Learner autonomy as perceived by teachers and students at nguyen van linh high school

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:

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY

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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

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 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

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

TABLE OF CONTENTS

STATEMENT OF THE AUTHORSHIP i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

LIST OF TABLES vii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS viii

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1

1 1 Rationale of the study 1

1 2 Statement of the problem 3

1 3 Purposes of the study 4

1 4 Research questions 4

1 5 Significance of the study 5

1 6 Limitations of the study 6

1 7 Overview of the chapters 7

CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW 8

2 1 Historical background of learner autonomy 8

2 2 Definitions of learner autonomy 11

2 3 Learner autonomy in Asian contexts 13

2 4 Learner autonomy in Vietnam 16

CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY 22

3 1 Site of research and Participants 22

3 1 1 Site of research 22

3 2 Research design 25

3 3 Data collection instruments 26

3 3 1 Questionnaires 26

3 3 2 Interviews .30

3 4 Data collection procedure 31

3 5 Data analysis 33

CHAPTER IV: RESULTS 35

4 1 Students’ and teachers’ perception of responsibility in language learning process 35

4 2 Students’ and teachers’ perceptions of abilities in language learning process 39

4 3 Students’ and teachers’ perceptions of activities in language learning process 41

4 4 Insights into learner autonomy perceived by the students and their teachers 46

4.4.1 Responsibilities perceived by the students and their teachers 46

4.4.2 Abilities for learner autonomy perceived by the students and their teachers 49

4.4.3 Last semester’s autonomous activities reported by the students and their teachers 50

CHAPTER V: DISCUSSIONS 53

5.1 Twelfth graders at Nguyen Van Linh high school’s perceptions about learner autonomy in terms of responsibilities, abilities and activities .53

5 2 Twelfth graders’ English teachers at Nguyen Van Linh high school’s perceptions about their learners’ autonomy in terms of responsibilities, abilities and activities 57

5 3 Comparisons on learner autonomy perceived by twelfth graders and their English teachers at Nguyen Van Linh high school .60

CHAPTER VI: CONCLUSIONS 64

6.1 Conclusions .64

6 2 Pedagogical implications 66

6 3 Recommendations .67

REFERENCES 69

APPENDICES 81

APPENDIX 1a: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

(ENGLISH VERSION) 81APPENDIX 1b: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

(VIETNAMESE VERSION) 84APPENDIX 2a: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS

(ENGLISH VERSION) 87APPENDIX 2b: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS

(VIETNAMESE VERSION) 90 APPENDIX 3a: INTERVIEW FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

(ENGLISH VERSION) 92APPENDIX 3b: INTERVIEW FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

(VIETNAMESE VERSION) 93APPENDIX 4a: INTERVIEW FOR HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS

(ENGLISH VERSION) 94APPENDIX 4b: INTERVIEW FOR HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS

(VIETNAMESE VERSION) 95 APPENDIX 5a: INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT WITH STUDENT 3

(ENGLISH VERSION) 96APPENDIX 5b: INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT WITH STUDENT 3

(VIETNAMESE VERSION) 100

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=0.5 23

Table 3.2: Sample details in terms of gender 25

Table 3.3: Time Framework 34

Table 4.1: Students’ and teachers’ perception of responsibility in language learning 36

Table 4.2: Overall mean scores of the students and teachers of their perceived ability of learners 39

Table 4.3: Independent Samples Test of Students’ and teachers’ perceptions of abilities 39

Table 4.4: Percentages of students’ and teachers’ perceptions of students’ abilities in terms of each duty .40

Table 4.5: Percentages of students’ and teachers’ perceptions of students’ activities in terms of each duty .42

Table 4.6: Independent Samples Test of Students’ and teachers’ perceptions of activities 45

Table 4.7: Independent Samples Test of Students’ and teachers’ perceptions of asked the teacher questions when they didn’t understand (item 17, section III) .46

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

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.3) 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

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.14) 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

autonomous learning of the samples while the second questionnaire related to learner’s efficacy regarding autonomous learning Results from their study revealed strong and positive relationship between language proficiency and learner autonomy

self-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 34)

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 Then autonomy is worth noticing as a vital aspect in language teaching and learning for fostering life-long learning

Another important value of learner autonomy is learner differences In a class, different learners bring their own social variables, such as age, affect, aptitude, cognitive style, gender or learning styles and so on, which are different from each other, into the classroom (Benson, 2006) The teachers, then, have to deal with a variety of learners in their class However, it is hard for them to overcome such divergences in a limited time and fixed curricular Sun (2013) suggests that one of the best way to solve the problems of learners’ differences in terms of needs and preferences is teaching them the way to learn independently He agrees with Little (1991) that when students are autonomous in their learning, they will feel what they are learning is connected to those in their life Besides, the students’ motivation is enhanced, which encourage them to take advantage of every opportunity in non-native environment to communicate the target language

1.2 Statement of the problem

In the context of Vietnamese high schools, there are numerous constraints for teachers

to increase proficiency levels of their students (Duong, 2006) In her study, Duong (2006) identifies the model of the classrooms in Vietnam with certain common characteristics The first

characteristic is the classroom with unmovable chairs on which students sit still Then, the students in those rooms try to grasp all things that the teachers convey to reproduce most correctly in the exams The teachers then make their all best to “pour” the knowledge into the students’ mind, which is, in her words, something like a so-called full-pitcher and a so-called empty glass

These ideas were supported by Pham (2007) when the teachers participating in his study admitted that the constraints in their teaching at secondary schools are large class size and students’ lack of motivation to apply English Especially, these teachers emphasized that the matter came from the national examination They stated that they wanted their students to use English well but the pressure of instructing their students to pass the graduation exam and university entrance exam seemed more powerful

