VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES & HUMANITIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS & LITERATURE AN INVESTIGATION INTO LEARNER AUTONOMY AMONG ENGLISH MAJOR FRESHMEN A thesis submitted to the Faculty of English Linguistics & Literature in partial fulfillment of the Master’s degree in TESOL By THACH THI QUYEN Supervised by Assoc. LUU TRONG TUAN HO CHI MINH CITY, JUNE 2023 i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would like to express my gratitude to the following individuals because this thesis might not have been accomplished without their assistance. I would like to show my sincerest and deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Associate Professor Dr. Lưu Trọng Tuấn, for his invaluable guidance, support, and feedback.
I am grateful for his knowledge, dedication, patience, tolerance, and encouragement, which made my master journey not only more enjoyable but also more endurable. I would like to show my gratitude to all the teachers at University of Social Sciences and Humanities who transferred valuable knowledge to my classmates and me. Without all of you, I would not be able to explore this great pool of knowledge. I am honestly grateful for your teaching and dedication.
I would like to appreciate the assistance from Dr. Nguyễn Đăng Nguyên, who gave me permission and instructed me how to prepare necessary documents for collecting data at University of Social Sciences and Humanities. In addition, I also thank Mr. Lê Tấn Cường for his kindness and willingness.
This thesis is my special thanks to my family, who always support and love me unconditionally and wholeheartedly. This helps me always believe in my choices and take responsibility for fulfilling those choices. To my friend, Ms. Hoàng Thị Kim Oanh, who was always beside me, encouraged me when I got stuck in my thesis, and spent heaps of late nights studying with me.
Another friend, Ms. Trần Thanh Nga, provided me with constructive comments and feedback on my thesis. Both of you are an unforgettable part of my time at University of Social Sciences and Humanities. ii STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY I certify that this thesis entitled “AN INVESTIGATION INTO LEARNER AUTONOMY AMONG ENGLISH MAJOR FRESHMEN” is my own work.
This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any other institution. Ho Chi Minh City, June 2023. Thạch Thị Quyên iii RETENTION OF USE I hereby state that I, Thạch Thị Quyên, being the candidate for the degree of Master in TESOL, accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of Master’s Thesis deposited in the Library. In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original of my thesis deposited in the Library should be accessible for the purpose of study and research in accordance with the normal conditions established by the Library for the care, loan or reproduction of the theses.
Ho Chi Minh City, June 2023. Thạch Thị Quyên iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT .ii STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY. iii RETENTION OF USE. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS .v LIST OF TABLES.
ix LIST OF FIGURES .xii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION. Background of the study. Rationale of the study. Scope of the study.
Contributions of this study. The role of the researcher. Structure of the thesis .6 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW. Misconceptions of learner autonomy.
Various definitions of learner autonomy. The importance of learner autonomy in language learning. Characteristics of autonomous language learners. Self-determination theory.
The need of relatedness. The need of competence. The need of autonomy. Self-determination theory as the underlying theory of learner autonomy.
Factors in promoting learner autonomy. Teacher autonomy support. Definition of teacher autonomy support. Common behaviors of teacher autonomy support.
The importance of teacher autonomy support in boosting learner autonomy. Peer autonomy support. Definition of peer autonomy support. Common behaviors of peer autonomy support.
The importance of peer autonomy support in boosting learner autonomy22 2. Definition of social media. The popularity of social media among users. The importance of implementing social media in boosting learner autonomy.
Sense of responsibility. Definition of responsibility. Characteristics of responsible learners. The importance of sense of responsibility in boosting learner autonomy26 2.
Definition of self-efficacy. Common behaviors of self-efficacious students. The importance of self-efficacy in boosting learner autonomy. Error! Bookmark not defined.
Rationale for choosing a survey questionnaire. The overview description of the research site. The overview description of the course during data collection. Sampling and sampling procedures.
Description of the questionnaire. Reliability of the questionnaire. Data collection procedure of the main study. Data analysis scheme for the main study.
The prerequisites for factor analysis. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA). Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Control for demographic attributes .55 CHAPTER 4: RESUTLS AND DISCUSSION.
The result from the pilot study. The results of main study. The reliability of the questionnaire. The result of Cronbach’s alpha of dependent variable.
The result of Cronbach’s alpha of independent variable. The results of factor analyses. The Exploratory factor analysis result for learner autonomy. The result of KMO and Bartlett’s test.
The result of extraction. Number of items to retain. Item loading and cross loading. The EFA result for five factors.
The first round of running EFA. The second round of running EFA. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Structural model evaluation.
Goodness of fit indices in SEM. Difference in learner autonomy with regard to genders. Difference in learner autonomy among participants in terms of years of studying English. Difference in learner autonomy among students from different locations.
Summary of the findings. Implications of the present study. Implications for EFL learners. Implications for EFL teachers.
Implications for other associated stakeholders. Limitations and future research directions .145 APPENDIX 2: MODIFICATIONS SUGGESTED BY EXPERTS. 147 APPENDIX 3: THE RESULTS OF CRONBACH’S ALPHA IN THE PILOT TEST. 149 APPENDIX 4: THE RESULTS OF CRONBACH’S ALPHA IN MAIN STUDY.
