MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY ------------------------------------------ TRAN THI MINH TRI LEARNER AUTONOMY AS PERCEIVED BY TEACHERS AND STUDENTS AT NGUYEN VAN LINH HIGH SCHOOL Major: TEACHING ENGLISH TO SPEAKERS OF OTHER LANGUAGES Major code: 60 14 01 11 MASTER OF ARTS IN TESOL Supervisor: Dr. NGUYEN DINH THU HO CHI MINH City, 2016 Tai Lieu Chat Luong STATEMENT OF THE AUTHORSHIP I certify that this thesis, entitled “Learner Autonomy as Perceived by Teachers and Students at Nguyen Van Linh High School”, is my own work. Except where reference is made in the text of the thesis, this thesis contains no material published elsewhere or extracted in whole or in part from a thesis by which I have qualified for or been awarded another degree or diploma. No other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the main text of the thesis.
This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any other tertiary institution. Ho Chi Minh City, September, 2016 TRAN THI MINH TRI i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my deep gratitude to those who have greatly helped and encouraged me to complete my research. Without their support, it would be very difficult for me to complete this study. Accordingly, I would like to acknowledge with profound gratitude for the significant contribution they made.
I would like to express my whole-hearted appreciation and deepest thanks to my supervisor, Dr. Nguyen Dinh Thu for his enthusiastic help, and dedicated support during the time of carrying out this research. From the starting point, he has guided and shaped my research ideas, given me valuable advice and useful materials, especially valuable feedback on every draft that I wrote. Without his help and guidance, I could not have completed my research paper.
In addition, I own a great debt to five of my colleagues and 133 grade twelfth students for their contribution to the completion of data collection. Without their willingness, my research could not have been accomplished. I am also very glad to acknowledge with gratitude to all of the teachers who have raised me up with their knowledge. I am deeply grateful to my parents, sisters and friends for the love and encouragement they gave me while I was doing my thesis.
Especially, my special thanks also go to my husband for his mental support and sharing of feelings. ii ABSTRACT Learner autonomy has been considered the expected goal of learning and teaching. The context of Vietnamese high schools, however, may hinder its development. The present study aims to investigate what learner autonomy is perceived by 133 grade twelve students and five English teachers at Nguyen Van Linh high school.
In this research, questionnaires for students and teachers are triangulated by interviews with 9 learners randomly invited and all of the teachers. The findings suggest that either the students or their English teachers perceive that teachers should take the most of the responsibilities in the classroom although they see that learners have some abilities to decide many of the activities relating to their learning. Besides, the activities reported by these two groups of participants show that the students conducted little autonomous learning in their last semester. Understanding learner autonomy perception from the perspectives of learners and teachers at high school contexts may assist EFL instructors in this context to achieve the ultimate goal in teaching a foreign language.
iii TABLE OF CONTENTS STATEMENT OF THE AUTHORSHIP. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS. iv LIST OF TABLES. vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS.
viii CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION. 1 Rationale of the study. 2 Statement of the problem. 3 Purposes of the study.
5 Significance of the study. 6 Limitations of the study. 7 Overview of the chapters .7 CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW. 1 Historical background of learner autonomy.
2 Definitions of learner autonomy. 3 Learner autonomy in Asian contexts. 4 Learner autonomy in Vietnam .16 CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY. 1 Site of research and Participants.
1 Site of research. 3 Data collection instruments. 4 Data collection procedure .33 CHAPTER IV: RESULTS. 1 Students’ and teachers’ perception of responsibility in language learning process.
2 Students’ and teachers’ perceptions of abilities in language learning process. 3 Students’ and teachers’ perceptions of activities in language learning process. 4 Insights into learner autonomy perceived by the students and their teachers .1 Responsibilities perceived by the students and their teachers .2 Abilities for learner autonomy perceived by the students and their teachers .3 Last semester’s autonomous activities reported by the students and their teachers.1 Twelfth graders at Nguyen Van Linh high school’s perceptions about learner autonomy in terms of responsibilities, abilities and activities. 2 Twelfth graders’ English teachers at Nguyen Van Linh high school’s perceptions about their learners’ autonomy in terms of responsibilities, abilities and activities.
