A Comparative Study On English Autonomous Learning Ability Between High Achievers And Low Achievers In Senior High School

Over the past two decades,the field of language teaching has been constantly evolving and developing,but autonomous learning ability remains an important issue in current education research.All sub-disciplines of education attach great importance to the research of autonomous learning ability because they realize that autonomous learning is not only conducive to improving students’ academic performance at school,but also lay foundation for their lifelong learning and development.Foreign linguistic fields have conducted extensive and profound research on the concept of autonomous learning.Relevant studies have shown that there is a correlation between autonomous learning ability and learner’s attitude,motivation,the use of learning strategies.Therefore,by comparing the differences in the ability of English autonomous learning between high achievers and low achievers,we can provide references for the cultivation of autonomous learning ability in the future.However,there is still relatively little research on the issue of the differences on the autonomous learning ability of senior high school students in China.Against this background,192 students from Beichuan High School were chosen in the comparative research,who were divided into two groups,high achievers group and low achievers group respectively.This study uses a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods.In quantitative research,the author refers to previous research results and adopts the form of questionnaire.To compensate the deficiency of quantitative research,the author resorts to the interview to conduct a qualitativeanalysis intending to fully reflect the relating issues in the research.This thesis aims to investigate the status quo of autonomous English learning ability among senior high school students,especially the discrepancies between high achievers and low achievers.The specific research questions are as follows:(1)What is the status quo of the high and low achievers’ English autonomous learning ability respectively?(2)What are differences between high and low achievers among the dimensions affecting English autonomous learning ability?(3)What are the implications we can draw from the study to better serve our teaching and learning in senior high schools?According to the research results,it has been confirmed that high achievers’ English autonomous learning ability is obviously higher than that of low achievers,especially reflected in the following dimensions: self-monitoring,evaluation and adjustment of learning strategies.Based on this research,the author put forward corresponding suggestions for senior high school English teaching,which are strengthening students’ understanding and application of metacognitive strategies,developing students’ ability to implement self-monitoring,evaluation and adjustment.The author sincerely hopes these suggestions can give certain enlightenment on promoting the current English autonomous learning ability in senior high schools.