Learner Autonomy and Language Acquisition: Key Factors
Control as a Natural Attribute of Learning
To What Extent Are We Born Self-Directed Learners?
Thomson suggests that as young children, we take control over the learning of our first language (L1). However, as learning becomes more complex, we appear to give up much of our autonomy. When we learn foreign languages as teenagers or adults, we seem to find self-directed learning difficult and even show a preference for direction by teachers and learning materials.
Self-Instruction
Jones defines self-instruction as a deliberate, long-term learning project instigated, planned, and carried out by the learner alone, without teacher intervention. It can also be understood as any deliberate effort by the learner to acquire or master language content or skills.
Naturalistic Language Learning
Naturalistic language learning occurs through direct communication with users of the target language. The term is usually used for situations where the learner is living with members of the target language community.
Differences Between Self-Instruction and Naturalistic Language Learning
The main difference is the degree of deliberate intention to acquire language content or skills at the time of the learning event itself.
What Makes Self-Instruction an Ineffective Method of Learning a Language by Itself?
Self-instructed learners lack opportunities for collaboration and communication that are essential to second language acquisition.
Learners’ Agendas
Learners’ agendas refer to the learner’s time and pace to learn a language (whether students are ready or not to learn what their teacher teaches). Even in the classroom, learners tend to follow their own agendas rather than those of their teachers.
What Do We Mean by Individual Psychological Variables?
The ways in which a learner learns a language and the outcomes of their learning efforts are influenced by a variety of individual psychological variables. Some of these, such as aptitude and personality, describe relatively stable conditions that are not readily amenable to change. This is also true of learning style, to the extent that it refers to factors such as predisposition towards visual, auditory, kinesthetic, or tactile learning modalities or field-dependence/independence (motivation, affective state, and beliefs, etc.).
State the Implications of Individual Learning Differences
Individual learning differences are the factors that affect learners as individuals and that are psychological in nature (aptitude, personality, learning style, motivation, affective state). They can be approached from two directions in the context of the theory and practice of autonomy:
- They can be treated as evidence that learners are individuals with different needs and preferences. Since learners are different, they should be allowed the freedom to learn in the ways that suit them best.
- They can also be treated as factors that are open to change through reflection and training.
Define Self-Determination Theory
Self-determination theory is based upon a distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Learners who are intrinsically motivated carry out learning activities for the pleasure of learning. Extrinsically motivated learners carry out activities either for reasons other than interest in the activity or in learning in general (for external rewards) or because they are subject to external or internalized pressures.
Define Attribution Theory
Attribution theory is concerned with learners’ perceptions of the reasons for success and failure in learning. The crucial factor in motivation is identified as the “stability” of attributions for success or failure.
Controlling Anxiety
Controlling anxiety is a key factor in successful language learning. It is one of the best predictors of success in the second language. Horwitz et al. have divided it into three components:
- Communication apprehension
- Test anxiety
- Fear of negative evaluation
Successful language learners take measures to control their anxieties. For Oxford, good language learners are often those who know how to control their emotions and attitudes about learning by using affective strategies such as lowering anxiety.
Controlling Beliefs and Preferences
Learners hold a wide variety of beliefs about language and language learning, and these may influence learning attitudes and behavior. Certain beliefs may be disabling. Learners may change their beliefs and preferences in response to new information or changes in their learning environments that cause them to see that their existing beliefs are untenable.