An Analysis of Autonomous Learning for English Major Freshmen at GXUFE英语毕业论文.doc

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1、An Analysis of Autonomous Learning for English Major Freshmen at GXUFE我校英语专业新生自主学习情况调查报告ContentsAbstract (in English)iAbstract (in Chinese)iiChapter One: Introduction11.1 Need for autonomous learning11.2 The structure of the thesis1Chapter Two: Literature Review32.1 The concept of autonomous learnin

2、g32.2 Previous studies on autonomous learning at home and abroad5Chapter Three: The Concerning Factors on Autonomous Learning63.1 Internal factors63.1.1 Learners motivation63.1.2 Learners belief73.1.3 Learning goals and plans73.1.4 Learning strategies83.1.5 Self-monitoring and self-assessment93.2 Ex

3、ternal factors93.2.1 Teachers influence93.2.2 Learning resources10Chapter Four: Survey Design114.1 Survey questions114.2 Subjects114.3 Research method11Chapter Five: Data and Analysis125.1 The overall view on autonomous learning.125.2 Students performance in the aspects of autonomous learning135.2.1

4、 Students motivation135.2.2 Students belief145.2.3 Students comprehension towards teachers aims and requirement155.2.4 Students goals and plans165.2.5 Students learning strategies175.2.6 Students self-monitoring and self-evaluation185.2.7 Students utilization of learning resources195.3 The differenc

5、es on autonomous learning ability in learning environment20Chapter Six: Conclusions236.1 Major findings of the survey236.2 Suggestions for promoting autonomous learning236.2.1 Teachers role in promoting autonomous learning246.2.2 Learners role in fostering autonomy.246.2.3 Teaching environment25Refe

6、rences26Appendix28Acknowledgements30AbstractSince the early 1980s, with the establishment of student-centered teaching concept, autonomous learning has been a hot topic in the field of educational psychology research at home and abroad. However in China, owing to the impact of traditional teaching p

7、attern, there still exists the phenomenon that teachers unilaterally focus on their own “input” teaching and neglect learners status as the main role in language learning. In modern English teaching concept, students autonomous learning competence is the key to improve English level. This becomes mo

8、re important for English major freshmen who just leave teacher-centered teaching pattern from their high school education. Their autonomous learning competence would influence their English learning later. The author conducts a questionnaire to investigate the competence of autonomous learning of 11

9、9 English major freshmen at Guangxi University of Finance and Economics. The questionnaire consists of seven parts: learning motivation, learning belief, teachers influence, learning goals and plans, learning strategies, self-monitoring and self-assessment, and utilization of learning resources. The

10、 analysis shows that the students autonomous learning ability is at medium level. In detail, most of students instrumental motivation is stronger than integrative motivation; they hold positive learning belief but seldom know the teachers aims and requirements; they have clear learning goals and pla

11、ns but seldom carry them out; In addition, they lack knowledge of learning strategies, self-monitoring and self-assessment, and they make little use of learning resources. The author tries to analyze the possible reasons and proposes some appropriate suggestions to promote learners autonomy.Key word

12、s: English major freshmen; autonomous learning; survey摘 要自20世纪80年代初以来，随着以学生为中心的教学观的确立,自主学习成为国内外教育心理学研究的热点。然而，由于受到传统教学模式的影响，还存在片面强调教师单方面的输入，忽视了学习者作为学习主体的地位的现象。在现代英语教育教学理念中，英语专业学生的自主学习能力是提高自身英语总体水平的关键，尤其是英语专业新生，刚刚脱离以教师为主的传统教学模式，其自主学习能力的高低将影响后期的英语学习。本文以问卷的形式对我校英语专业119位新生的自主学习能力做调查。问卷涉及学习动机、学习观念、对教师的教学目

13、的与要求的了解、学习目标和计划、学习策略、自我监控和评估以及学习资源的利用情况等七个方面，通过分析发现英语专业新生的自主学习能力处于中等水平，大多数新生学习英语的外部动机强于内在动机；学习观念积极，但是对教师的教学目的与要求不是很了解；新生有明确的学习目标和计划，但是很少付出实际行动；学习策略匮乏，自我监控和评估的能力不足，不能充分利用学习资源。针对以上情况，分析其原因并给出建议以提高学习者的自主学习能力。 关键词：英语专业新生；自主学习；调查Chapter One: Introduction1.1 Need for autonomous learning In recent years, w