Nowadays, following the trend of the world which emphasizes the role of the learners,

the Prime minister issued the decision No 711/QD-TTg in 2012, approving the Vietnamese

education development strategies for the period of 2011 – 2020 (Vietnamese Prime Minister, 2012) This document indicates that to achieve the strategic objectives, eight solutions need to

be conducted Among these solutions, one emphasizes the requirement to renovation in teaching contents and methods, exams, tests and education quality assessment with the aim of enhancing the activeness, self-discipline, initiative, creativity and self-learning capacity of students However, the reality of teaching and learning in Vietnam discussed above mainly focusing on examination ignores the long-term goal of autonomy (Le, 2013)

In addition, although Zhe (2009, p 11) points out that learner autonomy “was originated

in adult education, but its recent development has confirmed that it could also be used with young learners with guided and gradual introduction”, little research has been done to determine high school students’ autonomy in Vietnam, as appeared in my review of literature in the next chapter Thus, it is worth conducting more research to explore learner autonomy in this context

Besides, it would be insufficient if teachers were not included in the current study due

to the fact that learner autonomy in the educational institutions is developed through a

continuum, which often starts from teacher-dependence and ends with learner self-direction (Dam, 2011) Therefore, teachers play important roles in promoting autonomy among learners (Little, 1999; Dam, 2011; Nakata, 2014) If the teachers do not realize the optimum benefits that learner autonomy could bring to the students, they could not find the way to enhance it (Nguyen, 2014) The current study, hence, attempt to explore learner autonomy at Nguyen Van Linh high school from the view of teachers and students themselves

1.3 Purposes of the study

With the aim of discovering the perceptions of students and teachers at Nguyen van Linh high school on learner autonomy and in an attempt to determine whether there is any distinction between the learners and teachers on this term, the study is carried out to achieve three following purposes:

1 To investigate the perceptions of grade twelve students at Nguyen Van Linh high school on learner autonomy

2 To identify the perceptions of English teachers at Nguyen Van Linh high school on their learners’ autonomy

3 To compare learner autonomy perceived by the students and the teachers

3 Are there any differences between learner autonomy perceptions between learners and teachers at Nguyen Van Linh high school?

1.5 Significance of the study

The study aims to investigate the perceptions of students and teacher on learner autonomy which is considered as a desired goal in language teaching and learning Then it results will be worthy because of the following reasons First and foremost, it will provide the English teachers at Nguyen Van Linh high school, an insight into their learners’ autonomy Thanks to that, they can understand what students perceive about their roles, how good they perceive about their capacity and what they actually carry out in their study This also provides information about the levels and the readiness for autonomous learning also Besides, rather than the English teachers, other teachers from different departments of the school can use the results in this study to make an implication for their teaching because the first part in the questionnaire focus on the role of teachers and learners in the learning process Furthermore, the study investigates the perceptions of English teachers on learner autonomy and the differences between the two subjects-learners and teachers, which may help the management board to determine the suitable way to develop curriculum fostering autonomous learning Last but not least, the survey may raise the awareness of teachers and students at Nguyen Van Linh high school on autonomous learning This will bring some effects to their study results, especially to the participants in the study whose are preparing for the graduation exam

1.6 Limitations of the study

The study is limited due to some factors First of all, the participants in the study are twelfth graders and teachers from Nguyen Van Linh high school only The results, therefore, are valuable among the population but it is hard to generalize them for other population whose backgrounds are different Secondly, the study mainly uses questionnaire and interview with self-report items from the participants as central instruments This may, thus, affect the validity

of the results due to the fact that the students’ actual behaviors may not be the same as what they

perceived on learner autonomy

1.7 Overview of the chapters

The thesis consists of 5 chapters

Chapter One introduces the research backgrounds such as the rationale, the purpose of the study, the research questions, the research significance, the research limitation and the thesis content

Chapter Two reviews the literature relevant to learner autonomy in terms of definition and related study

Chapter Three reveals the research methodologies employed in this research, which includes detail descriptions of the research design, the participants, the instruments, the procedures and the data analysis

Chapter Four presents the results of the data analysis collected from the research instruments

Then Chapter Five discusses the research findings to answer the research questions Finally, chapter Six draws the conclusions related to the study, limitations and recommendations for further research and some pedagogical implications as well

CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW

To begin the chapter, general historical backgrounds of learner autonomy are presented Next, several definitions are reviewed in an attempt to establish a working definition

of learner autonomy for this study It then summarizes empirical studies relating to learner autonomy in Asian contexts Finally, it continues to present autonomous learning research in Vietnam

2.1 Historical background

Originally, the term “autonomy” is derived from a combination of ancient Greek words

autos meaning “self,” and nomos, meaning “rule” Hence, autonomy is considered in terms of

philosophy as the state of self – governing or self-directing Adapting this term into the field of second language education somehow keeps its original meanings

The development of learner autonomy from its first appearance in language learning and teaching literature, is clearly reviewed by Benson (2013) In his book, Benson explains that the term “learner autonomy” was first generated to researchers and educators in language teaching through the modern language project of The Council of Europe, which was founded in 1971 Among the outcomes of the project, the Centre de Reserches et d’Applications en Langues (CRAPEL), led by Yves Châlon, significantly contributed to the field of language learning by introducing the concept of learner autonomy Therefore, Yves Châlon has been considered as the father of autonomy After the death of this leader in 1972, the leadership of project was assumed by Henri Holec His report to the project in 1981 then provided influential guides in the field of autonomous learning (Benson, 2013)

According to Benson (2013), one of the earliest and most popular ideas coping with learner autonomy is self-access centers In line with Benson (2013), Gardner and Miller (1999) claim that self-access may be the most favored approach to enhance learner autonomy and to shift learner’s dependence on their teacher to their autonomy The first self-access centers at

CRAPEL and the University of Cambridge were the places for learners to access a wide range

of their target language’s material These kinds of materials were considered as wonderful sources to assist learners in their self-directed learning Besides, Little and his college also provided students with self-access facilities, which were served as language laboratories for learners to optionally come and study on their own In these places, learners could use the materials here to support their current learning However, Little (2004) found some challenges when not many learners took the advantages of these facilities The students entered the laboratories without knowing how to study by themselves Instead of promoting students’ activeness, the provided materials designed as a substitute teacher somehow deprive learners of the initiatives (Little, 2004) Nowadays, with the development of information technology, self-access centers often relate to technology-based approach, which takes the advantages of information explosion and electronic revolution to solve the problems of students with different levels in the learning process (Morrison, 2008) Benson (2013), however, reminds that self-access centers seem not to necessarily promote autonomous development as they have been expected

