Research Of Non-English Major College Students’ Online Autonomous Learning Ability

With the shift from “how to teach” to “how to learn” in the field of teachingmethodology of second language acquisition, a learning methodology calledautonomous learning has been emerging since1970s. Although a unanimousagreement on how to define autonomous learning and how to improve autonomouslearning has never been reached, it is well acknowledged that the promotion ofautonomous learning capability may enable learners to be more efficient in learninga foreign language. This study, which is a survey with questionnaire and interview,investigates non-English major college students’ online autonomous learning abilitywithin the framework of krashen’s SLA and the theory of “i+1”.The subjects in this study are461college students from grade1and grade2,and12College English teachers in Shanghai Normal University. Investigations,interview as well as data collection and analyses are used in finding out the overallsituation of online autonomous learning ability of non-English major college students,and the correlation between the online autonomous ability and students’ subjects.This paper will discuss from three aspects:1) The online autonomous learning ability of non-English major college students2) Factors affecting students’ online autonomous learning ability3) How to improve students’ online autonomous learning abilityThe study results show that:1) The students’ online autonomous learning ability are quite different, butirrelevant to students’ subjects.2) The students’ online autonomous learning ability are connected with learningresources.On the basis of the summary of research conclusions, we identify the mainproblems in students’ online autonomous learning. To solve these problems, wepropose recommended countermeasures.The purpose of the study is to help both teachers and learners alike to sensitizeto the importance of online autonomous learning in college English teaching. By studying the online autonomous learning ability of non-English major collegestudents, we tend to propose the optimization strategy of online autonomouslearning English for college students.