3 Comparisons on learner autonomy perceived by twelfth graders and their English teachers at Nguyen Van Linh high school.60 CHAPTER VI: CONCLUSIONS .81 APPENDIX 1a: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS (ENGLISH VERSION) .81 APPENDIX 1b: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS (VIETNAMESE VERSION) .84 APPENDIX 2a: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS (ENGLISH VERSION) .87 APPENDIX 2b: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS (VIETNAMESE VERSION) .90 APPENDIX 3a: INTERVIEW FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS (ENGLISH VERSION) .92 APPENDIX 3b: INTERVIEW FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS (VIETNAMESE VERSION) .93 APPENDIX 4a: INTERVIEW FOR HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS (ENGLISH VERSION) .94 APPENDIX 4b: INTERVIEW FOR HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS (VIETNAMESE VERSION) .95 APPENDIX 5a: INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT WITH STUDENT 3 (ENGLISH VERSION) .96 APPENDIX 5b: INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT WITH STUDENT 3 (VIETNAMESE VERSION) .100 vi LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1: Glenn’s (1992) table for sample size at ± 5% and ± 10% Precision Levels where Confidence Level is 95% and p=0.2: Sample details in terms of gender .1: Students’ and teachers’ perception of responsibility in language learning .2: Overall mean scores of the students and teachers of their perceived ability of learners .3: Independent Samples Test of Students’ and teachers’ perceptions of abilities .4: Percentages of students’ and teachers’ perceptions of students’ abilities in terms of each duty .5: Percentages of students’ and teachers’ perceptions of students’ activities in terms of each duty .6: Independent Samples Test of Students’ and teachers’ perceptions of activities .7: Independent Samples Test of Students’ and teachers’ perceptions of asked the teacher questions when they didn’t understand (item 17, section III) .46 vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS B.A: Bachelor of Arts CRAPEL: Centre de Reserches et d’Applications en Langues EFL: English as a Foreign Language ESL: English as a Second Language ILTP: Integrated Learner Training Programme ITC: Information and Communication Technologies LA: Language Acquisition or SLA: Second Language Acquisition LMS: Learning Management System TEFL: Teaching English as a Foreign Language viii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale of the study In the past few decades, there has been a dramatic surge in the field of language teaching. In traditional classes, where teachers try to tell their learners what to do for grasping knowledge and how to apply such knowledge into their future, the power was consistent with teachers (Estes, 2004). What teachers transfer; however, is limited but what students explore by themselves is unlimited. Luckily, the new millennium provides them with new technology, with which students can easily access information that teachers can not satisfy (Brown 2003).
Diverse student populations and learning styles in a mixed-ability class, where learners’ needs are in the heart of the learning process (Dudley, 2016), require a revolutionary approach so that the problems of the new century could be solved. A new model for those challenges known as learner-centered teaching has been valued by many researchers (Brown, 2003; Estes, 2004). In this kind of approach, learners do not passively receive knowledge any more but they are more responsible for their own learning process (Brandes and Ginnis, 1996). They have to brainstorm ideas and take advantages of their learning opportunities, rather than simply response to teachers (Knowles, 1975).
Then taking responsibility for their own learning and self-directing, which has been defined as autonomy, seems to become the expected goal of teaching and learning (Areglado 1996, cited in Benson and Huang 2008). This fact has been realized by numerous researchers and educators (Holec 1981; Cotterall 1995; Zhe 2009; Joshi 2011); therefore, more and more papers tend to explore issues related to learner autonomy worthwhile. Holec (1981) was the pioneer in the field of learner autonomy. His work has been seen as putting the starting point with the definition of leaner autonomy “the ability to take charge of one’s own learning” (p.
In his view, this “ability” is not inborn but acquired through a learning process. Also, it should not be considered as a complete separation from teachers and other students. In other words, learner autonomy is a term used for a cooperative learning environment rather than an isolated learning, a learning process rather than an innate skill. Due to the 1 influential attribute, more researchers (Cotterall 1995; Benson and Huang 2008, Zhe 2009; Joshi 2011) have been attracted to different aspects of this issue from theories to practices.
To raise the importance of language learner autonomy, Ellis and Sinclair published a book in 1989, which aims to help learners take the responsibility for their own learning due to the following reasons. Firstly, they emphasize that when learners take control of their own learning, their learning will be more effective due to the fact that they learn what they are ready to learn. Secondly, they tend to conduct more learning outside the classroom, which helps improve their language learning. Finally, learners can explore a wide range of learning strategies to elect the most appropriate one for themselves that assists to organize and monitor their learning effectively.
Among a great number of other research workers, Little (2007) emphasizes the fundamental role of learner autonomy when stating that it can “move to the central of language teaching theory and practice” (p. In his view, the growth of learner autonomy and the development of language proficiency are closely connected. His idea has been supported by many practical research papers. Dafei’s (2007) investigation of 129 non-English majors at a teacher college in China showed the significant and positive connection between learner autonomy and language proficiency.
The analysis of the results from the questionnaires for learner autonomy and the score of the participants indicated that when students were not significantly different in their proficiency, their learner autonomy was not statistically different. In other words, their language proficiency’s differences entail their autonomy’s differences. Furthermore, Hrochová (2012) who investigated 75 secondary students’ out-of-class activities (which are perceived as a signal of learner autonomy) and their school grade together with their achievement perception pinpoints the strong and positive relationship. The correlation between the level of learner autonomy and language proficiency of college students is reported to be significant by Myartawan & Latief (2013).
They selected 120 among 171 English-majored students in their first semester at a state university in Indonesia for their study. Data were gathered from available documents indicating the students’ English proficiency and two questionnaires. The first questionnaire was used for determining behavioral intentions to do 2 autonomous learning of the samples while the second questionnaire related to learner’s self- efficacy regarding autonomous learning. Results from their study revealed strong and positive relationship between language proficiency and learner autonomy.
Moreover, the importance of learner autonomy in language classes is consolidated by Mcdevitt (1997) who writes “the end product of education is an independent learner” (p. He emphasizes that autonomy should be considered as a goal. Due to the fact that teachers could feed students with knowledge at the time that students are attending some course but they could not provide them more knowledge when students do not take any courses. The question relating to how they can direct themselves for language learning owing to their over-aged period of schooling or their time spending on their family or their work, is really a considerable issue.