Investigation Into the Relationship Between Positive Interdependence and Autonomous Learning Ability of College Students in a Normal University

Abstract

Positive interdependent, one of the key elements of cooperative learning, would be inspired when study members have quest for the same goal, whose relationship with autonomous learning has received more and more attention from research to explore whether the cultivation of positive interdependent can do benefit to students’ ability of autonomous learning in English learning. Meanwhile cultivating college students’ autonomous learning abilities has become one of the focuses of modern teaching reform, and a deeper concern of the advancement of quality education in China. Students who have been only finishing since transition to the autonomous learning ability, could further form initiative spirit and practice ability. But autonomous learning does not mean learning alone, students’ cooperation, the key element of which is positive interdependence, in autonomous learning plays an essential role in the cultivation of their learning ability, which can never be ignored.
This study is carried out to investigate the overall condition of positive interdependence and autonomous learning ability of the non-English major college students in normal university, and to explore the relationship between college students’ positive interdependence and autonomous learning ability. The Positive Interdependence Questionnaire Scale and College Students’ Autonomous English Learning Ability Questionnaire Scale have been administered in order to elicit 120 college students’ responses. According to the results, non-English major college students perform well on positive interdependence and autonomous learning. The entire positive interdependence and autonomous learning ability are at a medium level. Positive goal interdependence is the more frequently perceived type of positive interdependence. Besides, there exists a significant positive relationship between English majors’ positive interdependence and autonomous learning ability.