Teacher readiness and challenges in creating learner autonomy in ICT-based English learning activities

Abstract

The significance of learner autonomy in today’s English Language Teaching (ELT) context has been well recognized and confirmed by many research findings; however, in some cases in which independent learning is not well established, the implementation may not be easy. Thus, this research is intended to provide data on teachers’ readiness and challenges in promoting learner autonomy during online learning activities. This research employed quantitative and qualitative data collection. The quantitative data were gained by a survey that has been conducted to 38 English teachers in 38 junior high schools in Bengkulu. In addition, the qualitative data were collected from an interview that has also been carried out to six teachers. The quantitative data obtained were then analysed through descriptive statistics analysis in the form of percentages and frequency. Meanwhile, the qualitative data were analysed by using thematic analysis. The results showed that in general most teachers were ready to build learner autonomy in ICT-based English learning. Most teachers used various methods in online teaching, gave freedom for the students to access different online resources according to their interest, found it easy to carry out online learning, yet most of them did not prefer to implement online learning activities. In the implementation, some challenges were faced by teachers, including poor internet connection, students’ different characteristics, and lack support from school policymakers.

Promoting learner autonomy through EFL textbook: the textbook facilitation and the students’ and teacher’s perceptions

“…Considering its importance, more opportunities to promote students' practical skills in managing their learning should be made (Tuan, 2021), especially through textbooks (Crawford, 1995) on the sections of timetables, tasks, materials/topics, and conversations (Cotterall, 1995). Moreover, research by Maryono and Lengkanawati (2020) and Syafryadin et al (2022) revealed that although online resources may support LA, most teachers found it less preferable to implement online learning activities, as the internet connection was not always stable. In this situation, textbooks play a major role to be the alternatives to support LA.…”

Structural relationships among student teachers’ roles-strategies in promoting autonomous language learning

“…This finding supports the previous research that teachers' roles in promoting autonomous language learning comprised of three types, namely facilitator, counsellor, and resource (Alonazi, 2017;Shi & Han, 2019;Tran & Duong, 2020;Yasmin et al, 2017) and that the promotion of learner autonomy relies greatly on the teachers' awareness of these crucial roles (Alonazi, 2017;Basri, 2020;Tran & Duong, 2020). Therefore, since the English student teachers are the ones who will interact regularly with the students in their future teaching, they are expected to develop the ability to stimulate their students' autonomy in learning which will then in turn promote themselves to possess selfdetermination motivation (Duchatelet & Donche, 2019;Gillison et al, 2019;Ryan & Deci, 2000;Syafryadin et al, 2022;Yu, 2020). Thus, this result corroborates the findings of a great deal of the previous work in the sense that English student teachers need to understand and nurture their significant roles and support their students' processes of decision making and stimulate their interest in learning by being a facilitator, care for their students' needs by being a counselor, and become a resource who provides knowledge, references, and additional materials for their students' learning (Raya & Vieira, 2015;Nguyen & Gu, 2013;Senad et al, 2021).…”

Blogging with smartphones for independent writing practice beyond the EFL classroom

“…However, in many instances, it can be deduced that the learners have accessed blogs (their own and others') by means of a desktop or laptop computer. In the study described in this article, the participants' access to the internet, as well as the means by which they could do this, were important considerations, due to issues including geographical location, sociocultural factors, and pedagogical practices that have been widely reported to limit access to digital engagement in many contexts (see for example, Cook et al, 2011;Syafryadin et al, 2022;Winthrop & Smith, 2012).…”