14、ith the development of domestic and international economic, the demands for foreign talents increase gradually in China. Second language learning has been a heated point for educators at home and abroad. Since 1980s, Holec put forward the concept of autonomous learning, which has been a popular disc

15、ussion in the West. Compared with the traditional teaching teacher-centered teaching, which teachers pay more attention to how they teach rather than how students learn, the contemporary English teaching lays emphasis on the main role of learners. In China, most of teachers adopt traditional teachin

16、g methods in foreign language teaching, they devote too much time and attention to how to teach more than how to learn, unilaterally emphasize teachers role of “input” and stress uniqueness and standards, the role of learners as learning subjects has been overlooked. With the reform of college Engli

17、sh syllabus, educators advocate a new English teaching pattern: student-centered teaching. With this new teaching model, developing students autonomous learning ability is a primary task for teachers and educators. Furthermore, autonomous learning is also vital for second language learners in the fu

18、ture. At present, in China, Owing to big size of class, a teacher can not instruct every single student at any time. In addition, one foreign language learners ability differs from others, so learners should spend more time on autonomous learning to achieve their goals. Especially for freshmen, they

19、 should adjust themselves to the college English teaching, which advocates student-centered teaching pattern. Once they foster a sense of autonomous learning and take action, they will get great progress in English learning. 1.2 The structure of the thesis This paper is composed of six chapters. Cha

20、pter one is an introduction to the situation of autonomous learning, its necessity and significance. Chapter two is the literature review related to autonomous learning, including some concepts and previous studies at home and abroad. Chapter three concentrates on the concerning factors on autonomou

21、s learning. Chapter four is the survey design, which describes the subjects and questions of the survey. Chapter five reports the result of survey and analyzes the data. Based on the results of survey, factors affecting autonomous learning and reasons are discussed in detail. Chapter six is the conc

22、lusion, which discusses the implication of survey, with hopes to promote autonomous competence, then some suggestions on teachers roles, learners roles and teaching environment are put forward. Chapter Two: Literature Review2.1 The concept of autonomous learning Over the last few decades, autonomy h

23、as been a heated topic for language learning in the western countries. The concept of “autonomous learning” stemmed from debates about the development of life-long learning skills and the development of independent thinkers, both of which originated in 1960s (Gardner & Miller, 2002:6). It is difficu

24、lt to define concepts of autonomy, because different writers have defined the concepts in different ways. Various terms are used by many scholars such as “learner autonomy”, “self-instruction”, “self-direction”, “self-access”, etc. It was Holec (1981:3) who first brought forward the definition of au

25、tonomous learning in 1981, he defines autonomy as “the ability to take charge of ones own learning”. According to Gardner and Miller (2002:6), there are some definitions of autonomy. Dickinson (1987:11) accepts the definition of autonomy as “a situation in which the learner is totally responsible fo

26、r all of the decisions concerned with his or her learning and the implementation of those decisions”. In terms of different schools of thoughts, there are three major schools. Little (1990:7) considers learner autonomy as “essentially a matter of the learners psychological relation to the process an

27、d content of learning”. Kenny (1993:436) states that autonomy is not only the freedom to learn but also “the opportunity to become a person”. Both of them see autonomy as a personal characteristic. As the representative of political framework, Benson(1997:29) defines learner autonomy is “a recogniti

28、on of the rights of learners within educational systems”. As for one school of thoughts viewing autonomy as an educational practice, Bound (1988:17) suggests that autonomy is “an approach to educational practice”.The above definitions deal with the concept of learner autonomy in past years. Later ye

29、ars, more and more discussion and additional details are carried out by a great numbers of scholars in western countries. These results offer perfect theory framework and instruction for researchers in language teaching. The research on autonomous learning in China began in the early 1990s. The rese

30、archers combine western scholars achievement and the situation in China and then define autonomous learning in different ways. Pang Weiguo (庞维国，2001:79) describes the autonomous learning from two angles: 1). The first is discussed from dimensionality: if learners can make choice and control themselv

31、es consciously, the process of learning can be regarded as autonomous learning. To be specific, if learners motivation is self-driven, the content of learning is self-selected, learning strategies are self-regulation and the learning time is planed and managed by learners, they can create the condit

