培养英语专业学生自主学习的必要性
时间：2022-04-02 08:12:31
摘 要：本文指出了大学英语专业毕业生面临的一个十分普遍的进退两难的境地――工作经验能够确保他们有一份好的工作，而大多数毕业生又缺少工作经验，进而从不同方面分析了这种境地产生的原因，提出了解决这一问题的最佳办法，即自主学习。文章最终指出问题的症结在于语言学习者自身，只有他们自己才能解决这一问题，因此关键的方法是培养他们的自主学习能力。
There has been something weighing on my mind ever since I graduated from college. Among the grievances I overheard the most influential is the “Graduates’Catch-22”.It seems that working experience will guarantee you a good job and that is what most employers demand in an interview. However, it turns out that most graduates have anything but working experience and therefore are denied in one way or another. Then comes the identical question： how could I have experience before getting a job? The paradox compels me to reflect on the current education system on the college campus. I found that learner autonomy has not settled on the vast majority of students.A revolution is called for in the educational institutions to bridge the artificial gap imposed between school and society.
1 The Definition of Learner Autonomy
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. Holec (1981) defined autonomy as “the ability to take charge of one’s own learning”. Dickson (197：11) accepts the definition of autonomy as a “situation in which the learner is totally responsible for all of the decisions concerned with his /her learning and the implementation of these decisions.” Little (1990：7) sees learner autonomy as “essentially a matter of the learner’s psychological relation to the process and content of learning.” Kenny states that autonomy is not only the freedom to learn but also ‘the opportunity to become a person.’ Benson (1997：29) defines learner autonomy as representing ‘a recognition of the rights of learners within educational systems.’ Bond (1988：17) suggests that, as well as an educational goal, autonomy is ‘an approach to educational practice’. Whatever the definition, the learner is always the center of focus. Again, linguists are diverse on the characteristics of an autonomous learner. Dam et al.(1990：102) defines one as “an active participant in the social process of classroom learning…an active interpreter of new information in terms of what she /he already uniquely knows…［someone who ］ knows how to learn and can used this knowledge in any learning situation she/he may encounter at any stage in her/his life. ” In addition, Dam et al.(1990：102) characterize learner autonomy as ‘a readiness to take charge of one’s own learning; Gardner and Miller defines autonomous language learners as those who initiate the planning and implementation of their own learning program.’Despite the difference of the definition and characteristics of an autonomous learner, learner autonomy is the final stage that a learner acts independently, autonomously in his/her long study.
2 What brings about the “Graduates’ Catch-22”
David Gardner and Lindsay Miller mentioned the importance of setting up leaner profile in facilitation of learner autonomy. Learners must set their own goals, either a short-term one or one for the long run. The pseudo-legal learner contracts aim to reinforce learners’ commitment to their goals. However, college learners across China rarely have any long-term goals. It is hard for an undergraduate to tell what he/she will do in the future. Those excellent students may be complacent with their school grades and tend to overestimate their capability. What’s worse, learners don’t have a clear picture of what they have achieved and what is to be achieved. Consequently, they while away their time in conceit until they are frustrated by their poor performance in job interviews. This is a rude awakening that comes too late. Learners should have thought of complex skills required by a job. They should have monitor their progress and take sound steps at different stage. The naiveness of learners costs them the good job and the long-maintained “face”. A learner profile will preclude all these problems. The goals of establishing learners profile are to establish learners’ needs and wants progress of the learners. It’s greatly helpful to learners in that a need analysis will help them discover reasons for learning and uncover areas in which their ability may not be sufficient. In keeping a record of the work they do learners constantly are reminding themselves of their goals and their commitment to achieving those goals the outcomes of their work help learners see the fruits of their labors and raise the learners’ awareness that responsibility for learning rests with them. An autonomous learner may start his/her working experience once he/she realizes his/her incompetence in practical skills. Such a learner will establish his/her goal clearly in the learner profile and check on time whether he/she had gone somewhere along the route of pursuing this goal. It follows that such a learner takes initiative in participating in various kinds of work and trains himself/herself for the future career. We may conclude that a learner profile, whatever the form, motivates a learner to take charge of his/her study in pursuit of his/her dream. “Graduates’ Catch-22” indicates that those learners are traditional students ignorant of learner autonomy or with little knowledge of learner autonomy.
3 Learner autonomy is the best solution to help graduates avoid “Graduates’ Catch-22”
There is an unwritten law in educational institutions across China. That is schooling is confined to school. For many, school is an entity physically isolated from the society. Education means acquisition of knowledge at school. Although this is the practice over a large area, little criticism was lashed against such a wrong idea. Society is actually very important content of education. From a functional perspective, education means preserving, inheriting and developing human heritage, but it doesn’t exclude social life which provides education rich resources. Education is an indispensable part of society that cannot exist alone. The consequence of relying too much on school education is apparent. Learners know little about the incoming complex world and tend to take too much for granted. They feel at loss as to how to handle the bad side of society. Long isolation results in severe psychological illness. The known “Campus personality” is characterized by selfishness, cruelty, megalomania and susceptibility to frustration. What’s worse, mismatches between the secluded graduates and society are reported here and there. The follow-up research involving Shanghai 30,000 college graduates shows that they are basically unsuitable for the whole society. Then who is to blame for all this inefficiency? Within a learner autonomy context, the learners are believed to take charge of study and make important decisions. There is abundant time for them to contact the society and mature in their college year. Surely the guidance of the educational institution is called for. In order to update the knowledge about society, educational institutions must encourage learners to step out of the campus to get in touch with real life. Having discovered the limitations, learners will take action to empower themselves so that they may meet the demand of the society. To avoid“Graduates’Catch-22”, the best solution is to encourage learner autonomy. A fully autonomous learner will develop compressive skills and not confine himself /herself to one field or one course. Working experience is itself a task involving all skills for real purpose. For traditional students, this means extra burden on their shoulders. For autonomous learners, this is a good opportunity for using knowledge as well as adding practical skills. An autonomous learner will not face the“Graduates’Catch-22”. We need cultivate self-directed learners as the weakness of the traditional educational system starts to unveil itself.
“Graduates’ Catch-22” inspires us to reflect on the part of educational institution. That students should take charge of their studies doesn’t mean that educational institution has no responsibility in the avocations of learner autonomy. Institutional attitudes to learner autonomy can be an important influence in the way learner autonomy is introduced, or whether it is introduced at all. In highly structured institutions, the introduction of learner autonomy needs to become a policy issue. As is known to all, few people are born autonomous learners. Therefore the educational institution has the obligation to help students become autonomous learners.
In general, this article deals with the commonest problem closely concerning college students――“Catch-22”. By approaching the problem from different facets, we get insightful knowledge and come up with the best solution, i.e. learner autonomy. Then we give an overview of different theories about learner autonomy on which we try to tackle the problem from different aspects. Establishing a learner profile is an essential step in promoting learner autonomy, for it monitors learner’s progress. Anyway, the crux of the problem rests with the language learners. Only the learners can put an end to the problem if anything else could help at all, so the crucial remedy is to help learners develop learner autonomy.
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作者简介：夏金成，男，硕士，浙江商业职业技术学院外国语学院讲师，研究方向：外国语言学及应用语言学。
