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

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 Contents Abstract (in English)i Abstract (in Chinese)ii Chapter One: Introduction .1 1.1 Need for autonomous learning.1 1.2 The structure of the thesis.1 Chapter Two: Literature Review3 2.1 The concept of autonomous learning .3 2.2 Previous studies on autonomous learning at home and abroad 5 Chapter Three: The Concerning Factors on Autonomous Learning 6 3.1 Internal factors.6 3.1.1 Learners motivation.6 3.1.2 Learners belief7 3.1.3 Learning goals and plans .7 3.1.4 Learning strategies 8 3.1.5 Self-monitoring and self-assessment.9 3.2 External factors .9 3.2.1 Teachers influence.9 3.2.2 Learning resources 10 Chapter Four: Survey Design11 4.1 Survey questions .11 4.2 Subjects.11 4.3 Research method.11 Chapter Five: Data and Analysis12 5.1 The overall view on autonomous learning. .12 5.2 Students performance in the aspects of autonomous learning.13 5.2.1 Students motivation.13 5.2.2 Students belief 14 5.2.3 Students comprehension towards teachers aims and requirement.15 5.2.4 Students goals and plans 16 5.2.5 Students learning strategies .17 5.2.6 Students self-monitoring and self-evaluation 18 5.2.7 Students utilization of learning resources.19 5.3 The differences on autonomous learning ability in learning environment.20 Chapter Six: Conclusions.23 6.1 Major findings of the survey 23 6.2 Suggestions for promoting autonomous learning 23 6.2.1 Teachers role in promoting autonomous learning 24 6.2.2 Learners role in fostering autonomy24 6.2.3 Teaching environment25 References .26 Appendix .28 Acknowledgements .30 i Abstract Since 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 pattern, 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 more 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 119 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 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 plans 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 words: English major freshmen; autonomous learning; survey ii 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 1 Chapter One: Introduction 1.1 Need for autonomous learning In recent years, with 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 discussion 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 teaching 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 English 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 future. 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 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. Chapter 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 autonomous learning. Chapter four is the survey design, which describes the subjects and questions of the survey. Chapter five 2 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 conclusion, 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. 3 Chapter Two: Literature Review 2.1 The concept of autonomous learning Over the last few decades, autonomy has 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 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 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).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, 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. 5 Based on the above discussion, autonomous learning can be 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 abroad 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 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 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 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 Xiao (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 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 in 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 on English major are limited. 6 Chapter Three: The Concerning Factors on Autonomous Learning From 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 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 factors, 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, autonomous learning needs internal condition and the support of external condition. At the same time, as a kind of learning capability, learning autonomy is a relatively stable characteristic under a long-term interaction between learners and external environment (徐锦芬, 2007:62). Autonomous learning is influenced by such internal factors such as learners motivation, learners belief, learning goals and plans, learning strategies, self- monitoring and self-assessment. In the meantime, it is also affected by external factors like teachers influence, learning resources, and so on. 3.1 Internal factors 3.1.1 Learners motivation Motivation is one of major factors that influence second language learning. Learning motivation is a concept of pedagogic psychology, which indicates the interior impetus and desire to stimulate learners to acquire knowledge (徐锦芬, 2007:67). If learners have a strong positive motivation in their language learning, they will do well in autonomous learning. That is to say, without positive motivation, learners can not set a right goal or make any plans to complete their language learning. Gardner and Lambert (1972) highlight two different types of motivation: 7 1). Instrumental motivation: the desire to learn a language to fulfill certain utilitarian goals, such as getting a job, passing an examination, etc. 2). Integrative motivation: the desire to learn a language in order to communicate with people from other cultures; or desire to joint closely with the target language group. (quoted in 徐锦芬, 2007:67) Some students learn English out of interest, some students consider English as a tool in order to pass the examination or find a job. The different motivation can arouse different interest and goals, and these interest and goals would impact on the learners learning methods and effects. 3.1.2 Learners belief Learners belief refers to learners comprehension of study, which learners understand the learning objectives, tasks and teachers appraisal (陆根书、于德弘, 2003:47). Learners belief influence the way they learn, if learners have positive belief to learn a second language, the belief would influence their learning attitude and learning methods. That is to say, positive beliefs are beneficial to strengthen learning attitude, and then facilitate foreign language learning. On the contrary, the negative belief would weaken the learning motivation even lead to failure of learning. In language learning, beliefs and attitudes are shaped not only by the educational environment but also by family and social values. These influences on approaches to learning a language may encourage learners to experience new methods of learning, or conversely constrain and restrict their desire for a new learning experience (Gardner 2=“I sometimes disagree with it ”; 3=“I am uncertain about it ”; 4=“I sometimes agree with it ”; 5=“I strongly agree with it ”). 12 Chapter Five: Data and Analysis The questionnaires were distributed to all freshmen in their class with the help of an English teacher. All the questionnaires were collected and 114 of them are valid. SPSS13.0 is used for the data analysis. The response items are recorded in the following way: 1 point is given to choice 1, and 2 points to choice 2, 3 points to choice 3, 4 points to choice 4, and 5 points to choice 5. 5.1 The overall view on autonomous learning. In table 1, there is a descriptive statistic to the general view on definition of autonomous learning. Table 1 The general view on definition of autonomous learning N Mean Std. Understanding of defini