Gender Differences between English Majors in English Autonomous Learning and Its Revelation to Teaching【开题报告】.doc

1、 1 本科毕业论文开题报告 英语 Gender Differences between English Majors in English Autonomous Learning and Its Revelation to Teaching 1.课题研究意义及国内外研究现状 With the development of English educational revolutions, improving English competence is attracting attentions from all over the world. In China, English becomes

2、an important course in the junior high school, even in the elementary school. Exploration of teaching methods for improving language competence tends to be a necessary task. Three decades ago, the concept of autonomous learning walked into the area of language learning, which caught everyones eyes.

3、Autonomy means that the focus of responsibility would shift from teachers to learners. Over the 30 years, in terms of autonomous learning, there were various means of expression, such as self-study, self-directed learning and independent learning, etc. Although these expressions are different, they

4、reflect the same characteristic, autonomy. As ancient proverb says, “Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Teach him how to fish and he eats for a lifetime.” Cultivating autonomy among language learners is a goal with which few teachers will disagree. With the development of autonomous learning a

5、nd the popularity of English, studies on autonomy has drawn considerable attentions of educational researchers. In the 1970s, the concept of autonomous learning was brought into the field of foreign language teaching and learning methods. The publication of Henri Holecs Autonomy and Foreign Language

6、 Learning in 1981 was the launching point of the research. He was the first person to define autonomous learning from the view of foreign language teaching. That autonomy is the ability to take charge of ones own language was given by Holec (1981). This definition of autonomy was taken as a starting

7、 point in other subsequent works. Even since then, learner autonomy has been a hot topic for experts in the education field. Dickinson(1987), the writer of Self-Instruction in Language Learning, defines autonomy as “the situation in which the learner is totally responsible for all of the 2 decisions

8、 concerned with his learning and the implementation of those decisions”. The concept of learner autonomy is accepted by Benson in the book Teaching and Researching Autonomy in Language Learning (Benson, 2005, p.13). Gardner and Miller, in the book Establishing Self-Access-From Theory to Practice, in

9、troduce the theoretical perspectives and practical perspectives of self-access language learning. According to Gardner and Miller (2002), “the concept of autonomous learning stemmed from debates about the development of life-long learning skills and the development of independent thinkers both of wh

10、ich originated in the 1960s” (p.6). In the book, they point out that there are three major schools of thought in the view of definitions of autonomy. Little and Kenny regard autonomy as personal characteristic, Benson views autonomy as a political concept and Boud sees autonomy as a definition of ed

11、ucational practices (Gardner & Miller, 2002). In the foreign countries, many experts have devoted to the research of autonomous learning to improve teaching efficiency. Therefore, self-access language learning centers, which provide materials and learning facilities for students to exercise autonomo

12、us learning, are set up in western countries. The first center appeared in the 1980s, which was called CRAPEL, at the University of Nancy, France. In China, the study of autonomous learning began in the late 1980s. But its still in an initial stage. In recent years, more English teachers start to pa

13、y attention to autonomy and apply it to their teaching practice. Also there are lots of articles written about autonomous learning. Yan Ming (2007) points out that, from the perspective of Pang Weiguo, autonomous learning is based on the development of self-awareness of “the ability to learn” and in

14、trinsic motivation of “the willing to learn”. Also it cant work without learning strategy and the strong will to make great efforts. Another researcher Sun Hongqiong (2007) emphasizes that autonomous learning is learner-centered, which helps learners to realize their learning styles. She also summar

15、izes that in self-access learning, the learners take responsibility of all decisions in the process of study and carry out these decisions, which include setting learning goal, selecting learning content, choosing learning methods, carrying out monitoring and evaluating learning results. Autonomous

16、learning, as a way of promoting teaching efficiency, has played an vital 3 role in language teaching. With the development of technology and science, learning how to learn by oneself is of great importance in the age of knowledge explosion. Autonomous learning enables us to adapt to the quickly chan

17、ging environment and keep up with the latest progress in our fields as well as other fields. Our teaching practices tell us that both girls and boys have different ways in learning English. Cultivating students autonomous learning should be based on gender differences. On this occasion, we should ha

18、ve comprehensive and objective consideration over the learners. In recent years, studies and researchers on autonomous learning have achieved great development, but few studies have been undertaken on the gender-related autonomous learning. Therefore, a study on gender-related autonomous learning wi

