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Learner Autonomy in the Internet-Based Language Instruction Context
Introduction
Research in cognitive psychology and EFL/ESL learning theories reveal that learners themselves are the internal factor in language learning, and thus learner autonomy should become an unquestionable goal of education (Piaget, as cited in the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., 2006; Vygotsky, as cited in the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.). Many people have investigated the effects of computer technology and Internet on learner autonomy and their relationships with each other.
What is autonomy then? Benson (2006) writes “To me autonomy is about people taking more control over their lives - individually and collectively. Autonomy in learning is about people taking more control over their learning in classrooms and outside them and autonomy in language learning is about people taking more control over the purposes for which they learn languages and the ways in which they learn them. Autonomy can also be described as a capacity to take charge of, or take responsibility for, or control over, your own learning. From this point of view, autonomy involves abilities and attitudes that people possess, and can develop to various degrees.”
There are other synonyms for it, such as “independence”, and “self-direction”. To all intents and purposes, the autonomous learner takes a (pro-) active role in the learning process, generating ideas and availing himself of learning opportunities, rather than simply reacting to various stimuli of the teacher.
Literature Review
In their paper “Affect and learner autonomy in an online environment”, Jaya Kannan and John Laurence Miller (2004) explore the relationship between affect and learner autonomy in an online environment by looking at a course in critical thinking. They believe that intense emotions, such as anger, resistance, and anxiety are the norm in the development of learner autonomy, not the exception. They observed that two students experienced breakthrough points in overcoming their fear of online learning. They identified six salient factors that were crucial to overcoming fear and highly influential in the development of learner autonomy. Their study has implications for teaching in that teachers must be prepared to work with fear and anxiety as useful and powerful emotions that can contribute just as equally in the long-term lifelong development of learner autonomy. The findings also have implications for online course and instructional design.
“Letting go of control to the learners: the role of the Internet in promoting a more autonomous view of learning in an academic translation course” by Ayse Yumuk (2002) investigates how an Internet information search based programme in an academic course can encourage learners who have a traditional view of learning to take more responsibility for their own learning. The study indicated that the Internet search-based academic translation course’s impact on learners was positive, in that they were encouraged to perceive translation as a process requiring more responsibility from the learner rather than merely a text, a dictionary or the teacher as the source of information. After applying Internet-based information searches to their written translation tasks, the majority of the students accepted that the translation process required more personal responsibility from the learner, and furthermore, they viewed learning more meaningfully. The significance is that the education system at all levels can benefit from the use of the Internet as a means of enabling learners, rather than teachers, to have more control in selecting, analysing, evaluating and applying information for their own purposes.
Hill (1999)’s “A conceptual framework for understanding information seeking in open-ended information systems” describes a theoretically- and empirically-based framework for how users formulate and employ information-seeking strategies in open-ended information systems, such as the Internet. The proposed conceptual model for the information-seeking process in such a system includes five information-seeking phases from start to resolution: purposeful thinking, acting, system responding, evaluation, and transformation and integration. The paper then describes, within the framework of the proposed model, the processes and strategies that learners employ during the information-searching activity. It is found that the information-seeking process is "iterative," "embedded," and mostly "instantaneous".
Shneiderman, Borkowski, Alavi & Norman (1998) reports on the emerging patterns of teaching and learning in electronic classrooms at the university level. The Internet is used as a component in electronic classrooms. Enhanced lectures, active individual learning, small-group collaborative learning, and large-group collaborative learning are identified as being novel patterns by using faculty surveys, internal paper analyses, and feedback from instructors and administrators, and students’ surveys. In electronic classrooms, faculty members tend to adopt more student-centered instructional strategies, such as encouraging student involvement in discussions and sharing ideas.
In the study “Experimenting web-based and resource-driven learning in English classroom”, four English teachers in China, Pu Yan, Huang Hui, Zhao Chunjiang, and Ren li (2006) did three experimenting activities with their English classes - news report, freedom for learning choice, and emailing. The results were positive, and it is seen that such learning activities enhance students’ ability to study independently. Their presentation argues for integrating web-based and resource-driven learning into classroom teaching and sheds some light on how to devise activities based on Internet resources and combine them into conventional classroom teaching.
