Reading and technology are believed to have a strong link with learner autonomy. This research aims at investigating how digital reader response tasks in a reading class promote learner autonomy. The students were given reader response tasks which challenged them to respond to texts using digital infographic and presentation tools in Moodle forum. The data of this case study, collected from questionnaires, online records, and reflections involving 25 participants, were analyzed based on the domains of autonomy. The findings indicated that digital reader response tasks in a Moodle-based reading class enabled learners to plan, execute, and evaluate their own learning. The findings also showed that these online tasks did not only motivate learners to engage in meaningful language learning experience, but also encouraged them to nurture social dimensions of autonomy.
The general trend in language education over the years has been to ascribe to language learners increasing power and responsibility for their own learning. While this is commendable, the autonomy of learners is still constrained by views of language that see learners as being mere “hosts” of another’s language. Such views restrict learners to roles as language learners who make errors not language users who innovate. This article argues for a more enlightened view of language and of learners, one inspired by a complexity theory perspective. It also proposes that such a perspective is respectful of learner agency.
This article examines the relevance of modern technology for the development of learner autonomy in the process of learning English as a foreign language. Computer-assisted language learning and computer mediated communication (CMC) appear to be particularly conducive to fostering autonomous learning, as they naturally incorporate many elements of autonomy that give learners control over and responsibility for their own learning, such as choosing the materials used, managing their contact with various genres and types of interaction, often in authentic contexts, and evaluating their own progress, measured through their success in understanding and conveying meanings. However, providing access to language resources does not automatically lead to the development of autonomy, as much depends on other factors, such as the learners’ level or previous experience in learner training. The present study investigated whether advanced learners of English made use of out-of-class CMC engagement for the purpose of learning English autonomously. The results indicate that most of the participants were eager to use CMC opportunities to deliberately practice their English, although, quite naturally, leisure and social reasons for using CMC predominated. The expressed willingness to deliberately focus on practicing English during beyond-theclassroom meaning-oriented online interactions confirms the great potential of CMC as an autonomy enhancement tool.
This article examines the relevance of modern technology for the development of learner autonomy in the process of learning English as a foreign language. Computer-assisted language learning and computer mediated communication (CMC) appear to be particularly conducive to fostering autonomous learning, as they naturally incorporate many elements of autonomy that give learners control over and responsibility for their own learning, such as choosing the materials used, managing their contact with various genres and types of interaction, often in authentic contexts, and evaluating their own progress, measured through their success in understanding and conveying meanings. However, providing access to language resources does not automatically lead to the development of autonomy, as much depends on other factors, such as the learners’ level or previous experience in learner training. The present study investigated whether advanced learners of English made use of out-of-class CMC engagement for the purpose of learning English autonomously. The results indicate that most of the participants were eager to use CMC opportunities to deliberately practice their English, although, quite naturally, leisure and social reasons for using CMC predominated. The expressed willingness to deliberately focus on practicing English during beyond-theclassroom meaning-oriented online interactions confirms the great potential of CMC as an autonomy enhancement tool.
his study examined the extent to which English as a Foreign Language (EFL) high-school students believed mobile devices increase learning and learner satisfaction in the Thai school/classroom context, and whether they are prepared for autonomous learning using these devices. The participants were 277 students in eight high-schools in Southern Thailand who completed a questionnaire constructed around the core competencies of 21st century learning skills and autonomous traits in relation to mobile device use. The findings indicated that students had access/ability to use mobile devices, and either agreed/strongly agreed that mobile devices increase their learning potential and satisfaction, suggesting they are ready for autonomous learning using mobile devices in partnership with their 21st century learning skills. Recommendations are made for teachers and policy-makers to allow students to complement their learning using mobile devices.
