Promoting Autonomous Learning In Institutions of Higher Learning in the Chinese Context

In recent years, autonomous learning that centres on the learner is getting increasing interest in institutions of higher learning in China. This paper is an attempt to examine why the teachercentred approach that often produces unsatisfactory results is widely employed in the country. It also presents the rationale and discusses how both Chinese teachers and learners could do to make autonomous learning effective. The authors stresses that the learner should set his/her goals（s）, plan the workframe and carry out his/her learning accordingly whilst the teacher should undertakes proper monitoring and evaluation. The authors hold that the learner's age, aptitude and intelligence, motivation, personality, cognitive and learning styles deeply influence autonomous learning. As most Chinese learners of FL may like to work independently rather than collaboratively, this might adversely affect their autonomous learning.