Rubena St. Louis (2006) with the paper “Helping students become autonomous learners: Can technology help?” discusses autonomy, student empowerment, and the use of learning styles and strategies in language learning and shows how these can be implemented through a classroom methodology which makes use of tools available through the WWW.
Ari Huhta and Gillian McLaughlin in their three presentations with the topic “DIALANG and the CEF” given at 2004 European Associations for Language Testing and Assessment explains what DIALANG is, a European multi-national project which creates a diagnostic language assessment system on the Internet. One of the aims of DIALANG is to contribute to increased learner autonomy by encouraging reflection on learners’ language use, and on their ability to assess their learning. It hopes to make language learners more aware of the nature of language proficiency in general and to develop their ability to judge their own proficiency. The DIALANG philosophy and its implementation on the Web, in particular how self-assessment is integrated, are also introduced in the presentations. They conclude with an open discussion of the use of IT and in particular the Internet, for the delivery of language tests in general, and of learning-related, low-stakes, diagnostic tests in particular, focusing on the potential for innovation and the added value to users of this mode of delivery.
Conclusion
A highly motivated, autonomous learner who can cooperate and interact with partners during the learning process and has his own adequate learning strategies would be an ideal model in modern educators’ eyes. Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) and Internet-Based Language Instruction (IBLI) offer the ways to better cultivate learners possessing these ideal features.
Benson, P. (2006). What is autonomy? Retrieved October 19, 2006, from Autonomy in Language Learning Web site: http://ec.hku.hk/autonomy/what.html.
Hill, J. R. (1999). A conceptual framework for understanding information seeking in open-ended information systems. Educational Technology Research and Development, 47(1), 5-28. Retrieved October 19, 2006, from http://www.springerlink.com/content/e7t7p2840r10w560/fulltext.pdf.
Huhta, A. & McLaughlin, G. (2004). DIALANG and the CEF. Retrieved October 19, 2006, from the European Association for Language Testing and Assessment Web site: http://www.ealta.eu.org/conference/2004/ppt/huhta&mclaughlin15may1.ppt, http://www.ealta.eu.org/conference/2004/ppt/huhta&mclaughlin15may2.ppt, http://www.ealta.eu.org/conference/2004/ppt/huhta&mclaughlin15may3.ppt.
Kannan, J. & Miller, J. L. (2004). Affect and learner autonomy in an online environment. Proceedings of the 20th Annual Conference on Distance Teaching and Learning. Retrieved October 19, 2006, from the University of Wisconsin-Extension Web site: http://www.uwex.edu/disted/conference/Resource_library/proceedings/04_1139.pdf.
Pu, Y., Huang, H., Zhao, C. & Ren, l. (2006). Experimenting web-based and resource-driven learning in English classroom. Retrieved October 19, 2006, from 2006 International Symposium of Computer Assisted Language Learning Web site: http://call2006.fltrp.com/PPT/4/E-4%20Pu%20Yan.ppt.
Shneiderman, B., Borkowski, E. Y., Alavi, M. & Norman, K. (1998). Emergent patterns of teaching/learning in electronic classrooms. Educational Technology Research and Development, 46(4), 23-42. Retrieved October 19, 2006, from http://www.springerlink.com/content/j315v712773785x2/fulltext.pdf.
St. Louis, R. (2006). Helping students become autonomous learners: Can technology help? Teaching English with Technology, 6 (3). Retrieved October 18, 2006, from http://www.iatefl.org.pl/call/j_esp25.htm.
The Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. (2006). Jean Piaget. Retrieved October 18, 2006, from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Web site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Piaget.
The Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. (2006). Lev Vygotsky. Retrieved October 18, 2006, from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Web site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vygotsky.
Yumuk, A. (2002). Letting go of control to the learners: the role of the Internet in promoting a more autonomous view of learning in an academic translation course. Educational Research, 44 (2), 141–156.