英语论文-Autonomous Learning in Middle School English Teaching.pdf

毕业论文 设计 1 autonomous learning in middle school english teaching 1 introduction 1 2 the definition and importance of autonomous learning 3 2 1 the definition of autonomous learning 3 2 2 the importance of autonomous learning 4 3 the relationship between the teacher and students 5 3 1traditional relationship between the teacher and students 5 3 2 new relationship between the teacher and students 7 3 2 1 roles of teachers 8 3 2 2roles of students 10 4 attitude motivation and learning strategy 11 4 1attitude 11 4 2 motivation 12 4 2 1relationship between attitude and motivation 13 4 2 2boost motivation and attitude in autonomous learning 13 4 3 learning strategy 13 4 3 1cognitive strategy 14 4 3 2 metacognitive strategy 14 4 3 3impact of learning strategy on autonomous learning 15 5 classroom activities and available resources 15 5 1 classroom activities 16 5 1 1 principles in designing activities 16 5 1 2suggestions for classroom activities 17 5 2available resources 17 6 conclusion 19 references 20 毕业论文 设计 2 1 introduction as the english language learning becomes more and more important the traditional education system is facing a big challenge in the traditional classroom teachers pass all the knowledge on to students from beginning to end they ignore to help students develop their potential learning ability and foster their autonomy in english teaching so it s time for teachers to move the center of classroom teaching from the teacher to the students the new english curriculum standard advocates the new educational belief of humanism and students of life long development the new english criterion is devoted to transferring the way of the students study as well as the teacher s teaching fu chudao 2001 that s to say teachers should take the responsibility to make every endeavor to change their roles in traditional classroom at the same time students abilities to take charge of their own learning has gradually recognized as an important goal in middle school english teaching in the light of the development of english education autonomous learning is vital to chinese students who are studying in the new century by cultivating their autonomy students can show their interests develop study skills and enhance their creativity therefore autonomous learning is an effective way to cultivate students learning ability in middle school traditional education system pays attention to students spoon feeding which is easy to produce dumb english in other words they can get high scores and remember all the knowledge they gained but can t put them into practice so under the new circumstances it is important for teachers and students to change the old ways and to help students to make a habit of autonomous learning in middle school therefore classroom teaching should become a process during which students are guided by the teachers in constructing knowledge developing skills being active in thinking and demonstrating personal characters 毕业论文 设计 3 indeed in order to foster students autonomy teachers should know the characters of autonomous learning first autonomy is an approach to study english but not the end second students should have the ability to master the knowledge third teachers should aim at developing students awareness of autonomous learning and confidence in english language learning it is unreasonable to expect teachers to foster the growth of autonomy in their learners if they themselves do not know what it is to be an autonomous learner little 2000 this paper is expected to provide information about autonomous learning in middle school english teaching 2 the definition and importance of autonomous learning autonomous learning is not a new idea in english education the concept of autonomous learning stemmed from debates about the development of life long learning skills and the development of independent thinkers both of which originated in the 1960s david cardner lindsay miller 1996 6 in the recent years the concept of autonomous learning has occurred and become a popular topic in chinese english teaching 2 1 the definition of autonomous learning there are some definitions of autonomous learning first in 1981 holec defined autonomy as the ability to take charge of one s own learning 1981 second the fundamental idea in autonomy is that of authoring one s own world without being subject to the will of others third dickinson believes that autonomy is a situation in which the learner is totally responsible for his or her learning and the implementation of those decisions 1987 fourth bound describes the main character of autonomy as an approach to learning is that students take some significant 毕业论文 设计 4 responsibility for their own learning over and above responding to instruction 1988 fifth autonomous learning is a capacity for detachment critical reflection decision making and independent action sixth an autonomous person was also considered as one who has an independent capacity to make and carry out the choices which govern his or her actions so this capacity should depend on two key characters one is ability and the other is willingness ability depends on possessing both knowledge about the alternatives from which choices should be made and the essential skills for implementing choices which are most appropriate willingness depends on having the motivation and confidence to take responsibility for the choices seventh autonomy is the ability which learners demonstrate the ability to use a set of tactics for taking control of their learning so far there are many definitions on autonomy the above list is by no means complete either the definitions given above all show that learners should become independent thinkers and should own the ability to take charge of their own study therefore individual must be able to provide their own learning needs if they are to acquire the knowledge and skill they want crabbe 1993 2 2 the importance of autonomous learning