19、ll not only enrich and perfect the theory of learner autonomy, but also provide practical revelations to teaching. In this case, teachers will take consideration of gender differences and teach students in accordance to their aptitude to create a harmonious environment for students of either gender

20、to learn English well. 2.课题研究的主要内容、预期目标和研究方案 This paper will mainly focus on five aspects. Firstly, it introduces the present study of autonomous learning, including the purpose and significance of this study. Moreover, the structure of the paper will also be introduced. Secondly, it is concerned wi

21、th an overview of autonomous learning which includes the definition of learner autonomy, the relationship between foreign language teaching and autonomous learning and gender differences in English learning. Thirdly, it is devoted to the gender differences in English autonomous learning. Based on an

22、 investigation, gender differences in autonomous learning will be analyzed from the aspects of self-evaluation, learning strategy, preview, class performance and review. Also factors which influence autonomous learning will be analyzed through motivation and cultural factor. Fourthly, it comes to re

23、velations to teachers. The author proposes some effective suggestions, such as avoiding gender bias in teaching and taking gender differences into consideration, etc. Lastly, the study draws a natural conclusion. 4 Outline 1 Introduction 2 Autonomous Learning 2.1 Autonomous Learning Definition of Au

24、tonomous Learning 2.2 Autonomous Learning and Foreign Language Teaching 2.3 Gender Differences in English Learning 3 Gender Differences in English Autonomous Learning 3.1 An Investigation 3.2 Gender Differences in English Autonomous Learning 3.2.1 Self-evaluation 3.2.2 Learning Strategy 3.2.3 Previe

25、w 3.2.4 Class Performances 3.2.5 Review 3.3 Factors Influencing Autonomous Learning 3.3.1 Motivation 3.3.2 Cultural Factor 4 Revelations and Suggestions 4.1 Avoiding Gender Bias in Teaching 4.2 Taking Gender Differences into Consideration 4.3 Creating Harmonious Study Environment for Either Gender 5

26、 Conclusion The study of this paper is based on the questionnaires. This research investigates 50 third-year students of English majors in Zhejiang Wanli University to find gender differences in autonomous learning. Students who were surveyed include 25 girls and 25 boys. Various ways of autonomous

27、learning and factors influencing learner autonomy are mainly analyzed in this paper through questionnaires. From the investigation, the author seeks out the gender differences between English majors in English autonomous learning and proposes some effective suggestions to improve the teaching qualit

28、y. 5 课题进度计划 1准备阶段（第六学期第 9-13 周） 1）召开毕业论文工作动员大会，向学生介绍毕业论文的要求与相关规定。 2）学生确定并上报研究方向，各系根据老师研究方向指定指导教师，并公布指导教师名单。 写作阶段 ）第六学期第 14-17 周：选题、任务书 ）第六学期第 18-20 周：开题报告、文献 综述 ）第三学年暑假至第七学期第 2 周：初稿写作并上交 ）第七学期第 3-8 周：一稿修改、提交二稿 ）第七学期第 9-15 周：二稿修改、提交三稿 ）第七学期第 16-20 周：三稿修改、提交初定稿 答辩阶段 ）第八学期第 1-4 周：论文评阅与答辩 ）第八学期第 5-6 周：论

29、文定稿、文档归整 4.参考文献 1Benson, P. Teaching and Researching Autonomy in Language Learning M. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research, 2005. 2Gardner, D and Lindsay Miller. Establishing Self-Access-From Theory to Practice M. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education, 2007. 3Hedge, T. Teaching an

30、d Learning in the Language Classroom M. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education, 2002. 4Pan, Xinyan(潘新燕 ). “A Study on Gender Differences in English Autonomous Learning & Its Implications for Teaching” D. Diss. Shanghai International Studies University, 2007. 5Williams, M and Robert L. Burden.

31、 Psychology for Language Teachers M. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research, 2000. 6施晓伟 (Shi, Xiaowei). 走向自主：英语学习策略研究 M. 浙江 : 浙江大学出版社 , 2010. 7孙红琼 (Sun, Hongqiong). 大学生英语自主学习的优化构建 M. 昆明 : 云南大学出版社 , 2007. 6 8严明 (Yan, Ming). 大学英语自主学习能力培养教程 M. 哈尔滨 : 黑 龙江大学出版社 , 2007. 9郑新蓉 (Zheng, Xinrong). 性别与教育 M. 北京 : 教育科学出版社 , 2005. 指导教师审核意见 指导教师签名： 年 月 日