Learner Autonomy in Language Education: Strategies and Benefits
Why the Road to Autonomy? Is There a Dead End?
In order for students to become more conscious of their own learning, teachers should guide and raise their awareness. They need to be encouraged to consider and discover the factors which are influential in language learning. To accomplish this, teachers and students should embark on a discovery journey, in which the teacher leads learners to help them reach autonomy. Undeniably, there may not be a final destination at all, in the shape of complete autonomy, as most students will probably always remain teacher-reliant to some degree.
Why Does Learner Autonomy Awaken an Ambivalent Attitude?
Learner autonomy awakens an ambivalent attitude since it arouses mixed feelings. Some people hail it as the only logical way forward, while others regard it with deep suspicion, fearing it will put teachers out of a job or cause unmanageable chaos in the classroom. But as autonomy needs teachers’ guidance, there is no opportunity for uncertainties.
Defining Autonomy
It can be defined as the readiness and ability to take charge of one’s own learning. This involves skills and attitudes which are not necessarily automatic, and which therefore, need developing. When students see themselves as the core of causality for their learning, they are much more likely to be positively motivated.
Teachers Can Promote Autonomy Among Learners in Different Ways
One of the ways in which teachers can promote learners’ autonomy is to raise their awareness by exposing them to study skills and learning strategies, such as how to keep useful notes and how to deal with unknown vocabulary when it arises. There are some examples of procedures and exercises present in the article like making the students reflect and evaluate activities, make comments, give opinions, complete forms or learning diaries, acknowledge the extent to which their needs have been met, and map out an action for future learning. Above all, teachers need to resist the temptation to do everything for students.
Analyzing Students’ Interests
Needs analysis before a course gets underway may pay dividends. It can be done in the form of a discussion or a checklist, but teachers should be careful to ascertain if students’ perceived needs match their real needs, and make sure that the teachers’ professional judgment is also included in any final decisions about the course. An excellent way of raising students’ awareness is to allow them to appraise the attitude of fictitious learners by giving them a reading activity in which they are presented with a great many learning influences which can be a springboard for pair or small-group discussion, listing the positive and negative factors. Following this, students can be invited to reflect on their own characteristics, rounding it all off with either a discussion of their perceived strengths and weaknesses or a piece of writing based on themselves.
Questionnaire Activity
Another example of a livelier activity is to let each student circulate with a copy of a questionnaire in which they will have to find other students who like doing tests, like to be corrected when speaking, etc. They will have to ask each and every other student until he/she gives a positive answer. This person’s name should be then recorded on the handout. Afterwards, students can be encouraged to examine the differences between them. Finally, students can write their own profile, based on their own individual responses and reactions.
Handling Resources
Another good way of helping students reach independence is by means of handling resources. Teachers need to let students see how useful they can be, and to enable them to use them freely and independently. A guided tour of a multimedia self-access center, accompanied by a discovery questionnaire, will teach students what the software contains and how to access it.
Dictionary Quiz
If the above examples are not enough, a dictionary quiz may trigger students’ motivation for self-learning. So students will have to complete a quiz based on only one page of a dictionary. This type of activity can illustrate the wealth of information contained in reference books. Students will be motivated to write their own quiz questions for each other, doing useful research at the same time.
Motivating Students to Choose Activities and Texts
Another interesting action is to motivate students to choose activities and texts themselves. They will be more likely to follow it up and take responsibility for the outcome if they’ve made their own choices. Choice can be offered in diverse ways: which exercises to do, which questions within each exercise, etc. Learners can also design tasks for each other; this gives opportunities for peer teaching and correction. Making learners evaluate their progress is essential since reviews of what has been going on in class can keep students’ attention on the direction to be followed in the future. They can complete forms, discuss, reflect, and keep learning diaries expressing their opinions about activities and work done, progress made, and possible problems. Implicit in these ideas, we can see how the role of the teacher and students may change over time as the traditional perceptions are remodeled.