A Comparative Study Of College English Autonomous Learning Systems:"New Horizon" And "Pathways"

With the development of China’s education reform, the traditional education is gradually transferring into a "leaner-centered" one. And autonomous learning put an emphasis on learner-centeredness, making Chinese educators and scholars pay more and more attention to autonomous learning. At the same time, because of the rapid development of information technology, the methods for teaching and learning are enriched. Consequentially, autonomous learning is combined with information technology. Furthermore, experts, domestic and abroad, have done many studies on language autonomous learning systems. However, there are few comparative studies on those separately developed by domestic and foreign experts. Therefore, qualitative and quantitative methods are adopted in this research to study the following research questions:What are the characteristics of New Horizon and Pathways autonomous learning system? And what are the similarities and differences between them?(1) What are the characteristics of New Horizon and Pathways in terms of language learning potential? And what are the similarities and differences between them?(2) What are the characteristics of New Horizon and Pathways in terms of usability and technical demands? And what are the similarities and differences between them?A checklist, questionnaires and interviews are used in the research to collect data, and SPSS 19.0 is used to carry out descriptive data analysis on the questionnaire survey. And data from interviews is coded, classified and analyzed.The conclusions of this research are generated as follows:(1) New Horizon and Pathways, both as autonomous learning systems for EFL learners, share commons in several aspects. For instance, both of them provide rich, colorful, and authentic learning resources to learners, give learners the freedom of choice, and offer learning record to help learners monitor and manage their own learning process. And both of the two learning systems can contribute to the improvement of language proficiency and enhancement of learner autonomy. Besides, the navigation is very clear and convenient for learners to use.(2) The differences between the two learning systems obviously exist. New Horizon focuses on the cultivation of learners’ listening and speaking skills, while Pathways emphasizes the development of academic skills. Besides, New Horizon is better than Pathways in the aspects of stability, while Pathways is less limited than New Horizon by the network and destination.The thesis also provides some implications for the future improvement of autonomous learning systems based on the above conclusions. Also, limitations of this research and suggestions for further study are presented in the thesis.