STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY This work has not previously been submitted for a degree or diploma in any university. To the best of my knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made in the thesis itself. Signature Luu Thi Thuy Hien i ABSTRACT The study aims at investigating teachers' perceptions of Learner Autonomy (LA) and practice of using classroom activities to foster learners' LA at Kontum Technical Economic College - a school in the High Land of the Central, Vietnam. The sample of this study consisted of 30 English language teachers, in which the majority of them are teaching at the college whereas some of them were invited from other local schools in Kontum Province.
The data were gathered through a questionnaire in order to identify how the English language teachers perceived of LA, as well as examine whether there were any differences between teachers' perception of autonomous classroom activities and their actual use during their classes. Also, interviews and classroom observations were chosen as other research tools to help the researcher have more information and have a deep insight into the issue studied. After that, the data were analyzed using SPSS statistical software version 19. The findings of the research indicated that most of the English language teachers had positive perceptions of LA, its necessities in students' learning process, as well as the important role of language teacher in fostering learners' LA.
In addition, the research result also revealed that teachers positively perceived some autonomous classroom activities. However, there was a mismatch between teachers' perceptions and their actual use of these activities during their classes because of some challenges faced by the teacher. The study also makes some suggestions for both school management staffs and English language teachers to solve the problem. Keywords: Learner autonomy, perceptions, autonomous classroom activities, practice of fostering autonomy.
ii Acknowledgements In the preparation of the research, I am deeply indebted to a lot of individuals who helped me finish this thesis. First of all, I would like to express my deep gratitude to my supervisor, Assoc. Truong Vienfor his encouragement, enthusiastic guidance, and useful advice. During the time working on the research, he always spent his valuable reading my thesis, giving detailed comments, corrections as well as suggestion so that I can find some new ideas for my writing.
I greatly acknowledge his whole hearted supervision, without which it would be difficult for me to complete this thesis. Second, I would like to extend my special thanks to all professors who gave me the knowledge on the subjects prescribed to the MA's program, suggested new topics to be considered, etc, which help me gain deep understandings to conduct a research. I am also indebted all the teachers who participated in this study for their enthusiasm, willingness to answer the questionnaires, and the interview; and many thanks go to the teachers who provided the best convenience to make the class observations. Then I am grateful to my sister Luu Ha Phuong, who helped me a lot in finding literature, translation for the study, and to my colleague Huynh Thi Tuyet who supported me with the technical aids to analyze the research data.
But for her help, SSPS is really a challenge to me. Next, I would like to express my thanks to all my fellow friends in the MA's program course 2014-2016 for their helpful guidance, encouragement, and sharing information. iii My deep gratitude goes to Kontum Technical Economic College administrators and all the colleagues in the General Department where I am working for their supports and sparing time and facility for me to conduct the research. Last but not least, I would like to say my thank you to my family and relatives for their love, encouragement, as well as their moral and financial support.
iv TABLE OF CONTENTS STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS. iv LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES. viii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS.
Research questions and scope. Significance of the research. Structure of the research paper .3 CHAPTER II - LITERATURE REVIEW. Definitions of learner autonomy.
Principles of learner autonomy. Conditions and ways of language learning autonomy. Roles of language teachers. Activities in the autonomous language learning .17 CHAPTER III - RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.
Procedure of data collection and analysis .22 CHAPTER IV - FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION. Teachers' perceptions of LA and its necessity. Teacher's perceptions of roles of language teachers. Practice of using classroom activities to promote LA.
Teachers' perceptions of autonomous classroom activities. Teachers' practice of using autonomous classroom activities. Comparision between teachers' perceptions and their practice of using classroom activities to foster learner autonomy. Challenges faced by English language teachers in promoting LA at Kontum Technical Economic College: .48 CHAPTER V - CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS.
Summary of the study. Summary of the finding. Implications for English language teachers. Implications for the school management staffs.
