Students’ and teachers’ readiness for autonomy: beliefs and practices in developing autonomy in the Chinese context

Abstract

In 2004, the Chinese Ministry of Education issued the College English Curriculum Requirements in an effort to revitalise English language teaching in China. This official document underpins “College English”, a compulsory course for non-English majors in the first 2 years of university study. In a break with the past, the policy document placed considerable emphasis on the development of learner autonomy. Despite these aspirations, in practice it has been observed that many teachers struggle to implement their content (Lin, Chen, Journal of PLA University of Foreign Languages 32(2):45–50, 2009; Luo, Journal of the Foreign Language World 183(6):29–36, 2017; Xu, Language and Education 7(4):2–7, 2014). To better document this mismatch and identify its causes, this research investigated 668 students and 182 teachers’ beliefs, practices and readiness for autonomy in the context of the College English course. Through a triangulated approach, this article found that both the students and teachers appeared psychologically, but not technically or behaviourally, ready for autonomy. The challenges to the promotion of autonomy in Chinese universities, therefore, seem to be more about pedagogical than cultural impediments. We conclude the paper with a number of implications to enable classroom practitioners to better integrate the development of autonomy into the curriculum.