155 APPENDIX 5: THE RESULT OF NORMALITY OF THE DATA SET .159 APPENDIX 6: THE RESULT OF ITEM LOADING AND FACTOR LOADING 161 APPENDIX 7: THE SCREE-PLOT OF EXPLORATORY FACTOR ANALYSIS163 APPENDIX 8: THE RESULT OF TOTAL VARIANCE EXPLAINED .164 APPENDIX 9: THE RESULT OF STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODEL ANALYSIS. 167 APPENDIX 10: THE DESCRIPTIVE RESULTS OF THE STUDY’S SCALES .168 viii LIST OF TABLES Table 3. An overview of the questionnaire. The description of participants (piloting).
The value of Cronbach's alpha recommended by George and Mallery (2003). The overall description of English major freshmen among seven classes. The guideline to evaluate value of r by Cohen (1988). The cutoff values of CR, AVE, and MSV recommended by Hair et al.
The goodness-of-model-fit recommended by different authors. The reliability of questionnaire (piloting). The result of Cronbach’s alpha in learner autonomy (LA). The result of Cronbach’s alpha in independent variables.
Correlation matrix among variables. The result of multicollinearity testing. The result of communalities of the dependent variable. The result of KMO and Bartlett’s test of learner autonomy (LA).
Total variance explained of learner autonomy (LA). Item loading and factor loading of learner autonomy (LA). The result of communalities in the first run of independent variables 71 Table 4. The result of KMO and Bartlett’s test.
The result of communalities in the second run of independent variables. The result of KMO and Bartlett’s test of the independent variables. Total variance of independent variables. Item loading and factor loading of independent variables.
The goodness-of-fit indices in CFA. Values of CR, AVE and MSV. Values of Square root of AVE (values at the diagonal) and inter- construct correlation. The value of goodness of fit indices in SEM.
The results of the relationship of five factors and learner autonomy. Independent t-test results for learner autonomy and gender. ANOVA results results of learner autonomy with regards to years of English studying. Descriptive of learner autonomy with regard to years of studying English.
ANOVA result of participants’ locations of high schools and degree of learner autonomy. The descriptive results of learner autonomy in regards to participants’ locations of high schools .96 x LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2. Five mini-theories of self-determination theory and the motivational phenomena each summarized by Reeve (2012). The conceptual framework of the present study.
The scree plot of learner autonomy (LA). The scree plot of independent variables in the first round of EFA. The scree plot of independent variables. The model of confirmatory factor analysis.
CB-SEM results between five factors and learner autonomy .82 xi ABSTRACT Learner autonomy has been discussed in English language learning and teaching for four decades because it is commonly believed to yield positive outcomes for both teaching and learning. Hence, learner autonomy has become a long-term educational goal in many countries, including Vietnam. It is undeniable that a wide range of research on learner autonomy has been conducted in the Vietnamese context. However, the existing research primarily focuses on learners’ perceptions and practices in classrooms as key influential factors for learner autonomy.
Therefore, other aspects behind learner autonomy should be delved into. To address such a knowledge gap, the present study examines associations between external factors (i., teacher autonomy support, peer autonomy support, and social media) as well as internal factors (i., sense of responsibility and self-efficacy) and learner autonomy. Quantitative data were collected from a survey with the participation of 281 English major freshmen at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities (USSH). Results revealed that all factors had positive associations with learner autonomy.
However, external factors had a greater influence on learner autonomy compared to their internal counterparts. There was no difference in learner autonomy among participants in terms of demographic attributes (i., gender, years of studying English, locations of high schools). Based on its findings, the present study recommends several pedagogical implications for different entities, including learners, teachers in English as a foreign language (EFL) classrooms, and associated stakeholders (e., educational policymakers and syllabus designers). Keywords: learner autonomy, teacher autonomy support, peer autonomy support, sense of responsibility, and self-efficacy xii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION This chapter starts with the background to the study, and then it continues with the rationale, research aims, and research questions.
The next part continues with a discussion of the scope of the study, the contribution, and the role of the researcher. The chapter ends with the outline of the thesis structure. Background of the study English language, which serves as a tool for mutual understanding and efficient communication among individuals across nations, has undergone globalization in the twenty-first century (Shliakhovchuk, 2021). Accordingly, learning English to become globalized is of paramount importance (Haidar, 2019).
There are a wide range of ways that students are able to apply for learning English. Students can attend a formal school with support from peers and teachers or self-study with assistance from teachers and collaboration with peers through different platforms of social media. However, it is undeniable that individuals play a significant role in any process of language learning since all processes require individual learners to seriously invest time and effort to gain positive outcomes (Papi & Hiver, 2020). Learner autonomy refers to the ability to independently act and communicate in the target language in real-life situations (Yildiz & Yucedal, 2020).
It is believed to have great importance in the process of learning in terms of sharpening language skills, language acquisition, and language proficiency (Yu, 2023). In sharpening language skills, learner autonomy encourages students to get involved in extra activities which go beyond classrooms to improve their language skills (Lai, 2019).