Learner autonomy in the digital era

LEARNER AUTONOMY IN THE DIGITAL ERA Duong Thi Thuy Uyen, M A Abstract With the rapid development of technology and its strong support for language learning, it is assumed that learner autonomy will be[.]

LEARNER AUTONOMY IN THE DIGITAL ERA

Duong Thi Thuy Uyen, M.A Abstract

With the rapid development of technology and its strong support for language learning, it is assumed that learner autonomy will be greatly promoted and enhanced At universities in Vietnam in general and at the University of Economics, Ho Chi Minh City (UEH) in particular, the students can take advantage of modern technology tools and smart libraries while studying, which is the basis for autonomous learning However, to have genuine autonomy in language learning, the students need to have proper guidance and more support from the teachers in exploiting technology as well as high awareness of this life-long endeavor

Keywords: learner autonomy, digital era, technology

1 INTRODUCTION

Significant changes have been implemented in language learning and teaching since the outbreak of the epidemic COVID-19 Teachers and learners all over the world have to adapt to new working and learning conditions and environments In Vietnam, they are getting used to the current situation and students have obviously learnt how to work more independently Meanwhile, technology has also had rapid development, providing learners with an array of means and easy access to uncountable resources for self-study Therefore, it is assumed that learner autonomy will be greatly promoted and enhanced in the digital era However, reality shows that it is vital for both teachers and students to acquire a profound knowledge of this concept to be able to apply it efficiently Besides, teachers need to identify challenges faced and overcome so that they can provide students with great support to attain the goal of becoming autonomous learners

2 LITERATURE REVIEW

The concept of learner autonomy can be traced back to the University of Nancy’ s Center for Research and Application in Language Teaching’s admission of this perception in language learning in the early 1970s (Benson, 2013) Holec has profound studies on autonomous education and he defines autonomy as “the ability to take charge of one’s own learning”, and

“… to have, and to hold, the responsibility for all the decisions concerning all aspects of this learning” (Holec, 1981, p 3) Having the same concern and research field, Dickinson (1987), Little (1991), and Dam (1995) respectively highlight the other aspects of autonomy as “learning without the direct control of a teacher” (p 5), “a capacity for detachment, critical reflection, decision making, and independent action” (p 4), and the qualifications of independently choosing aims and purposes, setting goals, as well as choosing materials, methods and tasks A set of tasks for autonomous learners is specifically identified, comprising “determining the objectives, defining the contents and progressions, selecting methods and techniques to be used, monitoring the procedure of acquisition properly speaking (rhythm, time, place, etc.), (and) evaluating what has been acquired.” (Holec, 1981, p 3)

Recently, according to Hayo & Cynthia’s study (2016), there has been a reconceptualization of autonomy due to the influence from other fields such as psychology, teacher development, motivation and technology Specifically, autonomy is defined “as a multifaceted construct that operates on a number of dimensions” (Hayo & Cynthia, 2016, p 144) In Benson’s classification (2011), there are four dimensions of autonomy or modalities, including location

(the setting where learning takes place), formality (the degree to which learning is structured and linked to educational qualifications), pedagogy (type of learning or instruction), and locus

of control (decision-makers about learning)

From Holec’s and other scholars’ definitions, it is clear that learner autonomy is associated with independent learning and self-determination Teachers encourage learners to rely on themselves more, and students are empowered, making their own decisions related to their learning and becoming highly responsible learners Freedom but responsibility are the two factors implied

in the concept of learner autonomy Lamb (2017) points out that learner autonomy is also subject directly to the context where it is practiced, emphasizing both external and internal factors relating to endorsing and accepting responsibility Besides, learner autonomy is associated with learning strategies which can be metacognitive (planning and evaluating), affective (motivating oneself and dealing with negative emotions), cognitive (made co-existing with learners’ awareness, involvement, intervention and creation levels (Nunan, 1997)), and social-interactive (collaborating and detecting socio-cultural aspects) (Oxford, 2008)