Similarly, to nourish self-directed learning, learner training are thought to be essential (Dickinson and Carver, 1980; Holec, 1980 cited in Benson, 2013) At CRAPEL, learners were trained some basic skills for self-directing like self-management, self-monitoring or self-evaluation It is argued that they needed to have some preparations for the new type of learner-centered learning They need teaching what is learning how to learn (Benson, 2013) Research

on learner training, therefore, tries to explore effective strategies used by successful learners to assist less successful learners As Wenden (1991) points out that successful learners can employ effective strategies independently Aljasir (2009) also reveals that strategy uses strongly correlates with learner autonomy However, Benson (2001) thinks that the employment of good learning strategies does not necessarily develop learner autonomy if it could not enhance the capacity for learning independently

Benson (2013) also reviews the history of leaner autonomy and individualization In the sense of individualization, self-access centers perform quite well the function of

individualization, which let learners be free from the teachers and allow them to decide their own needs and find their own methods to fulfill them Researchers at CRAPEL state that individualization also relates to programmed individualized learning, which allows learners to make decisions and work on their own ways but they have to follow their teacher’s materials This mode of instructions, however, is assumed to reduce the chance to develop learner autonomy These early ideas emphasize the role of individual learners and isolate learners from their teacher and their friends

On the other hand, the recent trend has taken the importance of social factors into considerations (Benson, 2001) Learners only develop themselves when they interact with other learners or with their teacher (Little, 1999) Little also takes the example of the infants with their mother to demonstrate the language development He asserts that social interaction and communication have strong relationship And the strong tool for people to communicate is language This idea quite correlates with those from the Soviet psychologist Lev Vygotsky In Vygotsky’s (1978) constructivist theory of language acquisition, children develop their meta-cognition like planning, monitoring or evaluating thanks to social interaction via the means of language Wang (2014) suggests that a strong relationship between constructivism learning theory and learner autonomy According to Wang, the latter depends on and fully reflects the former Learners come to class not to receive knowledge from the teacher but they come to learn how to acquire them thanks to the aid of learning materials, the teacher or their partners Reinders (2010) also indicates that the common things between constructivism learning theory and learner autonomy are their central roles of learners to construct, reorganize and share the knowledge In the context of formal learning, classrooms are recognized as “social context”, where learners can cooperate with others to make decisions together and to enhance their learner autonomy (Kohonence, 1992 cited in Benson, 2013) Therefore, learner autonomy should be promoted by working with the teacher and other learners The term “interdependence” is understood in this sense Benson (2013) refuses to use the term “independence” because it just shows the opposite meaning of the traditional teaching approach, which much relies on the teacher for almost everything but it cannot show the usefulness of collaboration towards learner autonomy in classroom context

2.2 Definitions of learner autonomy

Due to its importance and influence, learner autonomy has received a considerable attention from researchers and educators in the field of language teaching during the last decades Little (1991) asserted that it has recently become a “buzzword”, which has been agreed

by Benson (2007) to be in the center of references and published works throughout the world Many scholars agree with its ultimate goal in the learning process Its definition; however, have been developed in various aspects and in various contexts by different researchers, which results

in no standard definitions of learner autonomy

Regarding learner autonomy’s definition, it is worth starting with Holec (1981), one of the earliest defenders of autonomy in language teaching and learning and the most widely cited researchers in the field He emphasized that “learner autonomy” is the “ability to take charge of one’s own learning” (Holec 1981, p.3) Holec also employed other terms for “ability” as

“capacity”, which is “not inborn but must be acquired either by ‘natural’ means or (as most often happens) by formal learning, i.e in a systematic, deliberate way” while “take control of” or

“take responsibility for” can be replaced for “take charge of” (Benson, 2007) He clarified that taking charge in learning means taking responsibility for making decisions relating to their own learning These decisions should be made in the learning process in terms of goals determining, content selecting, methods and techniques adopting as well as products assessing

In line with Holec in the role of learners’ capacity in learning independently, Dickinson (1995), yet, adds one more element to the concept To his view, learner autonomy is a construct

of “both an attitude towards learning and a capacity for independent learning” (P 166) He also expands the attitude as the willingness to be responsible for making all the decisions relating to students’ own learning As an active student, he or she can also set up or change their goals to meet their needs However, the research emphasizes that when students acquire full autonomy, they completely separate from their teachers to work on their own (Dickinson, 1987)

Agreeing with Dickinson (1995), Littlewood (1996) defines an autonomous learner as

“one who has an independent capacity to make and carry out the choices which govern his or

her actions This capacity depends on two main components: ability and willingness” (p 428) Later, he distinguishes the capacity between reactive and proactive levels In terms of reactive level, learners can “organize their resources autonomously in order to reach their goal” under clear instructions from teachers (Littlewood 1999, p 75) At proactive level, students are able

to create their own instructions and follow them to obtain their purposes Therefore, learner autonomy should be examined in terms of attitudes and behavior

Little (1999) also agree that learner autonomy basically refers to the capacity for independent learning but the ability for autonomous skills are not “inborn”, but are taught or trained by teachers (Holec 1985, 1987 cited in Benson, 1996) In his concept, he considers the capacity for critical reflection on learners’ own learning leading to awareness one of the most important elements His definition takes “the nature of the cognitive capabilities underlying effective self-management of learning” into consideration (Benson, 2001, p 49) Learner autonomy can be interpreted as not only the ability to be responsible for one’s own learning, but also the capacity for effectively self-managing the learning by controlling psychological factors that affect their learning In order to become autonomous, students must obtain cognitive and meta-cognitive skills for making decisions on their learning process effectively

