Research On The Correlation Between Senior High School Students’ Perception Of English Classroom Environment And Their English Autonomous Learning Ability

General Senior High School Curriculum Standards of English(2017 version,revised in2020)points out that learning ability is one part of English subject core competencies;teachers should regard the cultivation of students’ learning ability as an essential teaching goal,create favorable conditions for fostering students’ learning ability,and develop their autonomous learning ability.However,previous research has mostly explored the internal factors that influence the cultivation of autonomous learning ability,but has failed to adequately consider the research on the correlation between autonomous learning ability and its external factor-classroom environment.Furthermore,the dominant approach at present is to explore classroom environment from the perspective of students’ perception.Therefore,this research aims at answering the following questions:(1)What is the degree of senior high school students’ perception of English classroom environment?(2)What is the level of senior high school students’ English autonomous learning ability?(3)What is the correlation between senior high school students’ perception of English classroom environment and their English autonomous learning ability?This research adopts Field Theory and Humanistic Learning Theory as the theoretical basis,selects 170 senior one students from No.X Senior High School of Nanning as the research subjects,and answers three questions by analyzing the data obtained from questionnaires and interview.One questionnaire is the Middle School English Classroom Environment Perception Inventory developed by Liu Liyan and Liu Yongbin(2010);the other is developed based on Pang Weiguo’s(2003)Learning Autonomy Inventory and by referring to Cheng Xiaotang’s(2002)English Learning Strategies Inventory.Then,an interview outline is developed in accordance with the interview outline from Liu Liyan(2015)and the questionnaire from Pang Weiguo(2003).This study adopts software SPSS 27.0 to conduct descriptive statistics,correlation analysis,and regression analysis on the data from questionnaires.By combining the results of the questionnaires and interview,the major findings are listed as follows:(1)The degree of senior high school students’ perception of English classroom environment is at an intermediate level(M=3.47).In accordance with the five dimensions,teacher support(M=3.76)receives students’ highest perception,while task orientation(M=3.22)receives the lowest.Students perceive that English teachers trust,respect,and help them in class and they can finish learning tasks in class,but they are not clear about their learning objectives and focuses.(2)Senior high school students’ English autonomous learning ability is at an intermediate level(M=3.01).In terms of the seven dimensions,learning content(M=3.32)gets the highest scores,while learning outcomes(M=2.76)get the lowest scores.Students will set learning objectives based on their learning needs and their learning content is mainly assigned by their teachers,but some can choose learning content based on their learning needs during the holidays.Further,students lack habits of checking their homework,summarizing and evaluating their learning results and learning methods,and they don’t know how to find effective learning methods and learning strategies.(3)There is a significantly positive correlation between senior high school students’ perception of English classroom environment and their English autonomous learning ability(r=0.783).Specifically,the correlation order of the dimensions of the perception of English classroom environment with English autonomous learning ability is task orientation(r=0.670),teacher support(r=0.617),cooperation(r=0.601),class order(r=0.557)and students’ cohesiveness(r=0.483).Class order is weakly correlated with learning content and learning environment,while students’ cohesiveness is only moderately positively correlated with learning outcomes.Additionally,task orientation,cooperation,teacher support,and students’ cohesiveness have an impact on students’ English autonomous learning ability.The study puts forward the following recommendations based on the findings of present research: teachers should activate students’ intrinsic learning motivation,inform and present learning objectives,and strengthen guidance on learning strategies.Students should raise willingness for cooperative learning,enhance awareness of self-monitoring,and value the summary and evaluation of learning outcomes.