on the point of_A,Study,on,the,Current,Situation,of,College,Students’,Autonomy,in,English,Learning,in,Minority,Areas

　　Abstract: Due to certain factors, the English teaching and learning in minority areas still lags behind other areas. The failure is believed to result from many factors, such as history, economics, circumstance, teaching methodologies and learning strategies. This study investigates the minority non-English majors at Xichang College in Sichuan Province in order to understand their willingness to increase learner autonomy and their existing level of autonomous English learning. The data was collected from questionnaires, classroom observations, and students’ English proficiency tests. The results show that some students have a positive attitude towards learner autonomy and express a willingness to study autonomously, but their level of autonomous English learning is average. Based on the factors, this thesis suggests some possible countermeasures for the English teachers teaching in minority areas, which enables non-English majors there to construct their own knowledge systems and improve their abilities of autonomy in English learning process.
　　Key Words: minority areas; college English; autonomous learning; strategies
　　
　　1. Introduction
　　Autonomous learning falls under the category of educational philosophy. During the 1960’s, some western educators began to promote autonomous learning as one of the main objectives of educational reform. In the 1970’s, they began doing research on autonomy in language learning. It is presently a crucial issue in the field of language teaching and research. In recent years, quite a number of articles have appeared in China concerning the application of autonomous learning to university students.
　　However, studies on autonomous learning are inadequate in China, where it is only in the beginning stage. Every minority student has his/her own unique approach to constructing knowledge and information in his/her mind, based on their different cultural background and surroundings. The nature and development of circumstances of living are never consistent with an individual’s cognition about the matters outside. Some researchers mostly emphasized theoretical study, and stated the background, theoretical basis, and the approach to cultivate learner autonomy among students and empirical research on autonomous learning among minority students can scarcely be found. The present paper is an empirical study on cultivating students’ ability to engage in English autonomous learning at colleges in minority areas.
　　2. Literature Review
　　There are many related theories concerned with autonomous learning, including philosophical and pedagogical theories; metacognitive theory, which refers to learner beliefs, insights, and concepts that they have acquired about the language learning process; as well as the humanistic approach, which emphasizes the importance of the inner world of the learner, and places the individual’s thoughts, feelings and emotions at the forefront of all human development.
　　In the view of the constructivist, learning is a constructive process in which the learner is building an internal illustration of knowledge, a personal interpretation of experience with the help of teachers and peers. This representation is continually open to modification, its structure and linkages forming the ground to which other knowledge structures are attached. Learning is an active process in which knowledge is constructed, but not transferred from teachers. It implies the process of building, creating, or making mental structures instead of merely absorbing or reproducing products. Creativity, interaction, and engagement with the target language, and negotiation of meaning are all emphasized in such approaches. Thus, learners are actively responsible for their own learning, engaged in formulating hypotheses in order to discover the rules of the target language. Language teachers should also use a variety of ways to get students involved in learning and to construct their own understanding of the language. It is more important to teach them how to learn than to only give them knowledge.
　　3. Research Method and Results
　　3.1 Research Method
　　In order to investigate and evaluate learning autonomy in minority areas, a questionnaire was used to elicit information regarding learning autonomy. Altogether there were 32 items, including motivation, attitude, setting plan, evaluating, autonomous learning, and other factors which influence students’ language learning.
　　In this study, the participants in the formal questionnaire and proficiency tests are 460 students from Xichang College, Sichuan Province, among whom 254 are minorities. The students’ ages ranged from 17-23 years old. The minorities include Yi, Zang, Hui, and Miao. In this school, about 35 percent are minorities, and most of them come from minority areas.
　　3.2 Results
　　From the data, it is obvious that 79.8� of the minority students or Han students are from the countryside. Their family members’ education is so limited that more than half of them never went to high school and their income is low. English teaching conditions for minority students are disparate owing to local economic condition. Many minority nationalities inhabit the poor and remote areas.
　　1) Motivation is one of the key factors that influence the rate and success of second or foreign language learning.
　　
　　From the table above (item 16), it can be seen that students have low motivation. They are likely to be resistant to learner-centered teaching patterns aimed at developing students’ autonomous learning. The students’ negative attitudes towards their role in learning decrease the motivation, which will likely undermine autonomous learning.
　　2) As far as attitude (item 14, 17) is concerned:
　　61.2% of the students claim that they are eager to learn English well. 36.9% of them also expressed their yearning to be a good English learner. Only 3.1% did not care about it.
　　3)Setting plan (item 24, 29, 30).
　　Item 24: Do you set plans for yourself?