In general, there are a number of dimensions in defining learner autonomy but it “is interpreted differently by different cultures and nations” (Ivanovska, 2015, p 355) In the local context as Vietnamese education, Phan (2015) analyzes and synthesizes different definitions from the experts in the field to construct a concept of learner autonomy suited to this context From her exploration, she concludes that learner autonomy should consist of two components The first component is learners’ attitude, which can be understood as the awareness of responsibility in the learning process and willingness to communicate It indicates the roles perceived by the learners, themselves, in their own learning process They must see themselves have an active role, so they are willing to take some responsibilities for making some important decisions in their learning such as learning objectives, kinds of materials, activities and so on The second component of Phan’s definition relates to the learners’ ability to conduct autonomous learning activities She clarifies that this ability consists of four elements - goal

setting, planning, implementing, and evaluating She points out that goal setting relates to what learners want and believe they need to learn Planning can be carried out for group work in class

or out of class Implementing relates to what students do to fulfil the tasks Evaluating occurs in class when they present their products and give feedbacks on what they have done

In conclusion, there are numerous definitions given to the term “learner autonomy” However, different research workers look at the term from different perspectives; therefore, there is no consensus on a universal definition Regarding to the Vietnamese educational context, I employ Phan’s (2015) definition as a working definition for my thesis In this

definition, learner autonomy refers to “the learner’s attitude and ability to take responsibility for his or her own learning in the target language” with the assistance of the teachers, not the

isolation of the learners (Phan, 2015, p 52) due to the fact that it is suitable for Vienamese context and is quite compatible with other researchers’ in field First, it correlates to the definition of Holec (1981), mentioning the ability to take responsibilities in the learning process Second, it involves learners’ attitudes as another important component, which is in line with Dickinson (1995) and Littlewood (1996)

2.3 Learner autonomy in Asian contexts

As discussed above, although there is no consensus on the definitions of learner autonomy, no one can deny the benefits it brings to education However, when the idea historically originated from Western countries are employed in non-Western cultures, debates have been raised (Gremmo & Riely, 1995; Benson, et al., 2003) Due to Confucian heritage on China and other China-influenced countries, learner-teacher relationship in most Asian countries are different from that in Western countries (Nguyen, et al., 2006) In terms of power distance, students and teachers in Confucian Heritage cultures tend not to share an equal relationship (Ellis, 1995), which gives priority to dependency rather than independence; hierarchy rather than equality (Sullivan, 2000) More specifically, Asian teaching mainly follows the traditional teacher-centered approach, and teachers have long been authoritative figures who are responsible for looking after and taking control over the classroom and the

whole learning process as well (Holec, 1987) Therefore, students in this region tend to be passive and dependent on their teachers, rather than actively enroll in their own learning process

to make their own decisions This trait of Asian educational systems may hinder the development of leaner autonomy in Asian cultures (Chan, 2003; Lamb, 2004)

In spite of such stereotype on the development of learn autonomy in Asian countries, it

is, necessary to consider numerous studies on learner autonomy conducted around Asia such as Japan, Thailand, Malaysia or China In an attempt to prove that learner autonomy is also suitable

to different cultures, including East Asia, Littlewood (1999) carried out a cross-cultural study

on students’ attitudes towards English learning In the study, he investigated students in eight East Asian countries and three European countries about three cultural sources influencing students’ learning approaches They were the collectivism, high distance power and types of achievement motivation in East Asia Data from his study suggest that these students show their strong wish to actively engage in exploring knowledge Also, they indicated positive attitudes towards sharing goals in group work activities

With reference to learner autonomy in Japanese educational context, Usuki (2001) indicated the positive attitudes towards their roles in the learning process Data from interviews and journals written by the first year English majored students at a Japanese private university suggested that students were aware of their roles as active and autonomous learners and they expressed their wish to have opportunities interacting with others in their classroom learning However, their awareness seemed to be different from their actual behaviors owing to the educational system

In Thailand, a study was carried out by Vanijdee (2003) to explore English distance students’ attitudes in Thai towards learner autonomy Data from questionnaire, ThinkAloud protocols and interviews indicated that the students’ degree of autonomy varied from self-sufficient language learners to dynamic distance language learners While the former group showed their limited degree of autonomy, the latter one seemed more proactive in their language learning

In search of the situation in China, Gieve and Clark’s (2005) conducted an empirical study in relation to learners in China and Europe The researchers compared reflections written by Chinese undergraduates studying English as a part of the UK university degree with those of European students found that the Chinese students actually valued the benefits of autonomous study as much as European students and claimed to make equally good use of the opportunity Also, Wang (2011) carried out a survey research among 150 English majors in some Chinese universities to check the suitability of learner autonomy in a non-Western cultural situation With the questionnaire asking students to give their beliefs about language learning, the study revealed the results contrasting to the previous stereotype, which considered Chinese students as passive language learners Surprisingly, the participants expressed their strong desire to take responsibility for their own language learning in the learning process

In the context of Malaysia, Thang (2009) investigates undergraduates from three public universities and one private one to find out their perception on learner autonomy He used questionnaires to collect data from a large number of participants, including 817 undergraduates who belonged to different ethnic groups in Malaysia After analyzing the results of the questionnaires, he reveals that although students from public universities prefer teacher-center approaches, private university students show their tendency to autonomous learning

The evidences from the empirical research show positive results on learner autonomy preferences in Asian context Asian students appreciate freedom as well as chances to take control their own learning (Benson, 2006) Therefore, learner autonomy is not only for Western countries, but can also be aroused in non-Western contexts As cited by Aoki and Smith (1999),

the context of Asian high school students, where freedom is limited by a wide range of constraints (Nakata, 2014)

In her study, Nakata (2011) used both quantitative data from questionnaire and qualitative data from focus group interview to investigate the perception of the high school English teachers in Japan, in terms of their readiness for promoting learner autonomy Eighty English teachers answering the questionnaire expressed some main problems which they have

to face including students’ unreadiness for autonomous learning, the practice of translation method to support students for their university entrance exam and other restrictions

grammar-to their professional development Besides, four interviewed teachers showed that the high school teachers in Japan see the significance of promoting autonomy among their learners but they seem not to be ready for it From the results, Nakata encouraged high school teachers to cooperate with their colleagues as well as reflect on their own teaching practice to solve the problems in their teaching context