Due to EFL undergraduate students’ ineffective learning strategies, which mirror lack of autonomy, this paper is a pilot study into how use of Cambridge Dictionaries Online can affect undergraduate students’ autonomy or self-reliance in a Thai EFL context. The link was selectively integrated in a writing classroom as a tool to improve their English during writing assignments because it appears to be more comprehensive than others. Seventy three students participated in the study and completed a questionnaire based on arguments that new generations or young learners can relate themselves to the link viewed as learning technology and in turn possess positive attitude toward and motivation in learning English autonomously. Although the quantitative results are positive to some extent, they offer some directions for EFL teachers to guide their students in moving toward autonomy. Limitation and recommendations for future study are provided.
Although the technology of digital videos is available, many classroom EFL teachers are unsure of what they can do with videos. This paper will present some reasons why teachers should consider using videos of student performance based on ideas of motivation and learner autonomy. Three activities are presented with checklists and protocols that can be implemented in classrooms. These activities are based on using technology, but integrate skills such as: reflection, evaluation, critique, listening, speaking and writing. These critical skills, along with higher levels of motivation, are prerequisites to learner autonomy. Some considerations about how to prepare students before, during and after videotaping as well as some hints on how to videotape are also included. Technology is not a substitute for teaching, nor does it stand alone as a technique, but when integrated into other classroom practices can help promote learner autonomy.
M-learning is usually thought of as based on videos, digital materials, and high technology. Nonetheless, it is not a complete perspective of this new educational trend. Mobile devices with many functions can be an effective tool to support learning. Furthermore, learners nowadays, who were born in the 4.0 movement, are more familiar with mobile devices than notebooks. They spend much time on their mobile phones interacting on social media and playing mobile games. Hence, if educators can integrate those interests into traditional lesson plans, added value would appear for learners’ academic performance and learner autonomy. This paper proposes the idea of combining m-learning, gamification, and other factors influencing learning motivation into a mobile application to reinforce students’ learner autonomy. With a case study at Nguyen Tat Thanh University, we take a closer look at the effectiveness of the application on students’ language acquisition and a detailed description of how to best use the application along with lessons at schools. Using experimental methods with surveys and tests, this paper draws a bonding connection between students’ personal interest in the subject and their performance. The study provides thoughtful insights into utilizing m-learning and gamification to improve students’ learner autonomy and modernize language learning classrooms in this technological context.
The general trend in language education over the years has been to ascribe to language learners increasing power and responsibility for their own learning. While this is commendable, the autonomy of learners is still constrained by views of language that see learners as being mere “hosts” of another’s language. Such views restrict learners to roles as language learners who make errors not language users who innovate. This article argues for a more enlightened view of language and of learners, one inspired by a complexity theory perspective. It also proposes that such a perspective is respectful of learner agency.
The article looks at language learner autonomy as a social construct in relation to the context and its user based on the example of Italki, a social networking site for tandem language learning. Considering the two foci – the context and the learner – the study is divided into two parts, both carried out from the perspective of online ethnography, each utilising different techniques and tools. Part 1, based on participatory observation and user experience of the author, was aimed at investigating the context of Italki as a language learning environment. Its affordances, noted in the course of the study, are analysed against the three aspects of social learner autonomy (Murray 2014): emotional, political, and spatial, in order to investigate the potential of Italki for interdependent learning. In Part 2 of the study, with its focus on the learner, the data were gathered by means of semi-structured open-ended interviews with Italki users (N=10). One of these interviews evolved into a case study, in which elements of social network analysis (SNA) were utilized to look at learner autonomy of an individual user. The results of the study indicate that learner autonomy in the digital age can be both self- and other-regulated; characterized by learner independence as well as interdependence. All this is very much promoted by new tendencies in language learning and affordances offered by the new media. At the same time, though, the nature of the autonomy exercised will, to a large extent, be determined by individual learner agendas, motives and attitudes.
With learning contexts globally promoting putting learners in the centre, it is no surprise that autonomous learning will gain ground in contemporary classrooms. As there is no learner autonomy without autonomous teachers, investigating instructors’ preferences about autonomous learning is necessary for more successful language education. The research assessed Georgian teachers’ viewpoints on fostering autonomous learning in EFL acquisition. The study employed a close-ended questionnaire completed by over 100 teachers. The analysis concludes that Georgian teachers associate obstacles with a lack of resources, technical problems, and class size, while challenges linked to teachers include lack of experience, limited development opportunities, and time management.
