| Autonomous learning is always proclaimed as a permanent goal of moderneducation, as learning how to learn and acquire knowledge or learning skills is muchmore important than just receiving skills, knowledge and expertise. With thedevelopment of science and technology, people need to learn more things rapidly tomeet with the latest demands of society. Meanwhile, English has obtained anirreplaceable status in the field of academic research, as most of the academicresearch results in the world and authoritative publications of each major arepublished in English. Therefore, it is essential for science postgraduates to improveEnglish academic reading autonomy.Through questionnaire and interview, the thesis conducts survey among284second-year science postgraduates from Jiangxi Normal University and NanchangHangkong University. The questionnaire is based on Benson’s framework of learnerautonomy at the learning management level and Wenden’s three-stage distinction ofself-management behaviors for learner autonomy. The present study mainlyinvestigates and discusses following questions:1. What is the present situation of English academic reading autonomy amongscience postgraduates and its three components: planning, monitoring and evaluationin academic reading among science postgraduates?2. Are there any significant differences between male postgraduates and femalepostgraduates as per English academic reading autonomy?3. What are influencing factors of English academic reading autonomy amongscience postgraduates?The results of data analysis reveal findings of research questions as follows:1. The overall situation of English academic reading autonomy is good, during whichthe students’ autonomy in evaluating after academic reading is lower than that inplanning and monitoring.2. There is significant difference between female and male postgraduates as perEnglish academic reading autonomy, which is obvious during evaluation stage afterreading.3. The influencing factors of English academic reading autonomy are various, mainlyincluding vocabulary size and depth, self-interest and motivation, instruction of tutoras well as English level. The above findings shed light on English academic reading autonomy amongscience postgraduates and some measures should be taken to improve the situation.For example, enhance postgraduates’ self-interest and motivation as well tutors’effective guidance, enlarge vocabulary size and depth, improve English level. |
