Self-directed learning (SDL) ability, its usefulness in higher education, and life-long learning have been highlighted in previous literature. However, understanding the effects of SDL ability in the school settings, specifically how it affects learners' affective and behavioral outcomes, remains missing and calls for further investigation. Given this research gap, this study developed a goal-oriented active learning system, GOAL, to support students' SDL and investigated how students' perceptions of SDL ability affect their reading engagement, SDL behavior, and motivation for extensive reading. The results showed that the high SDL ability students demonstrated significantly more reading engagement, SDL behaviors, motivation and autonomy for extensive reading than those with low SDL ability. These findings suggested that an SDL support environment could be exploited as a useful tool to support foreign language learning in the schools; however, the affective and behavioral outcomes created by the environment were affected to varying degrees by the levels of students’ SDL ability. The study provided implications for researchers studying extensive reading and SDL environments, as well as for educators seeking to improve extensive reading with SDL strategy usage.

自我导向学习 (SDL) 能力、其在高等教育中的有用性和终身学习已在先前的文献中得到强调。然而，仍然缺乏了解 SDL 能力在学校环境中的影响，特别是它如何影响学习者的情感和行为结果，需要进一步调查。鉴于这一研究空白，本研究开发了一个以目标为导向的主动学习系统 GOAL，以支持学生的 SDL，并调查学生对 SDL 能力的看法如何影响他们的阅读参与、SDL 行为和广泛阅读的动机。结果表明，SDL 能力高的学生比 SDL 能力低的学生表现出更多的阅读参与度、SDL 行为、广泛阅读的动机和自主性。这些发现表明，SDL 支持环境可以用作支持学校外语学习的有用工具；然而，环境创造的情感和行为结果会在不同程度上受到学生 SDL 能力水平的影响。该研究为研究广泛阅读和 SDL 环境的研究人员，以及寻求通过 SDL 策略改进广泛阅读的教育工作者提供了启示。