Based on the table, we can see that the freshmen have their own plans beside

　　teachers’ assignment and goals for their English learning. However, they seldom work out their plans and check the completion, and have no idea to mange their learning time. Instead they just cope with the assignment. In general, the freshmen’ independent learning on formulating goals and plans’ level is relatively low. Since freshmen just left high school to attend college, they incompletely get accustomed to their college life. Even though they have their own plans and goals, they are incapable of carrying out their plans and managing learning time well. Before they went to college, their high school teachers always make plans for them, which result in that students might not carry out their plans and mange time independently. In addition, college students have much more free time than before, some students want to do part-time job or other entertainments. They might not spend much time on study, so their learning plans are always laid aside.

　　5.2.5 Students’ learning strategies

　　Table 6 Results on implementation of learning strategies

　　Table 6 presents the results of implementation of learning strategies. It is clear that students know little about learning strategies, with mean value of 2.79. Only about 18% (14%+4.4%) of students clearly understand the learning strategies, while the left are not sure or know little about it. About 30% (1.8%+28.1%) of students could not use effective communicative strategies and 44.7% of students give a neutral answer and its mean value lower than other learning strategies. Only 28.9% (22.8%+6.1%) of them could implement the listening strategies. Some students could use effective reading and writing strategies (43.8% of students approve item 4 and 36.8% of them agree with item 5). According to this table, we can see that most of students respond with neutral answers in all items.

　　The results show that the freshmen might not understand what learning strategies are, and they could not use learning strategies very well. On the implementation of strategies, the freshmen perform worse in listening and communication than the other two skills. For this situation, the author considers that the traditional teaching method influences the independent learning of college students. Teachers in high school pay much more attention to impart language point and overlook the learning strategies training. Students adopt this traditional method and formulated a habit and it is difficult for them to change. In high school, students have to do more reading and writing

　　exercises to pass the collage entrance examination. In these aspects, they subconsciously implement reading and writing strategies. Oppositely, they have no much time or chance to communicate with others in English. In addition, few high schools open listening course and teachers might not always use English in teaching, so students might not know how to use listening strategies.

　　5.2.6 Students’ self-monitoring and self-evaluation

　　Table 7 Results on self-monitoring and self-evaluation

　　Table 7 demonstrates the results of self-monitoring and self-evaluation in the learning process. The data show that the students’ self-monitoring and self-evaluation levels are not very high. Among these data, the highest mean is 3.53 (F2), the lowest is 2.65 (F7). About half of students (52.6%) (44.7%+4.9%) are aware of the mistakes in the learning process. Only 12.3% (8.8%+3.5%) of students would find some test questions to check their English level. Few students can consciously apply newly learnt knowledge into the language practice, which only takes up 27.2% (22.8%+4.4%) (F1). We can easily find that more than 40% of students responded with neutral answer in

　　item 3, 5,6,8,9 and 10.

　　According to the results, we can find that the freshmen are not good at self-monitoring and self-evaluation, even though they have awareness of self-monitoring and self-evaluation. Actually, they could not carry out the awareness into practice or cultivate good learning habits. The author thinks the reason might be that most teachers rarely guide students to self-monitor and self-evaluate. On one hand, the college students might not communicate with teachers and classmates for their own self-esteem. Most students would rather learn alone than cooperate with others, which can be seen from item 10. On the other hand, students expect teachers’ help and guidance in evaluation.

　　5.2.7 Students’ utilization of learning resources

　　Table 8 Results on learning resources utilization

　　We can see from table 8 that all the mean values of items are not very high. Most of students always consult dictionary, with the mean value of 3.63, while 59.7%

　　(23.7%+36.0%) of students would not chat with others in English on the Internet (G5). Few students would utilize the resources to learn English, such as reading English novel or listening to English radio, searching the Internet for information. Mean values of Item 1, 2, 3 almost stay at the same level. 15.1% (13.3%+1.8%) of students would ask for help from teachers and classmates (G4). 35.9% (28.9%+7.0%) of students can learn English from daily life or media (G7). Only 14.1% (9.7%+4.4%) of students actively communicate with others in English both in and outside class (G8). About 30% of students would go to classroom to self-study or go to libraries (G9, G10).

　　Compared with previous results, the majority of freshmen could not do well in utilizing learning resources and seeking for opportunities to practice English. We can find a relationship between learning strategies and learning resources utilization: students might not listen to English radio or watch TV program, even lack practicing oral exercises, which would influence the learning strategies implementation to some extent. With the popularity of the Internet, students have more chances than before. However, the freshmen might not make full use of the Internet to search English information. They would chat with others in native language rather than English on Internet. The reason might be that the freshmen get used to speaking native language. It is difficult and inconvenient to chat with others in English, or they have no many chances to speak English with English speaking people. Most of students seldom talk in English both in and outside class because they are shy to speak out and afraid of losing face. Today, most of students’ sense of independence is strong, they would solve problems rather than asking for helps or cooperate with others.

