Abstract: With the continuous and in-depth development of education reform, traditional teaching methods and teaching concepts are no longer suitable for today's society. Today's society requires all-round talents with comprehensive abilities. The modern education philosophy requires teachers to cultivate students' independent learning ability while teaching students good cultural knowledge. Vocational schools are a place to deliver practical talents to the society, but the current English learning status of students in higher vocational colleges is not optimistic, and there are still some problems. Therefore, how to better cultivate students' autonomous learning ability is the primary problem that teachers of higher vocational colleges need to solve

Key words: Higher vocational colleges, English teaching, Autonomous learning, Cultivation