted language teaching and students autonomous learning, and also help collegeteachers and students better adapt to the new changes and new environment, and improvecollege st’udents English autonomous learning abilities.