In the same situation, where the educational system in Iranian high schools is considered

as test-driven and collectivist, Mohamadpour (2013) carried out an investigation, aiming to explore the awareness of learner autonomy and their readiness to become autonomous The study also compared the issues among high and low English proficient students Data collected

by questionnaire with thirty females and in-depth interview with seven volunteers pointed out that their awareness of learner autonomy is rather low, but different between high English proficient students and their low English proficient counterparts In the other words, their English proficiency, measuring by PET, is significantly correlates with their autonomy

Showing the interest in the degree of learner autonomy and language learning strategy uses among high school students in a junior high school in central Taiwan, Chen & Pan (2015) carried out a survey with the use of questionnaire Findings from 130 grade nine students revealed that the students are medium autonomous learners and they tended to use the language learning strategies infrequently The researchers also found that there was a correlation between the two issues among the participants Eventually, they suggested that teachers should create

opportunities for students to more engage in their own learning process and encourage them to employ various learning strategies while learning English

In conclusion, learner autonomy is not only the terms for Western cultures and adult education, but it is also a construct for non-Western cultures and learners at all ages (Aoki and Smith, 1999 and Zhe, 2009)

2.4 Learner autonomy in Vietnam

In the context of Vietnam, the government have recently considered the development of learner autonomy as one of the main objectives in the period of educational reform (Vietnam's education and training development strategy till 2010, 2005) because policy makers are aware that when Vietnamese students become autonomous learners, they can have the capacity for self-development as well as flexible adaptation in the new era (Nguyen, Q K & Nguyen, Q C., 2008) As a result, it is apparent that there are more research papers on learner autonomy published, which proves that Vietnamese researchers and educators are making efforts to promote language learning quality by focusing on one of the key factors of successful language learning (Le, 2013)

So far, Trinh (2005) has been recognized as putting the first interest in learner autonomy

in the field of language education in Vietnam In his empirical study, Trinh (2005) implemented

a new curriculum into his university to measure the first-year Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) students’ autonomy and their English competences Questionnaire was employed to find out the students’ autonomy The results from his research evidenced that suitable curricula could stimulate the development of learner autonomy, which had been documented as impossible for Vietnamese students

A year later, Duong (2006) also conducted a research in her classes with the aim of gaining insight into the relationship between learner autonomy and the practices of what was actually happing in the classrooms The samples consisted of 99 English - majored seniors in her speaking classes She assigned oral presentations for them so they need to cooperate outside

class to create their own work The data in her study were collected through classroom observations by video recorded with detailed record of observational notes and interviews with students and her colleagues The results showed that her students positively reacted to the tasked and they did show their efforts to make use of resources and control time to deliver the presentations, therefore, these activities were really encouraging towards their learner autonomy The goals were, however, not set by the students but still directed by the teachers

In 2009, Nguyen presented her thesis on autonomy at tertiary level in Vietnam In her study, she aimed to explore learner autonomy in Vietnamese context of EFL learning, together with find out the correlation between learner autonomy and language results Using questionnaires to investigate learner autonomy, she discovered that Vietnamese learners are similar to learners from other Asia countries like Hong Kong or Japan in terms of no inhibition but facilitation of learner autonomy For the relationship between learner autonomy and language proficiency, the results after the implementing treatment into experimental group also revealed significant correlation In other words, these two aspects were not simply related but fully integrated with each other (Nguyen & Ho, 2012)

Concerning autonomy in terms of vocabulary aspects, Luu (2011) attempted to investigate the autonomy of learners in studying vocabulary at University of Finance-Marketing Employing survey questionnaires with teachers and students in four classes of general English classes at pre–intermediate level, he concluded that the participants are not active enough to enrich their range of vocabulary on their own They mainly tried to recall the vocabulary on the purpose of doing exercises or rehearsing the exam He explained that was the reason why they were not confident to talk to the foreigners in real world His paper also sought for the practices

of learning vocabulary from the voice of their teachers, who complained about their students’ inactiveness, lack of motivation to learn and low level of English From this research, Luu (2011) suggested that teachers should pay attention to promote awareness of self - learning and collecting appropriate vocabulary learning strategies as well as from their students

Nguyen (2012), however, found a contrasting phenomenon when applying autonomous activities into her classes She organized her English classes as small teaching groups, which would be responsible for a grammar point in one unit From the beginning of the class, students formed themselves into six groups, each of whom took controls the lessons from the aims, the contents and the methods they used to convey their lessons After one semester of observation, Nguyen found that all of her learners actively joined the activities and that their motivation to study English increased, which could predict better results from those learners In conclusion, she stated that learners’ autonomy relied on autonomous teaching environment created by teachers Therefore, teachers must comprehend their role to trigger and develop their students’ roles in their own learning process

In the same year, Dang conducted an empirical research to explore the relationship between learner autonomy perceived and performed by the students First, he carried an investigation with undergraduates in four universities in different regions in Vietnam to find out the dimensions of learner autonomy Then, ITC was integrated into EFL classrooms at one university in learning management system (LMS) classes, working with both traditional face-to-face learning environment and ITC-support Pre- and post-questionnaires together interviews were employed to collect data The findings illustrated that students’ perception and performance of autonomy in each dimension positively related to each other at the beginning of the course but their relationship was not confirmed at the end of the course He, therefore, suggested that educational reforms should be made to promote learner autonomy, especially in

an examination-oriented context like Vietnam

Later, Le (2013) tried to promote learner autonomy among university students by implementing ILTP approach in the training program First, he used questionnaires to investigate learner autonomy among almost all the students majoring in B.A at a private university in Vietnam The results demonstrated that though the students referred their teachers

to make learning’s decisions, they also showed their eagerness to be responsible for making decisions relating to their learning and their desire to self-learning Second, he invited volunteers

to enroll his course, which asked participants to keep their learning diary for data analysis While

questionnaires, interviews, and focus groups were utilized during the implementation, data collected from non-intervention students and intervention students were compared to draw some implications after the training periods Le (2013) reported that ILTP brought benefits to his control-group as raising and developing students’ awareness of metacognitive skills, learning strategies and their preference in taking the initiative in learning as well as their active in learning inside and beyond the class

