One of the ultimate goals of college English education in China is to cultivate students’ ability for autonomous study. Previous studies focused on the introduction to theories of autonomy, students’ individual factors, and neglected teachers’ beliefs and practices. In fact, on one hand, teachers play an important role in the cultivation of students’ autonomy; on the other hand, teachers’ beliefs and practices are usually inconsistent with each other, and ultimately have a negative impact on students’ learning. Therefore, this study is designed to explore college English teachers’ beliefs and practices about autonomous study in the classroom by the combined methods of questionnaire, classroom observation and interviews. The results show the inconsistency between teachers’ beliefs and practices. Specifically, college English teachers in China have sufficient understanding of core concepts of autonomous study. They consider that autonomous study can facilitate students’ language learning and teachers play an irreplaceable role in it. Meanwhile, they think the most efficient activity for autonomous study is learner-centered cooperative learning and autonomous study should involve the multi-interaction between teachers, students and peers. Furthermore, they think it is desirable to give students’ decision-making authority and let them study autonomously, but that these are often not feasible in practice. Further, classroom observation shows that English teachers will cultivate students’ autonomy to different degrees in different types of class. Semi-structured interviews with teachers indicate their lack both of confidence in their students and of systematic training in autonomous study theory and teaching strategies. The results relevant to teachers’ education, English curriculum provision and textbook compilation.