民办学院英语专业学生自主学习能力调查-文学学士毕业论文.doc

Abstract

Since Holec offered his definition of autonomy in his book Autonomy and Foreign Language Learning in 1981, the concept of Autonomous Learning has been attracting great concern in foreign language teaching. In recent two decades, related empirical studies have been done by researchers home as well as abroad and achieved various findings.
With more and more attention paid to English learning and application, people have begun to realize the importance of cultivating the ability of independent learning. The traditional teaching mode in which teachers play the dominating roles in the class can’t meet the requirement of modern English teaching. It has discouraged students’ thinking and creativity. What’s more, it has confined the development of students’ personality and the ability of learner autonomy. Thus, the promotion of learner autonomy has become the ultimate goal of quality-oriented education.
This paper begins with a questionnaire survey of 288 English-majors freshmen at Zengcheng College of South China Normal University for exactly grasping the present state of students’ learner autonomy. The survey shows as follows: many students can’t be fully aware of the teacher’s teaching objectives and requirements; they have no clear schedule of English learning besides assignments of the teacher; they don’t have a relatively rich repertoire of strategy selection and implementation, especially the communication strategies; they lack initiative and are unwilling to cooperate with others in the procedure of learning; they are incapable of checking how well a plan is working in the course of a language task, of applying the newly learned knowledge into practice. This paper aims to analyze the problems existing in the process of learner autonomy and explore the possible ways to promote English majors’ learner autonomy in private colleges.
Key words: private colleges; English major; learner autonomy

摘 要

自从1981年Holec在他的著作Autonomy and Foreign Language Learning中提出自主学习的概念之后，它引起了外语教学界的广泛关注。近二十年来,国内外许多研究者都做了相关的实证研究,但所得出的结论并不统一。
随着社会对英语学习和实践应用重视程度的不断加深,人们开始意识到自主学习对个人毕生发展的重要性。传统的以教师讲授灌输为主的教学模式已不能满足现代教学的需要,它极大地束缚了学生的想象力，抑制了他们的学习积极性和个性发展。因此,培养学生的自主性成为了素质教育的重要目标。
本文通过问卷对华南师范大学增城学院288名大一英语专业学生的自主学习现状进行了调查。调查结果表明:许多学生未能充分了解老师的教学目标和要求；除了老师布置的学习任务,他们没有明确的学习计划；对学习策略的选择及使用(尤其是交际策略),他们了解得并不全面；他们缺乏学习的主动性,不愿意与他人合作；在学习过程中,他们不能同步检测自己的计划,不能把新学的知识应用到实践中。本文旨在分析学生在自主学习中存在的问题,探索有利于提高学生自主学习能力的途径和方法。
关键词：民办学院；英语专业；自主学习

18
A Survey of English Majors’ Learner Autonomy in Private Colleges

1. Introduction

1.1 Background of the study
In the last two decades, autonomous learning in language learning has aroused great concern in the West. With the advocation of lifelong education, more and more attention has been paid to learners’ autonomous learning ability. As Boud (1988:18) argued, “a fundamental purpose of education is assumed to develop individuals’ ability to make their own decisions about what they think and do”. It is generally accepted that language learning requires the active involvement of learners. Language can only be learned and not be taught. The researchers have also begun to attach more attention to the methods of learning. To promote language learners’ autonomy and cultivate autonomous learners are regarded as important tasks for language teaching. Little (1991:8) holds that “being autonomous in learning is important beacause the most efficient learners tend to be the ones who have developed a degree of autonomy”.
For years, applied researches in China have suggested that Chinese students see knowledge as something to be transmitted by teachers rather than discovered by themselves. They are so dependent on teachers’ knowledge transmission that they are often at a loss in study without the presence of teachers. They are unable to set their own objectives and to select suitable materials to achieve their goals, let alone to continue the independent life-long learning. Chan (2003:33-54) suggests that “without teachers’ direction and assignment, they do not know what to learn and how to learn after class. The tradition of teacher-centered mode does not seem a promising ground for the promotion of learner autonomy”. In addition, with the deep effect of examination-oriented education, students have difficulty in the role change from passive learners to active learners.
In recent years, the society places emphasis on English learning as well as application, which leads to a much higher requirement on English majors. It requires students to be equipped with the ability of independent thinking, knowledge acquisition as well as creativity. The traditional mode of English teaching can’t meet the requirement of the social development. To some extent, it will discourage students’ thinking and creativity. What’s more, it has confined the development of students’ personality and the capability of learner autonomy. Therefore, the traditional mode of teaching and learning has to shift from “teacher-dominance” to “student-dominance”.
This study aims to analyze the problems existing in the process of learner autonomy and explore the possible ways to promote English majors’ learner autonomy in private colleges. It is hoped that the findings of the study can bring some implications to English teaching and learning.

