An Empirical Study On Cultivating English Autonomous Learning Ability By Formative Assessment In Rural Middle School

Nowadays,with the knowledge updating rapidly,it is increasingly important to improve our autonomous learning ability.However,limited by economy and some aspects,education in rural areas always lags behind,which will be against improving the autonomous learning ability of rural students.English Curriculum Standard(2011)also advocates building a reasonable evaluation system to promote the development of students' autonomous learning ability.On the basis of previous theories and practices,the researcher put forward the hypothesis that the rational use of formative assessment is beneficial to improving students' autonomous learning ability of junior high school in rural areas,so as to help rural students learn English well.In order to testify this hypothesis and discuss the impact of formative assessment on learners' autonomous learning ability in rural junior high school in detail,the researcher conducted a semester experiment in rural junior high school.Specific research questions are as follows:(1)What is the level of English autonomous learning ability for the subjects in the rural middle school before the experiment?(2)What is the level of English autonomous learning ability for the subjects in rural middle school after the experiment?(3)What effects does formative assessment have on the subjects' English autonomous learning ability in rural middle school?On the basis of research questions,three research instruments are applied in this research before and after experiment: questionnaires,interviews and tests.This empirical study was carried out in Xingxian Middle School for fifteen weeks and the researcher took109 students from two parallel classes in Grade Seven as research subjects,one of which is the experiment class and the other is the control class.The researcher proved the experimental hypothesis through three stages: data collection and analysis before the experiment,teaching experiment and data collection and analysis after the experiment.The data collected before and after the experiment were analyzed by SPSS 17.0 statistics software.It is used to analyze the level of the subjects' English autonomous learning ability in rural junior high schoolbefore and after the experiment.Besides,it can offer the necessary basis for the specific implementation of the teaching experiment and the analysis of research results later.Interviews were conducted to know the specific information of the students' autonomous ability and to offer the supplementary information for questionnaires.The research instruments used in the teaching experiment stage are mainly the student growth portfolio,which contains students' English study plan,evaluation forms and excellent works that students satisfied with.In order to carry out teaching experiments effectively,the researcher also gave the necessary guidance during the experiment.Through experiments and data analysis,the results are as follows:(1)The subjects' overall English autonomous learning ability is relatively low before the experiment in the rural middle school.(2)The overall English autonomous learning ability of the experimental class is improved after the experiment.The result of independent T-test that shows that there is a significant difference in the level of autonomous learning ability between two classes.(3)For the specific effects,the proper use of formative assessment in the English teaching can arouse students interest in English learning,give students assistance to make a reasonable learning plan,guide students to develop good learning habits and enhance students' self-monitoring and evaluation of English learning process.At last,the result testifies the hypothesis that the use of formative assessment can improve the students' autonomous learning ability in rural junior high school.However,the formative assessment also have some disadvantages.Firstly,it is not counted in the last examination results.Secondly,it need lots of time to be involved in the class.Thirdly,students and teacher will be have more burden to some degree.Therefore,teachers can combine formative assessment with summative assessment to make the more comprehensive and scientific assessment for students.Through it,students can get a continuing and dynamic assessment to improve their autonomous learning ability and lay the foundation for their learning in the future.