Fostering Learner Autonomy: Learners, Teachers and Researchers in Action

Christian Ludwig, Annamaria Pinter, Kris Van De Poel, Tom Smits, Maria Giovanna Tassinari,

• Publisher: Candlin & Mynard ePublishing Limited
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781370492671
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Teaching Languages

The volume contains 16 chapters that bring together language learner autonomy and the complex and multifaceted concept of action research.

1. Introduction

Christian Ludwig, Annamaria Pinter, Kris Van de Poel, Tom Smits, Maria Giovanna Tassinari, and Elke Ruelens

The present book constitutes the 8th edited volume produced by the IATEFL Learner Autonomy Special Interest Group (LASIG) since 2013. The majority of titles released by the Learner Autonomy SIG has emerged from local events organised by members and affiliates of the SIG across the world. The present volume makes no exception. The idea of organising a local conference exploring opportunities for fostering (foreign F/SL) language learner autonomy in connection with action research at the University of Antwerp, Belgium, came about quite spontaneously, but Kris Van de Poel, professor at the University of Antwerp and main convener for the event, was immediately enthusiastic about taking over this mammoth task. In March 2016, one and a half years after the initial meeting, over 100 (prospective) practitioners of language learner autonomy from a diversity of cultural and institutional contexts and in different phases of their careers gathered for two days on the historic campus of the University of Antwerp to exchange their experiences and collaboratively develop ideas for the future of learner autonomy and action research.

This volume aims to bring together language learner autonomy and the complex and multifaceted concept of action research. In all brevity, the idea of learner autonomy goes back to philosophers and pedagogues such as Paulo Freire (1993), John Dewey (1963) and Célestin Freinet (1994), who stressed the idea of a critical pedagogy, particularly focusing on the learner and their active role in the learning process, based on experience and reflection as inquiry-based learning (Freinet). In the late 1970s, in the context of adult education learner autonomy was seminally defined by Henri Holec as the ‘ability to take charge of one’s own learning’ (1981: 3). In the following decades, language learner autonomy was further developed through the work of scholars and practitioners such as Leni Dam and David Little (for a more detailed discussion of language learner autonomy see Dam and Legenhausen as well as Ludwig in this volume) and has since become one of the major goals of language curricula worldwide.

In the educational context, action research, one type of practitioner research, is generally understood as a ‘process in which participants examine their own educational practice systematically and carefully, using techniques of research’ (Watts 1985: 118). The main aim of action research is to find answers to everyday, real problems and to bring about immediate change in practice for participants (Given 2008: 4), such as improved instruction and increased student achievement (for a more detailed discussion of action research see Ludwig this volume).

Fostering learner autonomy: Learners, teachers and researchers in action. The title of this edited volume evolves from a set of assumptions concerning language learner autonomy in itself as related to action research. Developing learner autonomy is an ongoing process (of negotiation) between teachers and learners. Negotiating in this context includes discussing and agreeing on all aspects of learning such as goals, outcomes, activities, and evaluation criteria. In other words, learner autonomy is not a method or a technique, but an underlying approach to learning. Consequently, language learner autonomy is not solely the responsibility of the teacher but also depends on the learners’ active participation and requires them to play a pro-active role in the whole process of learning (see Dam 1995 for a model of learner autonomy based on the idea of continuous negotiation). Thus, developing learner autonomy, for both teachers and learners, implies the capacity and willingness to explore spaces for independent action. In this context, action research constitutes an important tool for developing and maintaining learner autonomy in the classroom as it provides opportunities for meaningful learning through learner empowerment and personal and professional development through reflection on practices. As Little (1995: 179) puts it:

[…] successful teachers have always been autonomous in the sense of having a strong sense of personal responsibility for their teaching, exercising via continuous reflection and analysis the highest possible degree of affective and cognitive control of the teaching process, and exploiting the freedom that this confers.

Equally, action research in the autonomous classroom is not confined to the teacher, as learners, by gradually taking over more responsibility for their own learning, are increasingly engaged in a continuous cycle of asking questions, gathering data, reflecting and deciding a (new) course of action based on their findings with the ultimate aim of improving their learning.

The talks, workshops and interactive posters presented during the conference, and partly collected in this edited volume, only represent a small snapshot of the action research currently conducted at educational institutions and universities around the world, but nevertheless elucidate that practitioner research is possibly more alive and kicking than ever. Learner autonomy, as the conference has once again shown, is both a prerequisite and ultimate goal of (action) research. In other words, learner autonomy provides the necessary framework for classroom action research in the broadest sense in which learners not only play an active role, but become (action) researchers themselves. Last but not least, practitioner research can provide the necessary empirical evidence that learner autonomy is not a mirage at the distant horizon of future educational practice but a concept that actually works hic et nunc.

In the following paragraphs we briefly introduce the contributions to this volume, deliberately leaving it to the authors of the first four chapters to discuss in detail the theoretical cornerstones of this oeuvre and tread the (new) ground by exploring the (un)known in both learner autonomy and action research. The chapters by Leni Dam and Lienhard Legenhausen, Christian Ludwig, Annamaria Pinter and, last but not least, Kris Van de Poel, are not only intentionally kept short to give space to the conference participants’ voices, but are also written in a slightly less orthodox way to highlight the fact that practitioner research in the foreign language classroom is action-oriented, and, in many ways, still work-in-progress. Moreover, the alternative style of the introductory contributions emphasises that both action research and learner autonomy require us to be creative and open for new perspectives.