1.2 Organization of the thesis
This thesis is composed of five chapters: introduction, literature review, learner autonomy, the survey of English majors’ learner autonomy in private colleges and conclusion.
Chapter One is a general introduction about the background of the study and the overall structure of the thesis.
Chapter Two reviews the previous researches on autonomous learning including both the studies in foreign countries and in China.
Chapter Three introduces the learner autonomy. Various definitions, characteristics of autonomous learners and necessities of cultivating students’ learner autonomy are discussed respectively.
Chapter Four is the research design, which includes subjects, questionnaire, the discussion of the research findings and the implications for language learning and teaching. There is a questionnaire designed to examine the degree of students’ learner autonomy, which aims to get the first-hand material from the English majors in Zengcheng College of South China Normal University about the current situation in their autonomous learning process. The results of the study are analyzed in detail. Finally, students’ roles and teachers’ roles in English teaching and learning are suggested to promote English autonomy competence.
The thesis ends with Chapter Five. Firstly it briefly sums up the research, including the main findings of the study and the significance of cultivating learner autonomy. Then it comes with limitations of the present study and recommendations of the further research.

2. Literature Review

Researches on foreign language autonomous learning have been conducted especially since 1980s in various ways in the western countries as well as in China.
In the foreign countries, one kind of empirical researches on autonomy is sought to explore individual differences on various factors of autonomy and the relations among these factors based on the questionnaire or interview.
For instance, In Zimmerman’s research (1990:51-59), 45 boys and 45 girls of the 5th, 8th and 11th grades from a academically-gifted school and an identical number from regular schools are asked to describe their use of 14 regulated learning strategies and to estimate their verbal and mathematical efficacy. Based on the data obtained from the questionnaire, Zimmerman finds that gifted students display significantly higher verbal efficacy, mathematical efficacy, and strategy usage than regular students.
Pintrich and De Groot (1990:33-40) use a self-report measure of self-efficacy, intrinsic value, test anxiety, and self-regulation to examine relationships between motivational orientation, self-regulated learning and classroom academic performance. 173 seventh-graders from 8 science and 7 English classes are chosen as subjects. The results show that self-efficacy and intrinsic value are positively related to cognitive engagement and performance.
Dam (1995:22-26) gives a practice of autonomous learning in foreign language education. She starts a class with 11-year-old Danish learners of English by asking them to bring some“English”to class. A cap bearing an English sentence, a tourist brochure, a piece of advertisement, a piece of old newspaper and a joke made by a learner all become “Our Own Material”. In that particular situation, learning English is supported by the social environment of Denmark, where a large part of the population speak English and the significance of learning English is very obvious to the learners.
Wolters (1998:224-235) studies college students’ motivational strategy usage. Self-report data are collected from 115 college students by using an open-ended questionnaire and Likert-style survey. Findings provide evidences that students regulate their level of effort in academic tasks by using a variety of cognitive, volitional and motivational strategies. They also prove that different aspects of students’ motivational regulation are related positively to their goal orientation and cognitive strategies usage.
In China, some researchers also have done empirical researches to investigate the situation managed to find some ways to implement it.
Wang (2002:17-23) implements a two-semester study to cultivate autonomous learning among college students. According to the results of the study, he claims that there is co-efficiency between the development of learner autonomy and English achievement and thus, proves the effectiveness of promotion of autonomous learning on learners’ language achievement.
Hua (2003:43-48) introduces the function of self-access language learning center and discusses its major problems in the present practice. He makes a detailed analysis of the findings based on his investigation, which is about their language needs, learning attitudes as well as approaches, and concludes that it is essential and urgent to establish such a language center in Shenzhen University.
Xu and his colleagues (2004:64-68) do a comprehensive investigation on autonomy among 1,340 sophomores from 14 colleges and universities in China. The results show that English autonomy competence for non-English majors is very poor and there are many problems existing in their autonomous learning.
Leng (2005), in an investigation on English autonomy for non-English majors based on the descriptive analysis, finds a low level autonomy competence of non-English majors. Students are in low ability in setting practical learning goals, carrying out plans, creating opportunities to practice English, applying appropriate learning strategies and measuring learning outcomes.
In a word, all these researches show that the English autonomy competence among English learners at different levels in China needs to be improved. For students, they need to find out their weaknesses and formulate practical learning objectives. They should try their best to be more active in classrooms and in their own learning process. For teachers, they need to create more opportunities for students to practice English and encourage students to control their own learning in or outside classroom..

