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Chapter Two literature review

2.1 Autonomous Learning
Over the last three decades, autonomy has been a hot topic in the field of languageeducation and autonomous learning is becoming the strategy in foreign languageteaching. When tracing back to the former literature about AL in foreign languagelearning and teaching, we can easily find out there are various terms in the literaturerelated to autonomous learning，such as self-study, self-education, self-instruction,self-regulated learning, self-planned learning, self-managed learning, self-monitoredlearning, self-directed learning, learner autonomy, self-regulation, independent learningand so on. These terms describe various ways and degrees of learning by oneselfrespectively. However, learning by oneself is not the same thing as having the capacityto learn by oneself. Most people now agree that autonomy and autonomous learning arenot synonyms of these terms. Any of the terms mentioned above relates to some aspectsof autonomy but do not equal with it. In this thesis, the author uses the term“autonomous learning".In addition, there is no exact definition for AL in the domestic and foreignliterature reviews at present. With the development of autonomous learning, Linguistsand educators have failed to reach an agreement on what autonomous learning really is，and they all defined it from different ways and different perspectives. As Little pointsout, autonomy is not a single, easily depicted behavior; there is still not a single agreeddefinition for it (1991; cited in Benson, 2005:48).
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2.2 Theoretical Foundation of the Research—Constructivism
Although over the years, many publications about AL have come out andautonomous learning has guided foreign language learning more and more, autonomouslearning itself has its own theoretical support. There are primarily three contemporaryschools of learning theory (Cognitive theory, Humanism, and Constructivism) that isrelated to autonomous learning. This paper mainly concentrates on establishing atheoretical framework for the present study from the constructivist perspective. Constructivism is based on the notion that humans generate knowledge andmeaning from an interaction between their experiences and their ideas and stresses thatindividuals construct their own personal meaning systems on the basis of the objectivereality. Constructivism, which frequently appears in the discourses of educationaldevelopment, has been researched and developed by many theory researchers. They alldefine it from different points of view.Piaget, who is a most important psychologist and considered to be the pioneer ofconstructivism, views knowledge as a natural process and a continuous mentalconstruction. He studies the development of children's cognition and concludes thathumans learn through the construction of complicated logical structures, from infancyto adulthood. Piaget asserts that "learning occurs by active construction of meaning,rather than by passive percipience" (1983:18). In Candy's works, constructivism leadsdirectly to the notion that knowledge cannot be taught but only constructed, becauseknowledge is something “built up by the learner" (Candy. 1991:121).
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Chapter Three Research Design  ..........  17
3.1 The Aim of the Research.......... 17
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