5. The term “AUTONOMY”
First emerged in European Council’s
Modern Language Project in 1971 and it
aimed a lifelong learning for adults
( Benson , 2001).
6.
7. Autonomy is;
Situation in which learners study entirely on their own
For a set of skills which can be learnt and applied in self
directed learning
An inborn capacity which is suppressed by institutonal
education
The exercise of learner’ responsibility for their own learning
The right of learners to determine the direction of their own
learning
( Benson 2001)
8.
9. Autonomy is not;
It is not a synonym for self-instruction, that is
autonomy is not limited to learning without a teacher
It does not require the teacher relinguish all
responsibility and control to students
It is not something that teachers do to learners that is ;
it is not another teaching method
İt is not a single, easily decribed behaviour
It is not a steady state achieved by learner
( Benson, 2001)
10. Why it is important in Languge
Education?
A learner is an individual and has rights to
determine what to learn, how to learn it and
should have freedom to chose learning
activities so that he will feel himself less
pressured and this will enable him to be
motivated more.
11. There is dramatic increase in the world
population there is a lack of teacher in all
fields thus a teacher is supposed to educate
more and more students than ever before
Technology, self acces centres..
12. What are the characteristics of an
autonomous learner?
those who assume responsibility for their own learning;
assess and evaluate progress and achievements;
have basic knowledge about language learning;
are able to use appropriate learning strategies,
are able to make significant decisions about their learning
and implement those decisions appropriately;
have self-knowledge;
have self-confidence in learning a language;
can manage negative affective factors,
can work cooperatively;
16. Previous Studies about “Autonomy”
Anadolu University with 179 ELT students;
Research Question
Whether their four years of education makes any difference in their
perception to learner autonomy ?
Finding
First year students were generally willing to take responsibility as
learners of English while they need support in some aspects. Fourth
grade students were generally have positive attitudes towars learner
autonomy in their future students.
( Yıldırım , 2005)
17. Bilkent University ( 2005)
72 English language instructors working at different universities in
Turkey .
Reseach Question
The attitudes of in-service language instructors attitudes to learner
autonomy in their classroom.
Findings
The results revealed that ‘participants are neutral to slightly
positive toward learner autonomy in their formal teaching
environments.
They consider some areas of teaching and learning as more suitable
than others for learner autonomy.
The outcomes also showed that the participating instructors’ attitudes
towards learner autonomy change depending upon the facilities they
are provided by their universities and the opportunities for authentic
language use in their environments.’ ( Özdere, 2005)
18. Trakya University ( 2012)
Aim
The aim of this study is to investigate Trakya
University English Language Teaching
Department fourth grade students’ readiness for
learner autonomy.
19. Setting and Participants
• The participants of this study are 31 ELT fourth grade students in
Trakya University which is a state university of Turkey in the city of
Edirne.
• The 11 of the participants are male and 20 of the participants are
female.
• We particulary focused on the fourth grade students as they have a
four years of ELT education background and are supposed to have
ideas about learner autonomy.
• They are also the in-service teachers of next-year so their attitudes are
important in terms of the short-objectives of Turkish Education
system.
20. Instruments
A five point Likert-scale questionnaire is
used to investigate the students’ attitudes
towards learner autonomy.
21. Research Questions
1) In what aspects the fourth grade ELT
students intend to support learner autonomy
in their classrooms?
2) What are the attitudes of fourth grade ELT
students on learner autonomy?
22. 1-In what aspects the fourth grade ELT students
intend to support learner autonomy in their
classrooms?
According to the questionnaire results learners they agree ;
formulate his own explanations for classroom tasks
find out learning strategies by themselves.
be encouraged to make group/pair work
should have right to choose classroom activities.
usage of teaching materials
type of homework
23. 1-In what aspects the fourth grade ELT students
intend to support learner autonomy in their
classrooms?
The items with the lowest percentage of agreement.
Teaching material selection
Discipline matters
Deciding the topics
Quantity of Homework
Record keeping of the marks gained
24. 2-What are the attitudes of fourth grade ELT
students on learner autonomy?
38% of them are “Neutral” to the learner
autonomy while none of them are Resistant.
The rest 62% are “Supportive”.
When analysed in terms of gender : male
participants are more Supportive with a
slight difference of 0,12 means.
25. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
The findings of the study revealed that the participants have positive
attitudes to the learner autonomy
They are willing to support it in their future classroom.
None of the participants is “Resistant to learner autonomy
38% of them stayed “Neutral” to the learner autonomy which means
they are willing to apply it in some conditions while they prefer to be
the authority in the classroom in other conditions.
It should be noted that the other participants who claimed to be
“Supportive avoided to choose ‘Strongly Agree’ option rather they
mainly preferred to choose ‘Agree’. This shows that even they support
it, they do not think it is vital for the learning environment or they are
hesistant to give the whole control to the students.
26. Influencing Factors may be:
culture
regional differences
pre-determined course objectives,
topdown curriculum,
central Exams
the attitudes of instutituon
27. REFERENCES
Benson, P. & Voller, P. (Eds.) (1997). Autonomy and
Independence in Language Learning. London: Longman.
Özdere, M. ( 2005) State-supported Provincial University
English Language Instructors’ Attıtudes towards Learner
Autonomy. MA. Thesis Submitted to Bilkent University in
July, 2005.
Yıldırım, Ö. ( 2005) Elt Students’ Perceptions and Behavıor
Related to Learner Autonomy as Learners and Future
Teachers. MA. Thesis submitted to Eskişehir Anadolu
University in June, 2005.
