This paper investigates EFL teachers’ beliefs about learner autonomy in art colleges, reveals the status quo of their learner autonomy beliefs and puts forward feasible suggestions in order to provide evidence for the reform and development of English teaching in art colleges.
Learner autonomy is the key to the effective learning of English, and the role of teachers is crucial. This paper investigates EFL teachers’ beliefs about learner autonomy in art colleges, reveals the status quo of their learner autonomy beliefs and puts forward feasible suggestions in order to provide evidence for the reform and development of English teaching in art colleges. Thirty three English teachers from Chinese art colleges participated in this study. The results show that the majority of teachers had a clear understanding of learner autonomy, and affirm the effectiveness of learner autonomy in English teaching and learning. It is commonly believed that learner-centered classroom teaching is the key to promote learner autonomy. Among all the factors, EFL learners’ learning motivation, self-monitoring and evaluation ability are the key factors to realize learner autonomy. The main challenges and difficulties in realizing learner autonomy include: low English level, poor sense of learning responsibility, large class size, limited teaching equipment, deficient teaching materials, and the lack of administrative support. Effective solutions to enhance learner autonomy include: strengthening teachers' pre-service training, improving teacher autonomy, diversifying classroom teaching materials, and enriching teaching resources. It is expected that English teaching in art colleges can be enhanced with the joint effort of both teachers and learners, and students can finally become autonomous learners. Keywords: Learner autonomy; teachers’ beliefs, language teaching
