An Empirical Study On Self-efficacy And Autonomy In English Learning

With the establishment of the learner-centered teaching philosophy, learner autonomy is generally considered to be a prerequisite in language learning processes, and fostering learner autonomy is recognized as one of the most important goals in language teaching. Holec(1981) defines learner autonomy as"the ability to take charge of one's own learning". Dickinsin(1993)contends that an autonomous learner should understand the aims and methods of teaching, set his/her learning goals, select and make use of appropriate learning strategies, monitor their use of these strategies and self-asses or monitor their own learning. Ever since the birth of the concept, learner autonomy has become a hot issue in the research of foreign language education and many linguists and researchers have focused on the research of learner autonomy. However, most of the studies center on the definitions and analyses of theoretical bases of learner autonomy and the ways, necessity and feasibility to foster leaner autonomy while few empirical studies on learner autonomy have been carried out in the perspective of affective factors, especially self-efficacy. Self-efficacy refers to people's judgments of their capabilities to organize and execute courses of action required to attain designated types of performances. According to Bandura (1977), self-efficacy is a determining element in human behavior. As one of the key factors that affect learner autonomy, self-efficacy can motivate and regulate students'learning.Taking self-efficacy as one influential affective variable on learner autonomy, the present study attempts to examine the current situation of self-efficacy and autonomy in English learning of Chinese non-English majors and the correlation between them by administering a questionnaire to 260 third-year non-English majors attending Xiangtan University, Changsha University, Hunan Normal University, Hunan University of Technology and Central South University of Forestry and Technology in the hope of offering some theoretical warrant for English teachers in the improvement of students'autonomy in English learning and personal qualities. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences 12.0 (SPSS12.0) is employed to manage, display and analyze data; independent samples T-Test, Pearson correlation, one-way ANOVA and regression analysis are applied.The analyses of the data of this study show: 1) Students with different levels of English proficiency differ in self-efficacy in English learning: the level of self-efficacy in English learning of successful learners is higher than that of intermediate and unsuccessful learners; there exist significant differences in self-efficacy in English learning between successful learners and unsuccessful learners; 2) There is no significant gender difference in the level of self-efficacy in English learning; 3) There is a positive correlation between learners'English proficiency and self-efficacy in English learning; 4) Non-English majors in China have a moderate level of learner autonomy in general; and students with different levels of English proficiency differ in autonomy in English learning: successful and intermediate learners have a much higher level of autonomy in English learning; 5) There exists no significant difference in the level of autonomy in English learning between male and female students; 6) Learners'English proficiency is positively correlated with autonomy in English learning. 7) There exists a significant and positive correlation between self-efficacy and autonomy in English learning. Among the four components of autonomy in English learning, strategy use and goal setting are good predictors of self-efficacy in English learning with a total predictive value of 27%; as far as English learning self-efficacy is concerned, sense of course competence and sense of self-confidence for goal are predictive of autonomy in English learning with a total predictive value of 27.4%.Based on the theories on self-efficacy and learner autonomy, the author interprets the results of this research and states the pedagogical implications of the present study. It suggests that the role of affect should be emphasized in the development of autonomy in English learning and a psychologically secure environment should be created for learners to perform more autonomously in English learning. At the end of the thesis, the limitations of the present study are recognized and suggestions for future studies on the similar topics are made.