with the development of economy the english as a tool to communicate between people of different cultures is becoming more and more important but in class the english study environment offers limited opportunities for students to be exposed to english the time for study in school can t guarantee that students can acquire the english language and use it in the traditional teaching context the teacher is the unquestionable authority their responsibilities are to pass knowledge on to students students are just containers which receive the knowledge 毕业论文 设计 5 passively both teachers and students are used to the traditional teacher centered classroom instruction now under the new english curriculum criterion with the teaching of language being more and more communication oriented the traditional classroom teaching will be shifted from the teacher dominant to the learner centered mode yi xiubo 2003 302 this change means that students ought to be active and to realize how important autonomy is in their study it is significant to help learners become aware of the value of independent learning so they will make the habit of learning continuously the most important thing behind autonomous learning in middle school is that english education should develop learners ability for independent thinking and for taking charge of their own learning that s to say learners will take great responsibility for their own learning autonomy has to be enhanced to meet the need of the new teaching mode when learners are accustomed to controlling and managing their own learning teachers should change their roles and retreat from the stage with the learners having achieved great autonomy so how to change their beliefs in autonomous learning becomes significant therefore chinese education attaches much importance to autonomous learning and it is growing in popularity it is also widely accepted that autonomous learning should be highly valued and fostered among the students concerning english teaching in middle school promoting students autonomy is very meaningful 3 the relationship between the teacher and students 3 1traditional relationship between the teacher and students according to the research in the old teaching style the exploration and promotion of 毕业论文 设计 6 students autonomy in class is far from satisfaction just a few teachers concentrate on learning strategies and the development of students autonomy traditionally english learning is almost exclusively teacher centered teachers are the purveyors of knowledge and they only focus on book knowledge and marks in order to learn the language effectively it is the teacher s task to make sure what is to be learned clearly to the students before it could be fully understood the students are considered as passive containers and only can receive what the teacher has taught and can not learn what the teacher hasn t taught students seem to have nothing to do with thoughts of learning language the relationship between traditional teaching and teacher centered teaching in this figure the focus is on traditional teaching with strong reference to the teachers private domain teaching for many people this is the conventional pattern of a classroom the teacher keeps control of the subject matter makes decisions about what work is needed and what the students do in this classroom the teacher probably dose most the talking and is by far the most active person take a common phenomenon for example when a teacher asks the whole classroom a question he or she only finds that few students are willing to respond most students keep silent and try avoiding the eye contact with the teacher it may be true that most students can t find out the answer even though they know the answer they are reluctant to reply or give feedback this is a serious but universal problem caused by the traditional middle school teaching traditional teaching strong link teacher centered teaching 毕业论文 设计 7 in view of these all the teaching staff should try to give up the unfitted traditional ways to the best of their abilities offer an autonomous language environment to students and give them more chances to control and run themselves to be honest traditional teaching is an inveterate methodology so it s a long way to eliminate the old educational system and give up the old teaching mold however teachers roles andstudents rolesintheclassroomhavebeenchangingwhentheyhaveadopted learner centered methodology the teaching staff should be conscious of cultivating students autonomy in middle school english teaching only in this way can students get closer to the autonomous learning the ultimate goal of education 3 2 new relationship between the teacher and students the traditional education system makes it a rather challenging task to promote learner autonomy in language learning education authority hold that promoting autonomous learning in class is an idea and long term pedagogic goal and they also make some advice to promote learner autonomy in the current pedagogic context for example eliminating the unified requirements for language skills in the syllabuses meeting the students needs for the course reforming on the evaluation system fostering teachers autonomy the new english curriculum standard advocates explicitly the new educational belief of humanism and students of life long development autonomous learning is considered as a new pedagogy which demands that traditional classroom teaching should be replaced by the learner centered one learner autonomy means that learners must take responsibility for their own learning developing autonomy and skills in learning how to learn it also means that teachers transfer the control to the students too much control will prevent students initiative so 毕业论文 设计 8 actually the control in the classroom should be flexible students are distinct and unique who should be taken into account when they engage in learning in autonomous study learners and teachers are expected to play in carrying out learning