【正文】 me, students think that the teachers were the authority and they even do not know what they should do without teachers39。 help. As a result, the traditional teaching doesn’t help with students’ development, but produces a lot of students of high score but poor ability. Thus, an idea of learning and teaching e up as the times require. It is the conception of autonomous learning which was put forward in the 1960s. But not untill recent years were the new methods put into practice which gives new requirements to English teaching and changes the position of both the teacher and the student. Teachers are no longer the host of knowledge but the learners are the main body of learning. Only when the students have developed autonomous learning abilities can they do well in their future wholelife learning. Though it is a problem to make the learners adapt autonomy learning within a very short time, teacher can help them to understand how important a tool the autonomous learning is. In this paper, the writer manages to analyze the vital role of the autonomy learning, the characteristics and the methods of cultivating middle school students’ autonomy learning with the hope of helping English teachers and learners to change their traditional belief in learning and teaching. II. Autonomy Learning A. Definition Since the 1860s, many western famous educators have put forward the autonomy learning theory. They were the pioneers of education career, and their theory has played a pivotal role in our education field. Jean Piaget stated that all truth should be gained or rediscovered by students rather than simply handed to them. Holec regarded autonomy as the ability to take charge of one39。s own learning. Kenny stated that autonomy is not only the freedom to learn but also the opportunity to bee a person. Dickingson held that autonomy is a situation in which the learner is pletely responsible for all of the decisions concerned with their learning and the implementation of these decisions. The writer in this paper does not agree Holec any more, autonomy learning ability is a kind of ability that one can take charge of one39。s own learning process independently, including making study goals, being clear about the study content, adapting to the learning environment and overing psychological problems. B. Characteristics 1. Setting goals and making plans before learning Drawing up learning plans can improve one’s learning. Based on their own reality, every student should have his own learning objectives, learning to arrange selflearning time and learning task. Besides, a good learning plan makes the students clink their learning achievement to the goals of learning, which makes learning process a clear purpose, so as to promote the realization of the target of the learning. 2. Monitoring their learning In the traditional education mode, teachers play the chief role, while students accept knowledge passively. But in the autonomy learning mode students explore independently under the guidance of teachers. Students change from passive knowledge receivers into active knowledge obtainers, and teaching means has also been changed from the simple knowledge transferring to arousing students39。 inner learning motivation. 3. Commenting and improving their learning Constructivism pays special attention to students39。 subject status, which confirms that knowledge is scholars39。 subjective construction. That is to say, the independent learning does not mean teachers should directly tell students how to solve the problems they face, but provide students relevant clues to help them solve the problems, make them analyze and think about it in order to develop their autonomy learning ability. Autonomy learning is not a kind of learning that restricted by time, place and material, but a set of learning methods allowing students to choose their learning time, place, the methods and content of learning independently, making a plan, learning feedback and evaluation. By the way, it is different from selflearning. Selflearning is the same as individual enclosed learning, while in autonomy learning, according to their own learning situation, students can choose learning panions, to learn from others, make up their shortes in a mutual relationship of munication and help during the learning process. Einstein pointed out that it is more important to put a question than to solve it. Because the problem solving is probably just a mathematical or experimental skills, but putting forward the new problems needs to have creative imagination. Thus, creation marks the real progress of science. Autonomy learning does not mean students simply learn to copy the contents, but means students should learn and plete the activity of recreation according to their own needs. Under creative learning and creative problem solving, students plete the entire learning process by themselves, sometimes with the help of teachers and classmates. C. The Importance of Autonomy Learning Ability 1. The needs of society development With the development of science and increasingly fierce petition from the society, knowledge learned in the school is not enough at all. Everyone needs a lifelong learning. In the future, whether we are petitive and promising with great potential. And whether we are able to grasp the knowledge in the information age, basically depends on whether we have lifelong learning ability. However, learning after leaving school is often processed without any teachers, but relies on our own autonomy learning ability. Thus it is believed that the autonomy learning ability has bee the basic skills of the young generations to survive in the fierce petitive society. 2. The main aim of teaching reform The cultivation of the students39。 autonomy learning ability is also the