Leni Dam (Denmark) and Lienhard Legenhausen (Germany) set the overall theoretical framework for this edited volume by presenting their Ten golden rules for successful language acquisition in an autonomous learning environment, passing on the legacy of their almost life-long professional partnership and collaboration. In more detail, their golden rules summarise the theoretical (and practical) knowledge gained from many years of research in the context of the LAALE (Language Acquisition in an Autonomous Language Learning Environment) project in which a class of mixed ability students at a Danish comprehensive school were observed and tested over a period of five years, envisioning the future for practice and research in connection with developing language learner autonomy. The ensuing contribution by Christian Ludwig (Germany), Action research and language learner autonomy: An exploratory journey, establishes the second part of the theoretical framework for this volume by exploring the links between language learner autonomy and action research in theory and practice. Tentative answers to the enigma of the role of action research in the language classroom are presented in a mostly visual way. In the ensuing chapter Action research for learner autonomy in situ - From idea to dissemination, Kris Van de Poel presents some reflections on undertaking action research in autonomous learning environments, putting particular emphasis on various models of action research and their practical implications. This introductory part concludes with Annamaria Pinter’s (UK) chapter Teachers exploring their own classrooms with children as co-researchers in which she proposes the idea of learners as co-researchers. Drawing on years of experience, she reports on projects in which young learners were encouraged to get actively involved in their own research. Through subsequent steps and levels of involvement, i.e. supporting them in asking relevant questions, gathering data, interviewing each other, analysing data and discussing findings, primary school learners become capable of doing independent research on subjects meaningful to them. Among the effects of this way of empowering, teachers mention learners’ increased confidence and social competence while interacting with peers and with teachers, as well as a growing awareness of social issues in their environments and a sense of agency.

The ensuing contributions observe the phenomenon of action research through multiple windows by showcasing examples of different types, forms and purposes of action inquiry in the autonomous language classroom in a plethora of institutional and cultural contexts as well as disciplines.

Fostering EFL teacher trainees’ autonomy through collaboration with students as co-researchers by Hideo Kojima (Japan) reports on a study examining how a socio-cultural and reflective approach to teaching practice in the lower secondary school EFL (English as a Foreign Language) classroom can foster EFL teacher trainees’ awareness of their students’ autonomy as co-researchers and their own teacher-learner autonomy as collaborative thinkers, practitioners, and researchers. While helping first year school students, student teachers were encouraged to reflect both on group work through group portfolios and on their collaborative and reflective teaching cycles through a teaching portfolio.

The next contribution to this volume, Teaching (self-)editing skills: An exercise in self-directed, constructivist learning to evaluate the quality of writing by John Linnegar (Belgium), analyses the findings of a case study in which a group of ESL (English as a Second Language) Master’s students acquired (self-)editing skills with the intention of improving their writing skills and enabling them to take more responsibility for their own learning. This was achieved through diagnosing their learning needs, formulating learning goals and identifying the resources for learning; choosing and implementing appropriate learning strategies, and evaluating learning outcomes. Through a dedicated teaching-learning modality, the students displayed evidence of having acquired sufficient editing knowledge and skills to be able to improve the quality of a text systematically – as indicated by their teacher's evaluation of their analyses.

The chapter by Marilize Pretorius (Belgium and South Africa) What I never knew I always needed: Raising nurses’ awareness about language and communication learning needs, investigates awareness raising in a language and communication programme in a healthcare context. Reflection exercises were used to investigate how nursing students can become more aware of their own language and communication learning needs. When teachers know what learners’ (perceived) needs are, they can design activities and exercises to help learners further discover and meet their own learning needs.

Applying an exploratory practice approach for his own classroom inquiry, Fergal Bradley (Finland) in his paper ‘Fashioning ourselves into our texts’: Exploring learner/teacher identity in an academic writing course explores the puzzles related to teaching academic writing. The author advocates that by analysing his students’ learning diaries’ entries and relating their experiences to his own perception of their learning, as a teacher, he not only learns about his students, but also from his students, which encourages him to critically reflect on his own practices.

Elke Ruelens and Marina Vulovic (Belgium) in their article Supporting English majors’ autonomous learning through self-reflection and self-regulation training report on the application of self-regulation in academic literacy course assignments for English majors. In their study, self-reflecti...

Table of contents

• Notes on the editors
• 1. Introduction
• 2. Ten golden rules for successful language acquisition in an autonomous learning environment
• 3. Action research and language learner autonomy: An exploratory journey
• 4. Action research for learner autonomy in situ: From idea to dissemination
• 5. Teachers exploring classrooms with children as co-researchers
• 6. Fostering EFL teacher trainees’ autonomy through collaboration with students as co-researchers
• 7. Teaching (self-)editing skills to improve writing: An exercise in self-directed, constructivist l
• 8. What I never knew I always needed: Raising nurses’ awareness about language and communication lea
• 9. ‘Fashioning ourselves into our texts’: Exploring learner/teacher identity in an academic writing
• 10. Supporting English majors’ autonomous learning through self-reflection and self-regulation train
• 11. Encouraging learner autonomy in an EFL classroom: Action research
• 12. Totally awesome’. Exploring teachers’ scope of action to enable and support autonomous learning
• 13. Two heads are better than one: Collaborative learning under scrutiny
• 14. Goals and goal-setting in tandem language learning
• 15. The value of autonomy in one-to-one tutoring in foreign language learning
• 16. An autoethnographic approach to doing autonomy (action) research