A Study On Senior High School English Teachers’ Beliefs Of Learner Autonomy And Their Teaching Practice

With students as the main body and teachers as the guide,learner autonomy is a modern learning method developed to realize the ultimate goal of achieving lifelong learning.Learner autonomy is also one of the learning methods advocated by the General Senior High School Curriculum Standards and the classroom is the main place for this change.Teachers’ beliefs of learner autonomy affect and guide their classroom practice,so correct beliefs are an important prerequisite to effective teaching practice.The domestic and foreign theoretical and empirical research concerning learner autonomy from the learners’ perspective is quite mature.However,the number of related studies is on a decreasing trend.Besides,there are few studies on learner autonomy taking a research perspective from teachers.And domestic research focuses on the overall teaching beliefs,but neglects the exploration of a specific belief.Upon this,this research aims to explore English teachers’ beliefs about learner autonomy and their teaching practice.It is hoped that this research can expand the research perspective and provide some references to senior high school English teachers for further research in this field.This research utilizes different research methods of the questionnaire,classroom observation and semi-structured interviews to explore English teachers’ beliefs of learner autonomy and their practices in a Zhuhai key public senior high school.Firstly,the questionnaire was conducted among 30 English teachers.Three English teachers are selected for the first-round interviews based on their questionnaire results and years of teaching to supplement the questionnaire results.Next,there is a 3-month classroom observation in three English teachers’ reading,writing and listening &speaking classes to discover their classroom practice of learner autonomy.Lastly,three English teachers’ beliefs and practice are compared to find out the inconsistencies.After the classroom observation,there are second-round interviews among them to explore the influencing factors of the inconsistencies.This research is conducted to answer the following three research questions:1.What beliefs do senior high school English teachers hold about learner autonomy in English learning?2.How do they carry out their beliefs about learner autonomy in English learning in classroom teaching?3.Are their beliefs about learner autonomy in English learning inconsistent with their classroom practice? What are the influencing factors for the inconsistencies of teachers’ beliefs and practice of learner autonomy in English learning?The analysis of research data is shown as follows:1.English teachers’ beliefs of learner autonomy are mostly in line with the prevalent views.Of the four dimensions of teachers’ beliefs,an agreement is reached in the second dimension of their roles and the fourth dimension of teaching approaches,but there still is some disagreement on the first dimension of its definition and the third dimension of the level of students’ autonomous abilities.They agree that learner autonomy refers to an ability developed under the teachers’ guidance of learning strategies in student-centered lessons and during the class,students have the rights to control their English learning.Teachers play multiple professional and emotional roles during the development of learner autonomy.Then teachers think poorly of or are uncertain about their autonomous abilities in every aspect.About teaching methods of cultivating students’ English autonomous learning,an agreement is reached in terms of activating motivation and confidence and independent learning etc.being helpful to develop learner autonomy in English learning in the context of the classroom,but there is disagreement or uncertainty about the effectiveness of the Internet and virtual environment.Three English teachers’ beliefs of learner autonomy Vare basically the same as the majority,but they hold uncertain beliefs about some teaching methods of collaborative learning and mutual support among students etc.2.Through the classroom observation results of the three English teachers,senior high school English teachers’ classroom practice doesn’t obviously reflect their beliefs of learner autonomy.Compared with reading and writing classes,listening and speaking class is the most obvious class type reflecting it,but it is still not enough due to little time and activities for student-student interaction,the most symbolic characteristic to reflect learner autonomy.Of three different class types,Tina and Mary’s teaching time takes up most of a lesson with limited time and activities for students’ independent learning and little student-student interaction in three different class types.However,in Helen’s class,either teacher-student interaction or students’ independent learning takes up most of a lesson with little student-student interaction.3.By comparing the questionnaire data with the classroom observation results of the three English teachers,there are inconsistencies between senior high school English teachers’ beliefs of learner autonomy and their teaching practice and the influencing factors can mainly be attributed to three aspects: teacher-related factors,student-related factors and environmental factors.The inconsistencies center on English teachers’ beliefs and practice of the definition of learner autonomy about giving control to students and some teaching approaches,including independent learning,collaborative learning and mutual social support etc.Of the three influencing factors,student-related factors play the main role.Teachers-related factors include teacher autonomy and traditional education ideology.Students-related factors include students’ unreadiness and laziness as well as a lack of interest and motivation.Environment-related factors include seating arrangement,curriculum plan,time and examination pressure.Based on the above major findings,the corresponding four pedagogical implications are suggested.Firstly,a relevant professional training system should be established to improve teacher autonomy.Secondly,the progressive construction of a smart campus should be proposed in the senior high school to promote learner autonomy through the Internet.Thirdly,collaborative learning should be paid great attention to developing learner autonomy in English learning.Lastly,teachers should correctly deal with the relationship between examination pressure and the development of English learner autonomy.