The aim of the article is to show the extent to which the use of the Internet resources promotes the development of learner autonomy among Polish senior high school learners of English. The data were gathered by means of a questionnaire before and after the treatment and subjected to quantitative and qualitative analysis. It should be noted that the data came from a larger research project in which two groups, experimental and control, received different types of instruction. More precisely, the learners in the experimental group gained access to the Internet and exercised more freedom in learning. On the other hand, the control group students were taught in a traditional way. The results indicate that the experimental learners became more autonomous than their control counterparts.
Although it constitutes a quite popular and effective system of foreign language teaching/learning, language tutoring seems to be disregarded in academic work as well as in teaching materials. Yet, a specific structure of tutoring offers an attractive field for the research that cannot be conducted in the context of group learning. Results of the research could not only enhance the current state of glottodidactic knowledge, but also extend the ethodological base, in which it is now futile to search for instruction on the individual work with the learner. The present article is thus an attempt to begin an academic discussion concerning language tutoring.
The studies devoted to the so-called good language learners that emerged in the 1970s (Rubin 1975) reveal that efficient learners fall back on an abundant and highly individualised array of techniques and strategic behaviours related to and employed while learning. The well-known taxonomies by Oxford (1990) and O’Malley and Chamot (1990) gave rise to analyses and investigations in the field of learner autonomy and self-development, also in pronunciation learning/teaching. As has been corroborated by empirical studies (Oxford 2001a; Oxford 2001b; Chamot, 2004) strategy training contributes to the increase in overall proficiency as well as to a number of invaluable benefits such as enhanced motivation, greater self-efficacy, anxiety reduction and more positive attitudes. Although studies dedicated to the relationship between learning strategies and pronunciation are still in their infancy, there are a number of investigations that set the directions for further research and development (Peterson 2000; Pawlak 2008; Pawlak and Oxford 2018). The paper presents results of a pilot study conducted in a secondary school that aimed at observing how learners develop pronunciation strategies as a result of regular pronunciation input and feedback from the teacher. It addresses a tentative assumption that explicit pronunciation training may contribute to the enhanced strategy use and consequently to better oral performance. Detecting and naming the strategies employed by the learners as well as selecting the most effective ones for more explicit application aided and boosted the learners’ awareness and confidence, which was confirmed by data obtained from questionnaires and from participant observation.
This exploratory study reports on the results of a survey on the tertiary language lecturers’ preferences regarding the access of EFL listening materials by Internet resources. A total of 80 EFL lecturers participated in the study. The data were gathered using an online survey that included short-answer questions. Moreover, semi-structured individual interviews were conducted with 10 participants. The study demonstrated that the participants used the Internet mainly for preparing extra materials for their learners so that they could also practice listening outside the classroom. The materials selected were mainly educational videos on a variety of topics, which were spoken by EFL speakers representing different native languages. The participants used these materials outside the class to support their autonomous L2 learning.
Rozwój technologii znacząco zwiększył możliwości uczących się w zakresie autonomicznej nauki języka angielskiego. Chociaż jak dotąd przeprowadzono wiele badań nad autonomią ucznia osadzonych w kontekście węgierskim (e.g., Édes 2008; Szőcs 2017), nadal istnieje potrzeba prowadzenia dalszych badań, które wyjaśnią przyczyny braku autonomii wśród studentów uczących się języka angielskiego jako obcego i pomogą wskazać, w jaki sposób można uczynić ich proces uczenia się bardziej autonomicznym. Celem przedstawionego w artykule badania ilościowego było zanalizowanie sygnalizowanego powyżej problemu poprzez zbadanie sposobów postrzegania zadań i odpowiedzialności nauczyciela i uczących się w procesie nauki języka, ich umiejętności, motywacji, zachowań autonomicznych w klasie językowej i poza nią, a także zależności pomiędzy tymi zmiennymi. Kwestionariusz zastosowany w projekcie wypełniło 74 respondentów – studentów węgierskiego uniwersytetu. Zebrane dane zostały zanalizowane za pomocą SPSS 26.0. Uzyskane wyniki wskazują, iż w badanym kontekście nauczyciele są postrzegani przez studentów jako osoby bardziej odpowiedzialne za proces uczenia się niż sami uczący się. Niemniej jednak studenci prezentują określone zachowania autonomiczne, obecne w jednakowym stopniu zarówno w środowisku szkolnym, jak i poza nim.
