The Experimental Research Of Self-Access English Learning In Lutou Middle School

Learner autonomy has been a buzzword in foreign language teaching in the recent twenty years. Especially in western context, the concern with teaching and learning has shifted from the teachers' teaching to the students' learning. Some researchers have considered promoting learner autonomy in China. The Ministry of Education has set the main goal of English teaching and learning as "developing the students' autonomous English learning" in The New English Standard Course Standard for the Basic Education Stage. This urgently demands teachers and grassroots' education authorities to create the prerequisites for autonomous learning to guarantee that all the students improve both in intellect and in overall ability.This thesis first looks into the possibility of developing autonomy in English learning among middle school students by introducing the background of and the former researches on the learner autonomy. Then the students' autonomous English learning is thoroughly analyzed against the background of English language teaching in China, including its definitions, focuses, the necessity of cultivating the student autonomy in the process of English learning in middle schools and its operability in teaching in terms of principle and action. The concept of learner autonomy belongs to educational philosophy and derives from humanistic psychological, cognitive psychological and cognitive linguistic domain. This paper aims to document the advantage of learner autonomy in improving the students' attitudes toward and their ability of English learning. The autonomous students in English learning are characterized in a number of ways, realizing correctly the teacher's objectives, having their own learning objectives, selecting and employing appropriate learning strategies, often consciously monitoring their own use of learning strategies and using self-assessment regularly to monitor their own learning. In a word, successful students are those who learn autonomously, and are willingly responsible for their own learning.Based on the theories of learner autonomy, the paper presents an investigation into the current English teaching and learning in middle schools, using one questionnaire and some interviews in our school. Then it makes an analysis of the results gathered in the investigation in relation to the students' autonomous English learning process in additionto the social constraints. From the findings obtained through analysis and generalization, the paper has the following findings concerning the autonomous learning and factors preventing students' autonomous learning.1.Students show positive attitudes toward and strong motivation for the autonomous English learning .On the one hand, they feel strong motivation and devote themselves to tasks with practical value, and have strong desire to be involved in the tasks. On the other hand, they believe in the value of effort and self-discipline. These crucial elements for learner autonomy make it possible and necessary for teachers to develop the student's autonomous English learning.2.About 62% senior middle school students are Field Dependent learners. It is challenging for teachers to develop the student's autonomous English leaning .Firstly, the teacher's authority in classroom teaching inhibit some students' freedom of choice in learning strategies and styles;Secondly, the teacher' inflexible teaching style could not meet the students' individual learning styles;Thirdly, classroom interaction patterns are often teacher-centered, thus the students have few opportunities to practice their own learning potentials. And finally, the teacher's evaluation of the students do not provide the students with fair feedback on their work.3.The students demonstrate more disadvantages in using metacognitive strategies due to complex situations.To better the current situation of English learning in middle school, the author puts forward "the self-access English teaching and learning model for senior high school English teaching." An experiment is designed and carried out on the self-access English teaching and learning model at the authors' school. The results of the experiment shows that the students in the experimental class achieved greeter autonomy and made greater progress in their English learning during the experimental time.After analyzing the results of the experiment and practice, the author concludes that the self-access English teaching and learning model is superior to the traditional classroom English teaching models. The author also points out that there exist two problems in the practice of the self-access English teaching and learning model in middle school. These are also the areas in which the author will probe in the future <,...