However, teachers’ intervention is completely necessary In the eyes of Little and Dam (1989),

it is their encouragement and help in learner reflection as well as appropriate target language use These roles can be considered as pedagogical principles of promoting learning autonomy Through teachers’ intervention, learners can acquire learning strategies as well as widen their knowledge of learning Littlewood (1996) emphasizes that “to promote learner autonomy, interaction, negotiation, collaboration, and teacher support are crucial elements” since they help

to increase higher levels of learning autonomy

When it comes to learner autonomy and technology, it is assumed that technology is a tool for fostering and boosting autonomy due to the great benefits it brings to learners The main advantage is that learners can have opportunities to access freely and unlimitedly to authentic materials in the target language Self-direct learning is promoted and enhanced when learners are now tech-savvy, making good use of computer-assisted language materials for their own purposes (O’Reilly, 2005) With the Internet, globalized online spaces (YouTube) and new mobile technologies (smart phones and tablets), language learners can find and enjoy a greater richness of resources available to them with which they can share, interact and get support for learning outside the classroom (Mehran & Mir , 2019) Viorica, (2014) lists technology tools used to improve learner autonomy, including emails, blogging, site management, collaborative projects, online tests, socializing networks, games and the creation of learning communities One of the ways to approach technology with learner autonomy is approaching it through TAM – Technology Acceptance Model – which is the famous model to measure the accepting level

of a person to the new approach by technology in any aspect It is the successor of two famous theories: TRA and TPB TRA or Theory of Reasoned Action was founded by Ajzen and Fishbein in 1967 to explain the intention for any human action Furthermore, TRA introduces

to the world a new definition: subjective norm This definition emphasizes that anybody’s perception can be heavily affected by the surroundings and closed relationships Later on, these authors continued to research this theory and designed a new model – TPB or Theory of Planned Behavior This theory approaches the feeling of into something by the intention that is affected

by attitude and subjective norm, which come from TRA, and the new attribute: perceived behavioral control These antecedences support the birth of TAM considerably Davis (1989) inherits the two above-mentioned theories, combining with the technological development context to invent TAM TAM comes with many new definitions The first definition is perceived usefulness when Davis defines it as “the degree to which a person believes that using

a particular system would enhance his or her job performance” (Davis, 1989) The second one

is the perceived ease of use when defined as “the degree to which a person believes that using

a particular system would be free of effort” (Davis, 1989) These will impact the attitude of the user, and then the intention to use of customers These are the two most important attributes of TAM in applying for learner autonomy According to Prieto, J C S., Migueláñez, S O., & García-Peñalvo, F J (2014), the two attributes of TAM play an important role in their research

to promote the model of mobile technology acceptance for homework and distance learning of students in Spain

Recently, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, learner autonomy has been considered a suitable method to build up a learning culture According to Benson (2006) and Joshi (2011), there are seven ways to build up learner autonomy and two of those are distance learning and CALL – Computer Assisted in Language Learning Particularly, distance learning is defined as self-motivation to participate in learning activities and CALL is defined as the computer-based in-class activities and individual works for language learning These have been the common methods of learning when there is social distancing in the pandemic around the world Thus, although having been mentioned earlier, learning autonomy is considered to be suitable with the current learning contexts worldwide when computer-based and distance learning are now the main methods of class delivery

Exploiting technology for learner autonomy is a must now in the digital era However, it should

be noticed that proper guidance from the teachers plays a crucial role in this aspect because without their help and advice, it turns out to be more challenging for learners to take advantage

of technology in studying They are overwhelmed with the information and authentic materials they get from easy and unlimited access, failing to determine the appropriate tasks and materials This might have detrimental effects and even worse, in some cases, “give a false sense of development to learners” (Gee, 2003 in Mehran & Mir, 2019)

Applied to Vietnam educational environment, learner autonomy needs to have the local implication, according to Nguyen Van Loi in the book “Language Learner Autonomy: Teachers’ Beliefs and Practices in Asian Contexts” This author mentions that there is a misconception when assuming that students are fully responsible for learner autonomy In fact, teachers are those who should be aware and trained about learner autonomy before implementing it to their students More and more workshops and seminars should be conducted

to fully acknowledge teachers about this concept Besides, educational leaders should design measures to push learner autonomy into the school environment By the same token, there should be teacher assessment on learner autonomy to support teachers in enhancing the concept towards students day by day Another important point to be mentioned is teachers need to motivate students to achieve learner autonomy instead of forcing them to this purpose (Nguyen, 2016)

