A Study On Autonomous Learning Ability Of English Underachievers In The Transition Stage Between Junior And Senior High School

Quality Education advocates that every student can get better development,but in the actual situation of education,some students are usually ignored by teachers and cannot develop well because their test scores are under the passing scores and they don't meet the basic requirements of curriculum standards,and these students are usually called“underachievers”.The appearance of underachievers is a result of interaction of many factors and autonomous learning ability is one of the most important factors.Moreover,the modern society requires lifelong learning,and whether students have the autonomous learning ability has an impact on their development in the future.Therefore,this study attempts to find out the problems of English underachievers from the perspective of autonomous learning ability,and then takes some measures to improve their autonomous ability and finally promotes the transformation of English underachievers to some extent.The first year of senior high school is a transitional period for students to adapt to the life of senior high school,and during this period,there are usually some changes in students' autonomous learning ability,and if teachers can discover these problems of students and guide them correctly,students can get better development in the following years.So,this study regards Senior One as the transition stage of junior and senior high school and regards the English underachievers in the transition stage of junior and senior high school as the research subjects.In the process of researching,this study takes the average score of all English test scores of mid-term examination and final-term examination in Senior One as measuring standards,and regards those students as underachievers whose average score is under passing score.And then this study selects 300 English underachievers in the transition stage between junior and senior high school from Senior Two students of four senior high schools in Zhucheng City of Shandong Province and 8 English teachers as the research subjects,and uses questionnaires and interviews to collect data and aims at solving the following problems:1.What are the current situations of autonomous learning ability of Englishunderachievers in the transition stage between junior and senior high school? And what are problems?2.What measures can be taken to improve the autonomous learning ability of English underachievers in the transition stage between junior and senior high school?In order to implement better education for students at different levels,the English underachievers in this study are divided into two parts—Part A and Part B and investigated respectively.Part A refers to those underachievers whose English score of high school entrance test and the average score of all mid-term English tests and final-term English tests of Senior One are under the passing score;Part B underachievers refers to those underachievers whose English score of high school entrance test are above the passing score but the average score of all mid-term English tests and final-term English tests of Senior One are under the passing score.From the survey,it can be learned that Part A and Part B underachievers have the following common problems on autonomous learning ability: on learning motivation dimension,lower English self-efficacy and weak interests in English learning;on cognitive strategy dimension,lower usage of cognitive strategies;on will control dimension,weak attention control ability.In addition,Part A and Part B have their own problems on different dimensions of autonomous learning ability.Part A underachievers have no clear purpose of English learning;they lack senses of learning motivation,goal,time planning,self-monitoring and self-evaluation;they are weak in attention control,and they seldom seek for academic help from teachers and students;Part B underachievers have no clear standards of goal setting;they often make inaccurate evaluation;they show more anxiety and tension and they are afraid to seek for academic help from teachers.About the common and different problems of Part A and Part B underachievers,this study makes cause discussion respectively and takes corresponding measures to improve their autonomous learning ability.This study take some measures to solve the common problems that two parts underachievers have,such as improving English self-efficacy,stimulating their interests in English learning,increasing the usage of cognitive strategies;and improve their will control ability.For the problems of Part A underachievers,this studytakes these measures: to guide them make clear the purpose of English learning;to strengthen their senses of value,goal,time planning,self-monitoring and self-evaluation;to guide them to seek for academic help actively.For the problems of Part B underachievers,some measures are taken by this study: to guide them make clear the standards of goal setting;to make them do accurate self-evaluation;to improve their emotion control ability and encourage them to seek for academic help from teachers.