An Investigation Of Learner Autonomy In English Study Of Middle School Students

Changes in the field of language teaching have never stopped. Among the changes that have taken place in recent years, the main one has been a shift of focus from the teachers' teaching to the students' learning. "The reasons for this shift are two-fold: both goals of language learning and insights into the process of language learning have changed" (Reinders,2000). Firstly, society has posed its demands on education and has influenced its shape. Secondly, research in psychology, cognitive psychology, sociology, linguistics have added to our knowledge of how language learning takes place. These two developments lead to a greater interest in learner autonomy. Just as Little(1991) describes it, learner autonomy is the new "buzz-word" in the field of applied linguistics. It has been an unquestionable goal and essential part of language learning methodologies throughout the world.This thesis first discusses the definitions of learner autonomy given by Holec, Littlewood, and Benson. On the basis of previous researches, the author introduced the necessity of cultivating learner autonomy. Attitude and ability are the cores of learner autonomy, while consciousness and motivation are the main factors. The autonomous students can realize correctly the teachers' objectives, set up their own learning goals, and often self-evaluate consciously to monitor their study.Secondly, based on the theoretical inspection of learner autonomy, the author made an investigation into the current English teaching and learning in middle school(N=496),using one questionnaire in a certain middle school. Then I made an analysis of the results gathered in the investigation. From the findings obtained through analysis and generalization, the paper drew the elements beneficial to the autonomous learning and factors preventing students' autonomous learning.Finally, the author ventures to put forward some constructive suggestions on autonomous learning. The teacher should encourage their students in autonomous learning by following the following steps: First guided autonomous learning, then semi- autonomous learning and finally full- autonomous learning. The teacher should work out a feasible program of training. (1) Raising the students' awareness for the...