In short, learner autonomy is a complicated concept and it cannot “appear overnight” and should

be cultivated gradually” (Viorica, 2014) It requires commitment from both learners and teachers, and the combination with the autonomous learning environment The continual struggle is needed (Kumaravadivelu, 2003) and “teachers and students should be supportive all the way on this difficult path” (Viorica, 2014)

3 RECOMMENDATIONS

At UEH, learner autonomy has not been exercised fully and effectively To foster and encourage learner autonomy at UEH, the school should carry out the essential tasks

As far as teachers are concerned, at present, all the English teachers at UEH have had training concentrating on linguistic and methodological knowledge with M.A and Ph D degrees in Applied Linguistics and TESOL However, learner autonomy requires an expansion of this knowledge and calls for changes and more training for this trend in education Although the teachers themselves can undoubtedly conduct sound studies on learner autonomy, training in this field should be provided and included in the teacher’s professional development program The training is not only on acknowledging them about the concept of learner autonomy but also

on sharing / exchanging efficient ways of taking advantage of technology to improve the students’ independent study

As Kumaravadivelu (2003) proposes, there are three stages to build up students’ autonomy The first stage focuses on raising the learners’ awareness of the reasons why the teacher chooses certain goals, tasks and materials In the next stage, learners are allowed to choose from a range

of options provided by the teacher Finally, learners determine their own goals, tasks and materials With the experiences the students at UEH have undergone over the last two years due to the global pandemic, they have had a growing awareness of independent learning It can

be said that the goal of the first stage seems to be partly achieved, although this is the outcome

of a passive reaction to the changing situation rather than a good result of the first step in a well-planned program To perform better in the second stage, the students should be provided with more options for learning materials, tasks and strategies With the development of technology,

it seems easier for the teachers and the students to implement this task However, here comes a big challenge for both of them The main reason is that the students are not used to making their own decisions, especially the ones relating to learning goals, tasks and materials These things are expected to be determined by the university (the requirement for English proficiency to graduate) and class teachers (tasks and materials) In addition, the students’ focus is more on how to get high scores in the final exam Therefore, to change this habit and mindset, it needs time and effort from both the teachers and learners to get out of their comfort zones of just following what has been conventionally set up and decided Again, training is needed to solve this problem In the last stage, to help the students determine their own goals, tasks and materials, the teachers are expected to spend more time with the students to support them in finding their own learning styles Obstacles arise with a large number of students in their classes This requires the teacher’s great passion and dedication for this issue However, it is a feasible task for the teachers when making use of Grasha’s model in which the students can be classified into three pairs of six learning styles: competitive – collaborative, avoidant – participant, dependent – independent (Grasha, 2002, p 128) Grasha also concludes that the teacher should not take students’ preferences for their learning styles as unchangeable

In learner autonomy, independence and interdependence are both essential, and autonomy inside and outside the classroom needs to be pondered (Mehran & Mir, 2019) With the present situation of having more technology tools to be exploited and the more online study conducted due to the pandemic, the autonomy outside the classroom should get more of the teachers’ attention At UEH, the modern and smart library with online textbooks and other applications should be fully taken advantage of Then, the teachers’ guidance and support on determining appropriate tasks and materials for self-study are prerequisites This, again, requires training conducted and assistance for the teachers from the leaders of the university

4 CONCLUSION

Learner autonomy is a good tool for language learning Therefore, right from the very beginning, teachers should encourage and boost their students to become autonomous learners However, with its complicated nature, learner autonomy requires great efforts and commitment

from learners and teachers as well as proper investment to provide autonomous learning conditions and environment Advanced technology has helped, to a certain extent, shift commercial materials used in the classroom to the ones designed for autonomous work The students’ awareness of this trend has also been improved The expectation now is the teachers’ dedication to shoulder the responsibility of providing appropriate guidance and support To achieve this, training should be provided and more investment in the library and technology tools should be made Then, we can hope to have more autonomous learners at UEH

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