In line with Le (2013), Humphreys & Wyatt (2013) showed their desire to assist Vietnamese university students to become more autonomous Their study was set at an international university in Hochiminh City with eighty-three Vietnamese learners aged from 18

to 21 years old Data instruments in the study were questionnaire and focus groups with the aim

of exploring autonomy levels of the learners Data analysis indicated low levels of autonomy, thus discussion with teachers to suggest supporting strategies to LA With priorities to improve goal setting and self-reflection, their intervention of independent learning journal gained positive effects on learner autonomy Humphreys & Wyatt (2013) stated that Vietnamese university learners can take greater control over their own learning if they receive socially mediated support for autonomy

Nguyen, et al., (2014) investigated learner autonomy focusing on the perception and practice of language teachers on the field of learner autonomy They surveyed 84 lecturers of English from six public universities in the south and in the central of Vietnam for their attitudes about learner autonomy Data from the questionnaires and follow–up interviews demonstrated their wish to offer learners opportunities to join decision-making in their learning and develop the skills refers to learner autonomy However, they believed that it was impractical to implement into their teaching career due to some constraints such as the habits of dependence

on teachers, the lack of self-directed learning capacity of students and the teachers themselves because they might not be ready for the change of roles in their teaching environment

Similarly, Nguyen (2014) designed her study with a mixed method approach aiming to collect data about Vietnamese teachers in Hanoi only for their perceptions of the concept of LA

and the link between their perceptions and teaching behaviors 188 EFL teachers were surveyed

in the first phase of the study and in-depth interviews with four EFL teacher volunteers together with video observations in the second phase revealed that the teachers had little understanding

of LA and there was considerable correlation between their beliefs and their actual teaching

Probably, the most recent publication of this issue is the research by Phan (2015) She intended to examine the application of project work to develop language learner autonomy in Vietnamese higher education First, data from three teachers with their 115 students at a private university in Hanoi about their comprehension about learner autonomy and their relating teaching practices were collected by questionnaires, interviews and class observations Next, she invited the teachers to apply project works into their classes, with freely modifying the content and method that suited their learners Students worked on a group project on tourist interests, then gave oral presentations, video clips or guidebooks to guide travelers During this stage, the researcher primarily made some observations Finally, Phan employed interviews to gather data, focused on students’ and teachers’ changes in their attitudes of autonomous learning Results from the study proved that project work was one of the effective model to encourage learner autonomy

In summary, over one decade since its introduction into Vietnam, learner autonomy has rapidly grown, attracting more attention from researchers Many research papers have been presented, from discussion the concept or dimensions of the concept (Dang 2010, 2012; Nguyen 2011), exploration of the perception of learner autonomy from both learners’ and teachers’ perspectives (Nguyen, 2009; Luu, 2011; Dang, 2012; Le, 2013; Nguyen, et al., 2014) to interventions of some models to promote learner autonomy among learners (Trinh, 2005; Duong, 2006; Nguyen, 2012; Nguyen, 2009; Dang, 2012; Le, 2013, Humphreys & Wyatt, 2013; Phan, 2015) They cover various aspects of learner autonomy in the context of EFL in Vietnam These papers, however, all work in the context of tertiary education but no papers with learner autonomy relating to teaching EFL at secondary schools could be found It is, hence, necessary

to have research in this specific context

CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY

This chapter provides an overview of the research methodology First, a brief introduction of the site of research and the participants of the study is presented Second, the design of the study together with the research instruments selected are identified Also, data collection procedures and analysis methods are described in detail

3.1 Site of research and Participants

3.1.1 Site of research

Nguyen Van Linh high school, where the researcher is working, was established in 2010

in District 8 It is a rather new State school in Ho Chi Minh City Every year, the school welcomes approximately 400 students mainly coming from district 8 To attend the school and other schools in the city as well, students have to take part in the exam held by Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training after finishing grade 9 The exam includes 3 core subjects: mathematics, literature and English while the total score is made up of double scores

of mathematics and literature together with the score of English

Because of its young age, the standard score for entering Nguyen Van Linh high school

is usually much lower than other schools in Ho Chi Minh City In 2012, the school accept students whose cores are at least 19 points, just higher than two schools in Nha Be district With that low score of enrolling students, students at this school are assumed as low-qualified students

At school, students are randomly divided into classes with 35 to 45 students per class and taught all subjects under the National Curriculum Besides general knowledge, students need to successfully pass the national examination to get the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) Among the four subjects taken in the national exam, English is one of the

compulsory one together with Math and Literature Students; therefore, instead of spending three forty-five-minute lessons studying English, are taught such six lessons per week

In extra classes of English, students are primarily asked to do exercises on grammar and vocabulary Doubling the time of teaching English from the beginning year, the school hopes to improve its students’ proficiency in English, especially the results in the National Exam in the final year

3.1.2 Participants

One group of participants in this study are students from five classes in the twelfth graders at Nguyen Van Linh high school The population is 198 students, among whom 134 are invited for questionnaire completion About this sample size for the research, Glenn’s (1992) table (cited in Singh & Masuku, 2014) is used as a guidance With the population of the whole students studying grade twelve at the school is 198, which is approximately 200 students shown

in the table, the size of the sample for the precision of ± 5% is, therefore, 134, as shown in Table 3.1 below

Size of population Sample Size (n) for Precision (e) of:

Table 3.1 Glenn’s (1992) table for sample size at ± 5% and ± 10% Precision Levels where

Confidence Level is 95% and p=0.5

In this study, random sampling technique is adopted Random sampling is considered as the best way to gain a representative sample by Gay and Airasian (2000) He agrees that this

way of sampling cannot “guarantee a representative sample” but no other technique can do better than this Among different types of random sampling such as simple random, systematic random, stratified and cluster (Griffee, 2012; Singh & Masuku, 2014), simple random technique

is preferred in this research because of its advantages First, according to Griffee (2012), this technique is accessible Second, he also points out that it is efficient when the population is a homogeneous group, which is rather suitable for the population in this study where final year students at the school are recognized as a unified population