　　Chapter Six: Conclusions

　　6.1 Major findings of the survey

　　Through the survey of independent learning, the questions proposed at the beginning can be answered and major findings can be summarized in the followings:

　　1) The overall degree of independent learning of English major freshmen remains at

　　a medium level. Students are independent on awareness but not on the behavior.

　　2) The results of students’ performance in the aspects of independent learning can be concluded as follows:

　　Firstly, the majority of students’ instrumental motivation is stronger than integrative motivation. They think that learning English is useful in the future. The freshmen hold positive belief to learn English but still depend on teachers. That is to say, they are still bound by teacher-centered teaching method. Not so many students understand the objectives of teaching and make their own goals.

　　Secondly, the freshmen can set learning goals and make learning plans but commonly do not carry them out. Moreover, most of them have no idea about time arrangement. In addition, they have little knowledge about the learning strategies and incapable of implementing the learning strategies in the process of language learning, the freshmen could not do well in the aspects of monitoring and evaluating.

　　Last but important, most of students do not make full use of learning resources. Even though abundant resources can be utilized, they lack initiative to use those resources, and they are more willing to be taught in class. Furthermore, they are unwilling to actively cooperate with others to learn.

　　3) There is a significant difference on independent learning ability in different learning environment. Urban students do better in independent learning than rural students, especially in the aspects of learning strategies, self-monitoring and self-assessment and using learning resources.

　　6.2 Suggestions for promoting independent learning

　　Being taught under a teacher-centered pattern, the students foster a dependent English study habit. It is necessary to formulate learner autonomy. Especially for English major freshmen, there is much potential to develop their independent learning. Therefore, the author wants to give some suggestions for promoting independent learning.

　　6.2.1 Teachers’ role in promoting independent learning

　　As we known, teachers play a critical role in launching students into independent

　　learning. Generally speaking, teachers act not only as guides but also as facilitators, assessors and so on. Therefore, teachers should change the teaching pattern from teacher-centered to learner-centered. They had better pay more attention to helping students understand how to learn instead of spending much time and energies on how to teach.

　　Firstly, teachers can try to change students’ misconception and present some

　　related information on language learning to help students set realistic goals. As guides, teachers should make appropriate teaching goals and let students understand. Secondly, teachers should try to create a relaxing classroom atmosphere is one of good ways to stimulate students’ interest. Teachers can organize various activities such as games, debate and interviews to increase students’ learning enthusiasm. Making use of multimedia courseware can bring up and waken students learning interest, and can cultivate students’ ability to improve teaching quality. Thirdly, teachers had better provide information about learning strategies and offer learning strategies training, implement direct instruction during teaching. Teachers can give different and effective guidance to students according to their different learning styles. As for the rural students, teachers can introduce some learning strategies and teach them how to monitor and assess their study, offer chance to practice English in daily teaching.

　　All in all, promoting learner autonomy does not mean abandoning the teachers’ control and guidance. Teachers not only impart knowledge to students but also help students to learn independently.

　　6.2.2 Learners’ role in fostering autonomy.

　　Students as the center of independent learning should foster good learning habit. First of all, students should develop intrinsic motivation to the English learning, and gradually gets rid of being over-dependent on teachers. As language learners, students can try to develop interest in English learning through watching films or listening English songs. Next, students should form a habit of previewing text before class, which can make them easily understand what teachers are about to teach. When making plans, students could divide their plans into three procedures: learning progress schedules, time arrangement, and a timetable. Students can arrange their learning time according

　　to the procedures. Thirdly, students can take part in some English contest or other activities to improve their English level. Meanwhile, students can enhance self-monitoring and self-evaluation by writing diaries and self-reflection to explore their own learning method. Last but importantly, students should make full use of learning resources, such as English radio, the Internet and libraries and so on. Furthermore, students should actively take any chances to practice English and cooperate with others in English learning.

　　In a word, students should take more responsibility on their independent learning. Their major roles in the process of learning can not be replaced by others.

　　6.2.3 Teaching environment

　　As second language learners in China, it is unavoidable to be interfered by the learning environment. To promote learners’ independent learning competence, it is necessary to create learning environment for language learners. It is advised for teachers to use target language to implement teaching as much as possible in class and offer more opportunities and interaction to learners to practice. Besides, school can set an independent learning center with good condition, providing multi-media, TV, on-line reading facilities, and so on. Some English activities also can be provided to learners, such as English corner, English salon and English competition or shows, which offer chances to learners to learn on their own. School can cooperate with other foreign universities in teaching and offer opportunities to learn in native language environment.

　　In a word, creating a favorable autonomy environment will strengthen students’

　　independent learning motivation and make them become more willing to learn English independently.

　　As English major students, the freshmen have more advantage than non-English

　　major in the foreign language learning. Generally speaking, the high level of

　　independent learning would help them make a great progress in later English learning.

　　All in all, there is a long way to develop learner autonomy, both teachers and

　　students should pay more attention to it and cooperate with each other to promote independent learning.

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