3. Learner Autonomy

This section first presents the various definitions of learning autonomy. Then the characteristics of autonomous learners are described. Finally, the necessities of cultivating learner autonomy in China are put forward.

3.1 Concepts of learner autonomy
Autonomy has been defined in more than one way. The earliest and most frequently cited concept of autonomy was given by Holec who published his book Autonomy and Foreign Language Learning in 1981. Holec (1981:3) defines autonomous learning as “the ability to take charge of one’s own learning”. He developes this definition further in 1985 by stating that autonomy as a conceptual tool. Here, to take charge of one’s learning means to have or to hold responsibility, for all decisions concerning all aspects of the learning. And he(1981:9) elaborates this basic definition as follows:
(1) determining the objectives;
(2) defining the contents and progressions;
(3) selecting methods and techniques to be used;
(4) monitoring the procedure of acquisition (rhythm, time, place, etc.);
(5) evaluating what has been acquired.
In his words, the autonomous learner is himself capable of making all these decisions concerning the learning with which he is or wishes to be involved. Autonomy is not an inborn ability, but it can be acquired later by learners through “natural” means or through formal learning in a systematic, deliberate way. Zhou (2007) finds the following:
Although Holec’s definition adequatedly covers the main areas of the learning process in which one might expect the autonomous learner to be, the definition seems problematic, in that it describes the decision-making abilities involved in autonomous learning in largely technical terms, leaving open the nature of the cognitive capacities underlying effective self-management of learning.
In 1986, Huttunen (1986:233) defines autonomy as “the willingness and ability of the learner to take responsibility for his own learning’’. This definition is similar to Holec’s definition except for adding learners’ own willingness. Therefore, Huttunen’s definition not only mentions the ability for learners to learn autonomously but also their desire to do so. This desire is more important in successful autonomous learning.
Benson (1997:18-34) prefers to define autonomy as “the capacity to take control of one’s own learning”. He views the construct of “control” more open to investigation than the constructs of “charge” or “responsibility”. Benson argues that a description of autonomy in language learning should at least recognize the importance of three levels at which learner control may be exercised: learning management, cognitive processes and learning content. The three levels of control are clearly interdependent. Effective learning management depends upon control of the cognitive processes involved in learning, while control of cognitive processes necessarily has consequences for the self-management of learning. Autonomy also implies that self-management and control over cognitive processes should involve decisions concerning the content of learning.
On the basis of the above discussions, we can see that each definition focuses on one aspect. They consider learning autonomy as “ability”, “willingness”, “control”, etc. In a word, all scholars view autonomous learners as participants who actively set their own goals, regulate their motivation and select appropriate strategi