ISSN: 2222-6990
Open access
Autonomous learners are synonymous with successful language learners. One of the fundamental and the universal duties to all language educators is to help language learners to become autonomous, that is by having a repertoire of teaching styles, approaches and strategies. The present study aims to explore the approaches used by the ESL lecturers in promoting learner autonomy in teacher training context besides the strategies used for each approach. The participants of the study were 74 ESL lecturers from Institute of Teacher Education (ITE) campuses in Malaysia. A survey questionnaire adapted from Borg and Busaidi (2012) was used for data collection. The analysis revealed that multiple approaches (more than one) were used by these ESL lecturers in promoting learner autonomy. Technology-based ranked the highest, followed by resource-based, learner-based, classroom-based, curriculum-based and the least, teacher-based. The findings also revealed seven main categories from the strategies used among these ESL lecturers. This implied that majority of the ESL lecturers in ITE provided opportunities to their students to become autonomous through the approaches they used, with the strategies that are suitable and feasible in teaching English. The results of this study give some insights about the ESL lecturers’ perspectives of learner autonomy and how it is manifested through the approaches used in their teaching practices.
Benson, P. (2001). Teaching and researching autonomy in language learning. Harlow: Longman.
Benson, P. (2011) Teaching and Researching Autonomy in Language Learning. 2nd Edition Harlow: Longman/Pearson Education.
Benson, P. (2013). Teaching and researching autonomy (2nd ed.). New York: Routledge
Borg, S., & Al-Busaidi, S. (2012). Learner Autonomy: English Language Teachers’ Beliefs and Practices. London: British Council.
Cotterall, S. (1999). Key variables in language learning: What the learners believe about them. System, 27, 493-513.
Dickinson, L. (1995). Autonomy and motivation. A literature review. System, 23(2), 165-174.
Hasim, Z., & Zakaria, A. R. (2016). ESL Teachers’ knowledge on learner autonomy. In Knowledge, Service, Tourism & Hospitality: Proceedings of the Annual International Conference on Management and Technology in Knowledge, Service, Tourism & Hospitality 2015 (SERVE 2015). CRC Press.
Holec, H. (1981). Autonomy and foreign language learning. Oxford: Pergamon
Little, D., Ridley, J., & Ushioda, E. (Eds.). (2003). Learner autonomy in the foreign language classroom: Teacher, learner, curriculum and assessment. Dublin: Authentik.
Littlewood, W. (1999). Defining and developing autonomy in East Asian contexts. Applied Linguistics, 20(1), 71-94
Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025 (2013). Putrajaya, Malaysia: Ministry of Education.
In-Text Citation: (Ismail, Yunus, & Zahidi, 2018)
To Cite this Article: Ismail, F., Yunus, M. M., & Zahidi, A. M. (2018). Approaches Used by ESL Lecturers in Promoting Learner Autonomy in Institute of Teacher Education. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 8(12), 2175–2182.
Copyright: © 2019 The Author(s)
Published by Human Resource Management Academic Research Society (www.hrmars.com)
This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this license may be seen at: http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode