College English Teachers' Beliefs About Learner Autonomy

The concept of learner autonomy has attracted great attention of researchers and language teachers since it was introduced into China. The new curriculum requirements (implemented in 2004) clearly state the development of students' autonomous learning ability as an objective of college English teaching, which represents a significant shift for college English teachers in terms of teaching methodology, course materials, and theories of language teaching and learning. How teachers view learner autonomy will, to varying degrees, influence their classroom practices. However, teachers' beliefs, not only at home but abroad, has received relatively little research attention. Moreover, language teachers' beliefs are still less researched compared with those of teachers who teach math and other subjects. This thesis assumes that college English teachers are to be cognitively and professionally prepared to develop autonomy in their learners in the classroom. The present study thus aims to describe and examine teachers' beliefs about learner autonomy in responses to the new challenge, as seen in the case of four schools in a city of Shandong province.This study is descriptive in nature. Both quantitative and qualitative data were obtained through questionnaire surveys and group interviews to serve the research purpose. More specifically, the author attempted in the first place to find out what beliefs college English teachers (121 in number) hold about learner autonomy at the present stage when they are active participants in a nationwide reform aiming at improving the quality of college English teaching. To determine whether correlations exist between these teachers' beliefs and their classroom behaviors, this author adopted statistical procedures to show the relationship. Since teachers' and students' belief differences may turn out to be serious obstacles when introducing learner autonomy ( Nunan, 1988a), a comparison of beliefs that teachers (121 in number) and students (305 in number) hold was made to show how they are similar to or different from each other in terms of six key issues in language learning.The findings indicate that these teachers did teach with their beliefs in their mind directing their behaviors in the classrooms. But the results show an unfavorable picture of their beliefs in that these teachers were somewhat confused about what they should actually do in their teaching to foster learner autonomy though they have incorporated some changes into their thinking and, to some degree, into their practice in responses to the new challenge. Correlations, though relatively weak, were identified between these teachers' beliefs and their practices. Three out of nine factors extracted from teachers' beliefs were calculated as significant predictive variables to influence their behaviors favoring autonomy. In addition, both similarities and differences were identified between the teachers' and the students' beliefs about the key issues related to language learning. Chi-square tests found significant discrepancies between them on part of the items investigated.Both quantitative and qualitative analyses indicate that these teachers show great preference to conformity and inadequate trust in their students' ability to learn actively and independently. Overall there appears to be more awareness of responsibility and role identified in these teachers but less integration and implementation in their practices.While we are cautious about the research findings due to the many constraints on the study including the author's limited knowledge and research ability, the study may still indicate that college English teachers would have a difficult time in helping their learners to become autonomous. We, therefore, should not be too optimistic about the implementation of learner autonomy, especially in the universities that this study has investigated, due to so many unsettled problems. Teachers in this context are required to be equipped with cognitive readiness and professional skills to cope with varied aspects related to the development of learner autonomy, such as learner strategy training, the extent to which teachers link their classroom work with students' out-of-class efforts, the degree of flexibility in the implementation of a curriculum, and so forth.It can thus be hoped that this study may provide some empirical evidence for understanding college English teachers' beliefs about English learning and teaching. Considering the findings in this study, this author argues that more attention should be given to teachers' change in beliefs than ever when the reform is being promoted nationwide and a new curriculum implemented on such a large scale.