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Technology has provided language learners with opportunities to learn English autonomously. Despite previous studies in the Hungarian context (e.g., Édes 2008; Szőcs 2017), more research on learner autonomy is required in order to find out what might explain university EFL learners’ lack of autonomy and help them become more autonomous. The purpose of this quantitative study was to address the problem by investigating learners’ perceptions of their own and their teachers’ responsibilities in language learning, their perceived abilities and motivation to learn English, their autonomous behaviours outside and inside the classroom, and the relationships between the above variables. The questionnaire was completed by 74 EFL students from a Hungarian university. The data were analysed by SPSS 26.0. The results indicate that in the investigated context, in the EFL learners’ perceptions, teachers were more responsible for their in-class learning than themselves. Nevertheless, the students demonstrated some autonomy both inside and outside class, to an equal extent.
The article focuses on the problem of language errors that – more often than not – still tends to be regarded as a marginal phenomenon which does not deserve any particular attention. An attempt is made at analyzing the concept of a language error and tracking the approach to it adopted in selected language teaching methods, arriving finally at the language error theory in modern language teaching.
Interviewing is a well-known method of qualitative data collection in applied linguistics research. It is widely used in diverse contexts and for a variety of purposes. Recently, the potential of e-mail interviewing, or e-interviews, has been discovered (e.g. James 2007, Bamptom, Cowton and Downs 2013). Consequently, it may be considered as an alternative to traditional face-to-face interviews. The purpose of the paper is to discuss some characteristics of the e-interview as a research tool in the realm of second language teacher education. For this purpose, the article draws on a study conducted among novice EFL teachers which integrated two important aspects of L2 teacher education, namely teacher beliefs and teacher reflection. The primary goal of the research was to encourage a group of teachers to reflect on and investigate their beliefs and experiences concerning autonomy in language teaching. Exploration and analysis of one’s personal theories, in turn, are seen as indispensable elements of teachers’ professional development. The study results are used to point out some benefits as well as limitations of e-mail interviewing in terms of gathering qualitative data. Most importantly, it was observed that using e-mail to carry out the interviews provided a considerable opportunity to draw on and develop teachers’ reflective thinking skills.
Learner-centered approaches to learning and teaching alongside education for sustainable development (ESD) emphasize the education of engaged and active global citizens (UNESCO, 2017). The development of students’ reflective skills and metacognitive strategies is the center of this study that aims at investigating the learner language of a group of adult learners at an upper-intermediate level. It sets out to investigate to what extent learners are able to notice and correct their errors after reflecting on their spoken production. Moreover, it seeks to examine the students’ perception of their self-reflection and their attitude towards using speaking tasks for grammar learning. Comparative error analysis showed that the participants were able to amend 34.6% of total errors. These were made mainly in noun phrases (30% of total errors in Task 1 and 31% in Task 3) and verb phrases (40% of total errors in both tasks). Although no general conclusions could be drawn, the results seem to suggest that after critical, evidence-based reflection, the participants were able to notice and correct some errors, namely, in determination and the use of the past simple. The results of the survey analysis showed that all participants reported on an improved awareness of the gaps in their interlanguage, and all of them considered speaking tasks beneficial to grammar development. The study indicates that carefully planned, repeated speaking tasks might be helpful for learners’ language processing, consolidation of their grammatical knowledge and the improvement of their reflection skills and metacognitive strategies.
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