To select 134 out of 198 students, the researcher follows the traditional way of simple random technique First, the research asks for the lists of students in each class from the English teachers Then, the students’ names together with their class are written on pieces of paper After those pieces of paper are put into a small box, the researcher randomly withdraws 134 ones Anyone whose name on the paper is chosen is in the sample Then, the research will invite them for completing the questionnaire Of 134 participants, there are 77 males and 57 females with age range from 17 to 18 By regulation, they are willing participants

The selection of this group of sample – grade 12 students - for the study is due to two core reasons The first reason why they are invited to participate in this research is that they spend more years studying at high school than other groups Thus, it is worth considering their autonomy level in order to gain a general view of learner autonomy at high school Second, these learners are preparing for the National examination so as to graduate from high school as well as to obtain a GCSE – General Certificate of Secondary Education The research, hence, is hoped to guide them in certain extent to self-control themselves in their own study Then, they can gain more success both in their study and in their final examination As a result, this type of population is considered as the best group for the study

Together with the students, all of the five English teachers who are teaching these five classes for the time being are invited for the study They are asked to express the attitudes towards learner autonomy of their student via the questionnaire and interview Of five teachers, two are males and three are females They all are within the 26 to 43 age range and had at least three years of teaching experience

Five teachers and 134 students in this research make up 139 cases, which is shown detail

in Table 3.2

Group Number

of cases

Male (percentage within group)

Female (percentage within group)

(57.5%)

57 (42.5%)

(40%)

3 (60%)

(56.8%)

60 (43.2%)

Table 3.2: Sample details in terms of gender

In order to conduct a successful survey research which means “the resulting data will describe accurately what they are intended to describe” (Fowler Jr, 2014, p 3), this survey

research combines qualitative and quanlitative approaches to explore learner autonomy as perceived by the students and their English teachers and the insights into their perceptions

3.3 Data collection instruments

3.3.1 Questionnaire

According to Chamot (1999), it is unable for researchers to observe learner autonomy Autonomy, therefore, is mainly measured through self-perception through answering a list of items by most of researchers (Vanijdee 2003; Dişlen 2011; Hozayen 2011, Nguyen, 2014) As

a result, the data employed in this research mainly depend on questionnaires

Not only is questionnaire utilized in the areas of autonomy, it is also commonly adopted

in social survey by means of its benefits Griffee (2012) points out that it is quite appropriate to obtain information on what people think or believe via a number of items listed Another reason for choosing questionnaire is that questionnaire is considered as an excellent instrument to achieve a massive data in a huge population in the shortest time (Griffee, 2012; Mackey & Gass, 2015) It is one of the key issues in research to increase the reliability of the result Besides, both Griffee (2012) and Creswell (2002) agree with the point that questionnaires help participants feel comfortable when expressing their attitude because they are anonymous when answering the questions

The questionnaires employed in this research is mainly adapted from the ones used by Chan, Spratt and Humphreys (2002) and some items taken from the questionnaire of Üstünlüoğlu (2009) The original questionnaire from Chan et al., (2002) is clustered into four sections, relating to aspects of learner autonomy They are: (1) perceptions of responsibilities for learning process; (2) perceptions of abilities; (3) perception of learners’ motivation to study English; and (4) frequencies of different autonomous activities in and outside class The autonomy groups are labeled in each section, and clear instructions for each part are presented

as well

From the questionnaire from Chan, Spratt and Humphreys (2002), the researcher made some necessary changes to fit the context of this survey The first change made in the adapted questionnaire is restructured by removing the only item of section three from the original questionnaire, which mainly asked learners to self-evaluate their level of motivation According to the theories of Deci and Ryan (1985), intrinsic motivation has close relationship with autonomous learning but it does not belong to autonomous components It is assumed to

be more focused for the study to delete what is not tested

The other modifications are also conducted in terms of structures Structurally, while the original questionnaire contains closed-items only, the modified one add an open-ended item into the end of each section Firstly, while closed-items are used to limit non-response rate in survey research by providing a set of alternatives, open-ended items permit respondents to express their own opinion (Foddy, 1993) Therefore, employing both kinds of items in the questionnaire is believed to make the results more valuable (Griffee, 2012) In other words, the “Please indicate

if you want to add more items” open-ended item aims to give chances for participants to express their ideas and for the researcher to gain a full sight of the aspects (if any) Secondly, the tense used in section three’s questions are present perfect because they asked learner about their recent frequencies of the activities The current study asked learners about their last semester, therefore the tense is changed into past simple

Regarding scales, some modifications have been conducted in two out of three sections

of the adapted questionnaire In the first section – Responsibility – the descriptors have been simplified The original questionnaire asked students to decide the extent to which they and their teachers should be responsible for the activities The students should indicate opinions on their own responsibility in certain activities basing on a five-point Likert scale (Not at all, a little, some, mainly and completely) It seems to be somehow redundant and complicated because the two subjects in the first section are cooperative in the teaching process They support each other, therefore if one side does something more, the other will do less and vice versa In other words, students have to select the appropriate options one time for their teacher and then one more time for themselves It is, also, somehow difficult for the researcher to analyze the data Take an

example that when students think their teacher should be completely responsible for an activity,

it is obvious that they perceive themselves as not at all responsible people On the other hand, if students perceive themselves as more responsible in an activity with “mainly” option, it can be inferred that “a little” option would be chosen for their teacher and vice versa This section,

hence, adopt Üstünlüoğlu’s (2009) three options, including teacher, both teacher and students

or students, to simplify it In section three, activities, the four-Likert scale is replaced by a

five-point Likert scale with one more descriptor added The additional one - “Always”- together with four available descriptors is considered to make a complete range of frequencies (from 0% to 100%)