32、ion of learning and evaluate the results. Then we can say that the learning is autonomous. 2). The second is defined from the process of learning: if learners can set goals and make plans before learning, monitor or adjust the process and plans of learning during the process, and check the results a

33、nd evaluate themselves after learning, then the learning process can be regarded as autonomous learning. Hua Weifen (华为芬，2002:109) makes an induction from western scholars definition. She considers the autonomous learning as a process of learning as well as an outcome. Learners should not completely

34、 rely on teachers but take more charges of ones own learning. Learners autonomy as a potential ability of learning decision, it needs an environment where learners can execute rights to promote the process of learning. Meanwhile, it also requires backup and instructions from teachers. Peng Jinding (

35、彭金定，2002:16) concludes that the definition of autonomous learning should include five aspects: 1). Taking responsibility for learning; 2). Understanding of learning aims; 3). Making plans; 4). Evaluating the results; 5). Regulating the strategies. Xu Jinfen (徐锦芬，2007:11) points out that the learning

36、 autonomy in the English teaching context in China should cover the following five aspects: 1).Identifying the aims and requirement of teacher; 2).Formulating appropriate learning objectives and plans; 3).Selecting and implementing learning strategies; 4).Monitoring the use of learning strategies; 5

37、).Monitoring and evaluating learning process.To sum up, all scholars view learners as participants who consciously set their own goals, regulate the motivation, select appropriate strategies and evaluate the learning outcomes.After taking into the consideration of the definitions by other scholars,

38、combining the present study as well as the actual situation in China, the author is inclined to adopt Xu Jinfens definition of autonomous learning, considering one aspect: using effective learning resources in a constructive learning process. Based on the above discussion, autonomous learning can be

39、 defined as an ability that learners are initiative and responsible in setting goals, adopting the appropriate strategies, monitoring and evaluating learning process and using effective learning resources in a constructive learning process. 2.2 Previous studies on autonomous learning at home and abr

40、oad It was in the middle of 1970s that linguists abroad began to probe into the field of learner autonomy in foreign language teaching and learning (高吉利, 2005:61). In 1981, Holec raised the definition in his monograph Autonomy and Foreign Language Learning. From then on, a great numbers of research

41、appeared and got great achievement in theoretical studies. In general, western researches focus on the concept of autonomous learning and how to cultivate learner autonomy (Bound, 1988, Brookes and Grundy, 1988, Little, 1990, Dickinson, 1987, Benson and Voller, 1997, Gardner and Miller, 2002). These

42、 works discuss the theoretical background of learner autonomy in detail and analyze each factor that affects learner autonomy clearly, such as attitude, belief, strategy and role, and analyze how to promote learner autonomy in practice (徐锦芬, 2007:25).In China, as the research on autonomous learning

43、is later than western countries, there exists limitation. Since 2001, more research on this field has been conducted. Wang Duqin (王笃勤，2002:17-23) conducts a survey to study university students metacognitive level, and claims to develop students self-learning ability through strategy training. Lei Xi

44、ao (2005:68-74) discusses college students belief of autonomous learning and provides a few techniques to deal with the corresponding problems in their beliefs. Wei Yuyan (魏玉燕, 2002:8-14) introduces this new teaching idea into FLT in China, including the definition of learner autonomy, the necessity

45、 and methods of fostering learner autonomy in foreign language learning. Xu Jinfen et al. (徐锦芬、彭仁忠等,2004:64-68) investigate the actual situation of non-English major sophomores English autonomous learning. The result suggests that college students degree of autonomous learning stays at a low level i

46、n China. These studies enrich the theory of autonomous learning and practice of guiding the foreign language teaching, which is of practical significance.Although the previous researchers have made many achievements in China, most empirical studies focus on the objects of non-English major, studies

47、on English major are limited.Chapter Three: The Concerning Factors on Autonomous LearningFrom the above discussion, we know that autonomous learning can be considered as learning activity as well as learning ability. Taking many concerning factors into consideration, it is very difficult to improve

48、the capability of learners autonomous learning, especially to change autonomous learning awareness to practice.Domestic researchers have a deep discussion about the concerning factors on autonomous learning, and group them into three main pairs of classifications: personality factors and common fact

49、ors, controllable factors and uncontrollable factors, internal factors and external factors.In this thesis, the author prefers the third classification. That is to say, the concerning factors on autonomous learning can be divided into two categories: internal factors and external factors. As a learning activity, autono