Suggestions for further study .68 APPENDIX 3 - CLASSROOM OBSEREVATION SHEET.75 APPENDIX 4 - INTERVIEW QUESTIONS .77 APPENDIX 5 - RAW CALCULATIONS OF THE QUESTIONNAIRES .80 vii LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Figure 2.1: A framework fro developing autonomy in foreign languag learning .1: Demographic characteristics of the respondents to the questionnaire .2: Clustering the questionnaire .1: The reliability of the pilot and post questionnaires .2: Mean score for the questionnaire .3: Mean score of teachers' perceptions towards LA .4: One-Sample Test .5: Frequency of cluster 1 .1: Percentages of teachers' perceptions of LA .6: Mean score for teachers' perceptions of language teachers' roles.7: One-Sample T-Test .2: Percentage of teachers' perceptions towards roles of language teachers 30 Table 4.8: Mean score for the teacher's perception of using classroom activities to foster LA .9: One-Sample T-Test .3: Percentages of the most agreed activity .4: Percentages classroom activities perceived by teachers .10: Mean score for practice of using activities in language classes.11: Percentage of classroom activities practically used by the teachers.5: Comparison between teachers' perceptions and their practice of using classroom activities to foster LA and what they really practice .6: Percentages of teachers' perceptions and practice of using the classroom activities .12: Mean score of teachers' difficulties in fostering LA .13: One Sample T-Test .14: Percentage of teachers' perceptions of their challenges regarding to students .7: Percentage of teachers' difficulties regarding to their teaching .15: Percentage of teacher's challenges relating to teaching materials and school support .8: Mean scores of clusters .45 ix LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ALL Autonomous language learning EFL English as a foreign language ELT English language teaching LA Learner autonomy SPSS Statistical package for social sciences x CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION This chapter introduces the rationale underlying this current study. It will be followed by research aims, research questions, the significance of the study, and structure of the research. Rationale Autonomy has been figured largely in recent ELT practice in many schools in Vietnam due to the shift from teacher-centered classroom to the learner-centered classroom. It is an important skill in students' learning process that helps them to gain the knowledge better.
Therefore, their study becomes easier and more effective. Traditionally, learning is widely accepted as a long process of knowledge accumulation which takes great diligence and prolonged effort, and students are encouraged to gain knowledge prominently by reading printed work or listening to their teachers (Zhang & Wu, 2004). In the classroom, learning is completely controlled by teachers. Many teachers believe that their duty is mainly to transmit knowledge to young generations.
Therefore, they lecture and speak during most of the class time while students are expected to give their ear to them and busy taking notes and then memorize what they have taken down after class rather than develop thoughts by talking to their fellow students or asking questions although now and then they are nominated to answer a few questions (Qi, 2005). Generally, teachers are ―higher in the platform‖, and they told their students what is right and what is wrong. Lately, things have changed in Vietnam thanks to many proposals of education innovation. Learner autonomy is being concerned more and more, and a lot of researches have been done to study this issue and adapt it in the real situations, especially in colleges and universities where autonomy is one of the key points for 1 students to obtain the success in their learning process in general, and in English language learning in particular.
However, not many students can learn autonomously or exactly they are not taught how to have the autonomous learning, especially in English language learning where learners are encouraged to take on responsibility for learning and value their own views. Students at some colleges in Kontum province are not exceptional. Nearly half of the students are minority people; most of them have not had effective learning skills and their learner autonomy is limited. For these reasons, instructing students how to foster learner autonomy is an urgent request for teachers in the process of innovating teaching and learning methods at colleges and universities.
The promotion of students' autonomy through helping students to identify their own goals and to make use of effective strategies to achieve these goals, and create consciousness of social contexts, has proved to have a strong competence as an alternative approach to language learning (Inomata, 2008 cited in Ürun, 2013). It can not be denied the roles of teachers in fostering learner autonomy. It is the teachers' perceptions of learner autonomy and experiences in teaching process that influence on their instructing students how to become more autonomous. From my own of view, the study will contribute to the effectiveness of language learning and teaching process in the real context at Kontum colleges where ELT is not really developed.
In fact, there have been several studies on this issue in the world and in Vietnam; however, I could not find any research regarding the teachers' perceptions toward the learner autonomy in the real context of some typical areas like in the Central Highland of Vietnam. Therefore, I hope my study will bridge the gap between the theory and the practices of fostering learner autonomy at some colleges in Kontum Province. Research aims The research aims at investigating EFL teachers' perceptions and use of classroom activities to foster learner autonomy at Kontum Technical Economic College as 2 well as identifying problems that teachers face in helping students be more autonomous during their classes. Research questions and scope The study aims to answer the following research questions: (1) What are teachers' perceptions of learner autonomy in English language classroom? (2) What are classroom activities used by the teachers to foster learner autonomy at Kontum Technical Economic College? (3) What challenges do the teachers face in helping their students be more autonomous? This study mainly focuses on investigating perceptions and practice of using autonomous classroom activities of English language teachers at Kontum Technical Economic College in the school year of 2015-2016.
Significance of the research It can be realized that there is a need of promoting learner autonomy for college students. I hope that my research will contribute many benefits. First of all, the study allows the viewer to see learner autonomy through teachers' eyes, as well as provides an insight into the effectiveness of some attempts to promote learner autonomy. Secondly, the papers deal with teachers' practices of conducting learner autonomy activities inside and outside classes.
Also, their level of preparedness for promoting students' awareness towards autonomy will be identified. Also, it focuses on finding teachers' difficulties limiting them from fostering learner autonomy, as a result, some suggestions will be provided to solve the problem. Structure of the research paper This research paper is proposed to consist of five main chapters as follows: Chapter I provides a brief introduction to the background, the research aims, research questions as well as the significance of the study.