Regarding specific items, items 12, 21, 45, 46, 47 are eliminated from the original questionnaire to make it more suitable to the current context Examining the first two sections, items 12 and 21 are quite similar in asking respondents to assess their course in term of responsibility and ability Due to the fact that at high school, students do not have much ideas

on evaluating the course, these two items are removed from the adapted questionnaire In the last section, the items are discarded involving items 45, 46, 47 They seem not to be appropriate

in this specific context because the self-access centers could hardly be found in Vietnamese context or the collections of English texts are not much available here Furthermore, high school teachers in Vietnam go to the school when they have classes so it is hard for students to contact home out of their class

Beside removing the items above, item 10 in section one and item 18 in section two are modified The two items require students to show their thinking on the responsibility and ability for choosing materials for their course It seems to be different in Vietnamese high school context, where even teachers must follow the course book written by the Vietnamese Education Publisher The term “materials”, therefore, should be changed into “supplementary materials”

in the adapted questionnaire Similarly, the students in this context are provided with new words for each lesson, therefore instead of asking them how often they noted down new words and their meaning, the students are asked how often they did learn vocabulary out of the course book

Finally, some items are extracted from Üstünlüoğlu’s questionnaire (2009) to make a broader range of activities such as planning for their learning, using resources (rather than course book), discussing English learning problems with classmate, working cooperatively with friends While the two former are previously mention in the responsibilities and abilities sections but seem to be forgot in the last section of the original questionnaire, the two latter focus on working in group, which is considered as a fundamental aspect for autonomous learning

Generally, the questionnaire on learner autonomy consists of several parts (see Appendix 1a, 1b, 2a, 2b) The first part, with the purpose of helping the participants understand the research aims, is a brief description of the research purposes and the participant’s expected role The second part includes the participants’ personal information such as name, age, and gender or years of teaching English for teachers The main part categorized into three sections, namely responsibilities, abilities and activities At the end of them, there is an open question so that the participants can add more ideas to the research

In the first two sections, the items are designed basing on the ideas of Holec (1981), who defines learner autonomy as a combination of learners’ responsibility and ability to take charge

of their own learning 12 items in section one and 10 items in section two are relevant to Holec’s five main areas (a) determining objectives; (b) defining content and progressions; (c) selecting methods and techniques to be used; (d) monitoring procedure of acquisition; and (e) evaluating what has happened

Although the ideas in these two sections are parallel, the expected answers are different The responsibility section aims to discover who should be responsible for learning process The

descriptors are, therefore, teacher, both teacher and students or students On the other hand, 10 items in the second section - ability - are arranged in a five-point Likert scale (very poor, poor,

OK, good, very good) to identify students’ self-evaluation on their ability if they have chances

to perform some kinds of tasks

The last group of the questionnaire is comprised of twenty-four statements concerning students’ activities both inside and outside the classroom in the previous semester The students

are asked to grade themselves according to another four-point Likert scale (never, rarely, sometimes, often and always) These items are produced thanks to the distinction between proactive and reactive autonomy made by Littlewood (1999)

After the questionnaire is modified, it is distributed to teachers and students for the purpose of pilot First, the English versions are administered to three English teachers who are

a native English teacher at IIG center teaching English for high school teachers in Hochiminh city while two other teachers work at University of Social Sciences and Humanities and Nguyen Van Linh high school (they are, of course, not among the research samples) They are asked to check its wording and give feedbacks on other issues of the questionnaire such as ambiguity of the questions, the appearance or the time for questionnaire completion to enhance its reliability, validity and practicability (Oppenheim, 2001; Cohen et al, 2007) Besides, the copies of Vietnamese version questionnaire are sent to a group of twelve high school students who share the same learning characters as the samples of the study for the same purpose Then, the data collected are processed by SPSS program (version 22.0, 2013) to run for the reliability statistics, which ensures the accuracy of the investigation The results from piloted questionnaires illustrated that the reliability of the questionnaire was 87 Statistically speaking, a Cronbach alpha reliability coefficients of 70 or higher guarantees the acceptability of the results Hence, the reliability of 87 found in this data collection instrument demonstrated a high reliability

3.3.2 Interview

Beside the questionnaires, interview is employed for the research to validate and expand meanings of the findings As Griffee (2012) point outs that the data derived from questionnaires are considered as “a mile wide and an inch deep” (p 139), which normally give some kinds of quantitative data but it is hard to gain qualitative data such as the reason why they provide such answers Therefore, an interview is suggested as a means of triangulation to gather information

“an inch wide and a mile deep” (Griffee 2012, p.139)

Beside such in-depth information for further analysis, conducting interview helps to gain other four benefits (Wilkinson and Birmingham, 2003) First, the maximum response rate of

one hundred percent for all the questions is easily gain from face to face conservation Second, not only the interviewer who can create more follow up questions to gain more information, but also the respondents can require clarification for some items Third, thanks to face-to-face conservation, the researcher can get some message by interpreting non-language factors The last benefit can be derived by the comfortable feelings of the participants when they can express their ideas and opinion relaxingly Therefore, it is important for the researchers to create an appropriate atmosphere in which participants can either tell their stories or suit the purposes of the research

According to Wilkinson and Birmingham (2003) and DiCicco‐Bloom & Crabtree (2006), research interviews are categorized into three types: unstructured interview, semi-structured interview and structured interview Each of the interview types contains both advantages and disadvantages, but semi-structured interview common type most probably used

by researchers due to its combination of predetermined questions with the follow-up questions occurring during the interviews

The semi-structured interview is employed in this study The interview consists of a sets

of questions concerning learner autonomy with key issues corresponding to those in the questionnaire but with more in-depth information (see Appendix 3a, 3b, 4a and 4b) During the interview, the participants’ mother tongue is used to ensure that there is no misunderstanding Recordings are for the participants’ permission

3.4 Data collection procedure

In December, 2015 when students were at the end of the first semester, the questionnaire was delivered to the grade twelve students and the English teachers of the school It was considered to be the most suitable time for data collection owing to its freedom from of homework after the first-term examination, which created comfortable condition for the participants to answer most exactly information on their learning and teaching A more important reason was that after a semester of learning in the new environment, the students were