A Comparative Study Of Pre-service And In-service English Teachers’ Beliefs On Learner Autonomy

The General Senior High School English Curriculum Standards（2017）clearly points out that: “learning ability refers to students’ awareness and ability to use and adjust learning strategies actively.Developing learning ability helps students manage their English learning autonomously,develop good learning habits,acquire learning resources through multiple channels,and increase learning efficacy.” The cultivation of Learner Autonomy in English learning is one of the main goals of foreign language teaching.High school English teachers play a crucial role in the cultivation of Learner Autonomy,the beliefs who entertain determine to some extent the cultivation of Learner Autonomy.Therefore,it is very necessary to explore English teachers’ beliefs on Learner Autonomy.With regard to this,this paper compares the status quo of Pre-service and In-service English Teachers’ Beliefs on Learner Autonomy,further explores the differences of the two types of English teachers’ beliefs on Learner Autonomy and the reasons,so as to provide pedagogical implications for English teachers to cultivate Learner Autonomy.Based on humanistic learning theory,constructivist learning theory,metacognitive theory,this study selects 54 postgraduate students majoring in English Education from a university and 36 English teachers from three middle schools as the research subjects in H area.The study aims to answer the following research questions: 1.What are Pre-service and In-service English Teachers’ Beliefs on Learner Autonomy? 2.To what degree are Pre-service and In-service English Teachers’ Beliefs on Learner Autonomy different? 3.What are the factors that make a contribution to differences in Pre-service and In-service English Teachers’ Beliefs on Learner Autonomy?The results show that: 1.The overall level of Pre-service English Teachers’ Beliefs on Learner Autonomy is high,while the overall level of In-service English Teachers’ Beliefs on Learner Autonomy is low.2.There are significant differences in teachers’ beliefs on Learner Autonomy between Pre-service and In-service English Teachers,and especially in the three specific dimensions of Belief on Students’ Ability to Learn Autonomously,Belief on Right of Learners’ Decision-making in English Learning and Belief on Influencing Factors of Students’ Ability to Learn Autonomously,the scores of Pre-service English Teachers are significantly higher than In-service English Teachers’.3.The factors which make a contribution to the significant differences in Pre-service and In-service English Teachers’ Beliefs on Learner Autonomy may fall into the following three categories:（1）teachers’ knowledge;（2）teachers’ ability;（3）teachers’ cognition of environment.Based on the research results,this study puts forward corresponding suggestions for Pre-service and In-service English Teachers to strengthen their beliefs on Learner Autonomy and cultivate Learner Autonomy in English learning.Additionally,this study selects the scope of Pre-service and In-service English Teachers and further explores the reasons for the differences in their beliefs on Learner Autonomy,which deepens the study of teachers’ beliefs on Learner Autonomy and to some extent promotes the change of the teacher-oriented teaching concept and reform of the teacher-oriented teaching model in the current English class of senior high school in which students seriously lack the awareness and power to learn autonomously.