On Learner Autonomy And English Learning Achievement Of Students In Enclosed Junior School

With the rapid development of science and technology, lifelong learning has become a necessary quality for people to adapt to the changing society; hence autonomous learning is a necessary quality to achieve lifelong success. The final goal of English learning is to use it to communicate, but this communicative ability requires students to have certain degree of independent learning ability. Nowadays more and more junior schools implement enclosed management so as to better manage the students. Compared with open junior schools, the enclosed junior school has a stricter management mode so that students there have less free time and fewer chances to be tempted by the outside world. However, the free time and space belonging to students is also reduced to some degree. At present, few studies have been conducted on the junior high school in China and this situation cannot meet the requirements of the increasing of enclosed junior schools. This thesis focuses on exploring the autonomous learning ability of enclosed junior school students and the relationship of their English achievements between their autonomous learning.This study selects the sample from an enclosed junior school and an open junior school in Yiyang City, Hunan Province and adopts a questionnaire, a test paper and an interview schedule as data-collecting instruments to do exploration in a certain part of the autonomous learning field. Directed by Zimmerman’s autonomous learning theory, affective filter hypothesis, cooperative learning theory and constructivism learning theory, the researcher expects to answer the following questions:What’s the current situation of students’autonomous learning levels (ALLs)? Is there any significant difference between students from the enclosed junior schools and those from the open junior schools in autonomous learning habits? Is there any significant difference of learner autonomy level between boys and girls in enclosed junior school? Does any significant difference exist between students of different ALL in listening, grammar, reading and writing achievements respectively? The study provides the following results:(1) The learner autonomy level of enclosed junior school students is moderate;(2) In three aspects of autonomous learning, there is no significant difference between enclosed and open junior school students, but as for dependence on teachers, students of enclosed junior school have a significantly lower level;(3) Boys of enclosed junior school possesses a significant higher level of dependence on teachers and a significant higher level of dependence on external assessment, but show no significant difference on confidence and initiative of autonomous learning compared with girls;(4) Positive correlation exists between ALL and language achievement.