　　Item 29: Do you summarize your English learning experience?
　　Item 30: Do you summarize and evaluate your English learning effectiveness?
　　From the data of the table (item 24, 29, 30), we can see that the students lack ability to carry out the plan, although they think it is important for them to make plans in English learning. They are not accustomed to formulating their own learning plans, for their teachers always arrange all their daily learning and tasks; and a number of them rely on the teachers to make decisions and take charge of their learning. That is to say, the students conceive their roles as the “consumers” of their learning process, instead of the “producers” of their learning program.
　　4) Evaluating (item 26, 27, 28),
　　Item 26: Do you choose learning method accordingly based on the different content in English learning process?
　　Item 27: The learning method you use in English learning process is
　　Item 28: When you evaluate your English learning method, do you find out the existing problem and the solution to it?
　　Largely because English teachers in minority regions themselves are not successful English language learners, and also lack training on teaching methodologies, they cannot give students necessary instructions on how to learn English well. As a result, most minority students adopt only a limited number of methods in English learning; mainly the memorization strategy of repetitive practice. If they live in a closed environment where they lack opportunities to practice English, they would not know how to use compensation strategies and social strategies, resulting in low communication competence. Moreover, most minority groups have simple, extravert, optimistic andself-esteem ethnic characteristics, which would obstruct them from using metacognitive strategies and affective strategies―necessary strategies adopted by “good language learners”.
　　4. Countermeasures of Developing Students’ Autonomous Learning
　　4. 1 Raising Students’ Awareness
　　The language teaching process involves teaching and learning bilateral activities. The teachers are dominant, the students are the principle part, and the final result of foreign language learning depends on the principle part, that is, the students themselves.
　　Furthermore, it is very important to help students develop intrinsic and extrinsic motivations. Firstly, learner autonomy is concerned with helping learners to develop their own intrinsic motivation. Teachers should do their utmost to stimulate students’ interest in learning by creating a relaxed, lively classroom atmosphere in order to mobilize every student"s enthusiasm and initiative. Teachers can use teaching materials to design problems which are slightly higher than the students’ current level, have students take part in group discussions, and encourage students to dare to accept challenges and innovate, and to find solutions to the problems. In these ways, students will feel the joy of success and their intrinsic motivation can be further strengthened. Secondly, extrinsic motivation is said to be guided by external stimuli. The external stimuli that form extrinsic motivation come from the incentives, encouragement and threats provided by both the teacher and the educational context. Only in the state of full learner autonomy can learners undertake the entire management of their own learning.
　　4. 2 Training Students’ Learning Strategies
　　“Learner training is meant to raise the learner’s consciousness of strategies and techniques available for more effective learning” (Stern, 1992:262). Teachers of English should include learning strategy training as part of their instruction and systematically teach these learning strategies to students. According to Dickinson (1987), use of appropriate learning strategies can enable students to take responsibility for their own learning by enhancing learner autonomy, independence and self-direction. Through integration of language learning strategy instruction into the regular English teaching, the teacher can provide students with methodological preparation for being autonomous learners. Integrating language learning strategies instruction into regular teaching plays an essential role in fostering learner autonomy.
　　The metacognitive strategies and cognitive strategies are what the students need most. So they will be presented respectively.
　　5. Conclusion
　　Based on inter-language theory and third language acquisition, and drawing on previous research, this thesis conducts a thorough study of the current situation of students’ ability in English autonomous learning at colleges in minority areas. The thesis has tried to prove that it is possible and necessary to promote autonomous learning in minority areas. The key point is to consider the characteristics of autonomous learning and factors affecting autonomous learning, and then find ways to promote learner autonomy both in the classroom and outside the classroom.
　　In brief, the major findings of this thesis can be summarized as follows: 1) Autonomous language learning can be an efficient way to cope with the current problems of Chinese college English teaching in minority areas; 2) Autonomous learning ability can be fostered through classroom practice and strategy training; 3) To implement autonomous learning, the roles of both teachers and learners must be significantly changed.
　　
　　本文系西昌学院课题“民族地区大学生认知风格与英语自主学习的相关研究” (ynssqd0921)研究成果
　　
　　Bibliography
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　　[2]Benson,P. Teaching and Researching Autonomy in Language Learning [M]. Harlow, England; New York: Longman, 2001
　　[3]Dickinson ,L.Self-instruction in Language LearningCambridge:Cambridge University Press,1987.p11
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　　[5]徐锦芬、占小海，国内外“学习者自主”研究述评，《外语界》2004第4期