tasks it should be possible to allow learners to share their beliefs and thoughts about study to permit them to decide what to do and how to do in learning and to respect them to give suggestions to teaching methods at the same time individuals have to offer their own learning needs if they want to become autonomous learners the development of teaching should become a cooperative effect between teachers and learners because learners will be involved in decision on content selection methodology and evaluation in order to encourage students to move from teacher centered to learner centered learning teachers have to give up their beliefs as the centers in language classrooms by allowing students to experience responsibility for their learning it will enhance students motivation to continue autonomous language learning and to move towards great autonomy in their learning the relationship between autonomous learning and learner centered learning in this figure the focus is on autonomous learning with strong reference to the students private domain learning in this pattern students will become more aware of how they are learning reflect on it and explore useful approaches to help them more effectively autonomous learning strong link learner centered learning 毕业论文 设计 9 3 2 1 roles of teachers since learner autonomy is gaining more and more concern in english teaching the teachers as the major part to develop students autonomy should adjust their roles which are distinct from the old ones who carry out the teaching task in the traditional teaching context so it becomes very important that teachers should be provided with opportunities to develop themselves so as to the change of the roles teachers roles have to change which doesn t mean that teachers are useless in autonomous learning on the contrary they are an indispensable part to learner autonomy in the modern teaching field although teachers roles have changed they still play a vitally important role in classroom teaching teachers roles can be described as manager organizer resource provider instructor helpers and evaluator the view is illustrated in the following 1 the teacher as a manager teachers are playing as managers who organize activities to give more chances to students to practice english create stimulating environment and structure the classroom time and challenge students to achieve their potential 2 the teacher as a resource provider teachers should provide a great deal of useful information for students in order to raise their awareness of learning styles and strategies aiming at developing their autonomy 3 the teacher as an instructor teachers become instructors who teach english learning strategies and methods help students make english learningplans and teacheffective waysof learningenglish autonomously by the guidance of teachers students gradually study on the ways of their own 毕业论文 设计 10 4 the teacher as an evaluator teachers are evaluators of learners efforts and contributions teachers have to provide feedback of their performance for students as well as some advice more specific roles of teachers can be summarized getting to know students situation and demand in learning english encouraging communication with each other offering various channels to monitor students learning process focusing on students positive affective factors in english learning teacher managerresource provider instructorevaluator the roles of teachers in autonomous learning today teachers play a more important role in facilitating the learning process which demands that teacher should be more qualified and also have autonomy consciousness when they are teaching 3 2 2roles of students the new english curriculum criterion requires teachers to change their roles and there is no exception to students giving teachers different roles requires students to adopt different roles students have now become essential members in the classroom so teachers should take students background into account providing a meaningful and stimulating learning environment learners need to become more aware of their central role in the decision making process they have to learn to take an increasing amount of responsibility for their learning they have to learn about the importance of reflection on their learning and how it can help them to redefine 毕业论文 设计 11 their goals to make them constantly relevant to their need and wants david cardner lindsay miller 2002 13 that is it requires students to be adaptable creative inventive and independent 1 students should find their own ways students should be helped to find out what ways of learning english are suitable for them for example they should discover the best ways to remember vocabulary the interesting ways to train language and the effective ways to learn from others 2 students should try to be creative students should give up the boring ways and experiment with new ways of learning and using language when students are creative they are willing to use their knowledge of a language to discover meanings and express their ideas 3 students should learn to collect and organize information teachers have to guide students to collect and organize what they have learned through making notes and chart grouping items and displaying them for reference 4 students should develop the ability to cooperate with others cooperation is an essential ability for students to learn in cooperation with teachers and other students it will be more successful in autonomous learning in autonomous learning context students play an active role and have relatively high degree of controlling over their own study 4 attitude motivation and learning strategy in middle school english teaching there has been in recent years an increasing awareness of attitude motivation and learning strategy which have an important influence on autonomous 毕业论文 设计 12 learning 4 1attitude in autonomous learning some affective factors have decisive impacts on the learner one is attitude and the other is