Teachers’ Factors in Autonomous Learning During Language Learning: A Systematic Literature Review

Autonomous learning is the cornerstone in a student-centred learning approach. The practice of autonomous learning helps make the teaching and learning more engaging for learners. However, there are very little systematic studies that cover this topic. These systematic studies will explore teachers’ factors during the implementation of the autonomous learning approach and its respective representatives that covers the point of view from a t eacher’s perspective. The study carried out aid in bridging the gap in order to encourage and promote autonomous learning in the teaching and learning environment. The use of the Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement’s was a pplied in the reviewed methodology to ensure an organised screening and filtering process to obtain related materials or articles suitable for the study. A total of 40 articles are identified from reliable search engines, namely, GoogleScholar and Web of Science databases. The systemic studies covers teachers’ perceptions, teachers’ roles, teachers’ challenges and teachers’ strategies in the autonomous approach implementation. Most of the studies cover the teachers’ perceptions on both positive views and n egative views toward autonomous learning. Teachers are able to embrace a student-centred approach with learners. Suggestions in the future should include students’ perceptions in order to utilise the autonomous learning approach to good use. A scrutiny study will cover s tudents’ point of view.


Introduction
Teachers' responsibility in English language learning has always been the sole knowledge giver. The teacher's figure in maintaining a balanced learning environment is mandatory in order to enhance the autonomy of learners in the process of learning (Masouleh & Jooneghani, 2012). Students are very dependent on teachers and choose to stay sheltered in the comfort of conventional learning methods. According to Little (1991) learner autonomy and teacher autonomy are interconnected, and that teachers should imply the approach on themselves before nurturing students to be autonomous learners. Teachers need to reflect on their own beliefs, practices, experiences and expectations of the teaching and learning environment. Educators too find it manageable orchestrating of the teaching and learning process. The problems and obstacles can be overseen and time is saved solely for completing the syllabus.
Autonomous learning is no longer a foreign teaching method especially in this 21 st century. The importance of the 5C's namely, communication, creativity, critical thinking, characteristics and collaboration are often highlighted in the teaching plan. It is aligned with the principles that bind the key points of autonomous learning. According to Hasim & Zakaria (2016), the key concepts of learner autonomy are ownership, self-directed, responsible for acquired skills, socially-constructed and collaboration. It grants learners the responsibility to venture and be held responsible during their learning. Despite being the star in teaching methods, many have their doubts and worries during the implementation. As a result, many studies have been conducted to bridge the gap of finding teachers' perceptions towards autonomous learning in the language learning setting. Related materials which cover the teachers' roles, teachers' challenges and teachers' strategies contribute to the insights on the development of autonomous learning in the classroom.
The concept of autonomous learning has been introduced to schools and teachers but the responses are not as welcoming as the expected outcome. Educators are also encouraged to put the autonomous approach to use. However, teachers do not know where to begin as they are not provided with a proper guide or framework. Unlike the Common European Framework Reference (CEFR), teachers are provided with resources such as the Super Minds for Year 1 and Year 2 from 2017 and 2018. Get Smart Plus 3 was introduced in 2019 as the primary textbook for Year 3 and followed by Get Smart Plus 4 in the year of 2020. Meanwhile Pulse 2 is provided from Secondary 1 and Secondary 2 students. The English Language Standards and Quality Council (ELSQC) was formed to oversee the implementation and dissemination of the new CEFR-aligned curriculum (Aziz, Rashid & Zainudin, 2018). Therefore, this systematic review was carried out based on the following questions: 1.
What are teachers' perceptions towards learners' autonomy in Language Learning? 2.
What are the representatives of teachers' perceptions towards autonomous learning?

Methodology
The systematic review was conducted based on the Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) method. The PRISMA guidelines consist of a four-phase flow diagram and a 27-item checklist (Selçuk, 2019). This systematic literature review was initiated with the search of related material from Google Scholar and Web of Science. The general study of articles obtained will be filtered through several phases namely, identification phase, screening phase, eligibility phase and exclusion phase that fall under the scope of a review.

Identification Phase
This systematic literature review articles was sourced from Google Scholar and Web of Science (WOS). Google Scholar catered to a countless number of articles ranging from education, science, engineering, etc. It covers a wide range of sources including conference proceedings, books, and reports which enable readers to excess without limitations. Google Scholar is not a human-curated database but a search engine of the whole internet which narrows the results to "scholarly " ones based on machine specific automated criteria. WOS is a reputable search engine providing accurate, concise and indexed articles and journals for researchers and readers. Table shows the keywords used for the article selections relating to teachers' perceptions towards autonomous learning during language learning. The selection includes the timeline, language and literature type as narrowed by the researchers. Google Scholar Title = (teachers' perceptions) AND (student teacher) AND (teacher trainee) AND (learners autonomy) AND (language learning) AND (teachers' role) AND (teachers' challenges) Web of Science TS = (teachers' perceptions) AND (student teacher) AND (teacher trainee) AND (learners autonomy) AND (language learning) AND (teachers' role) AND (teachers' challenges)

Screening Phase
The researchers start screening and filtering articles found in both search engines. This is to avoid repetition in the articles' analysis in the later stage. The remaining articles are further filtered referring to the criterion decided.

Eligibility Phase
The articles short listed must fit the criterion stated from the aspect of timeline and field of study. The study must cover the perspective of teachers. The study covering students' voices or perceptions are excluded. The timeline ranges from 2016 until 2021 to ensure its eligibility till the current date.

Exclusion Phase
In the exclusion phase, researchers look into the literature type of the materials obtained. The numbers of articles were included after the three stages of filtering and screening related articles. The included articles consist of qualitative method (QA), quantitative method (QN) and mixed method (MM) research. Materials of books, book series, proceedings and systematic review articles are excluded due to the fact of falling out of the criterion required.
Articles published in the year 2015 and before too are not accepted in order to produce an up to date systematic review. All the criteria are taken into account to produce a quality set of data. Figure 1: The stream chart of the examination

Findings and Discussion
A total of 40 articles were identified and eligible after four phases of filtering and scanning.

Teachers' Factors towards Autonomous Learning in Language Learning
In this section, researchers focus on the teachers' perceptions regarding autonomous learning in language learning. The highlighted aspects include teachers' perceptions, teachers' role, teachers' challenges and teachers' strategies. A total of 27 out of 40 articles covered the teachers' perceptions on autonomous learning. Out of the 27 articles, 25 agreed with the positive outcomes of learners' autonomy while 8 other articles discussed the negative perceptions on autonomous learning. This systematic review explained nurtured students' autonomy characteristics such as decision-making, independent learning, responsible learner, (Agustina, 2017;Alzeebaree, 2016;Borg & Alshumaimeri, 2019;Cakici, 2017;Darsih, 2018;Ghavifekr et al., 2016;Khalymon & Shevchenko, 2017;Tayjasanant & Suraratdecha, 2016;Yasmin et al., 2019;Yuzulia, 2020). Students have the ability and are responsible for choosing their own learning materials and tools. The learning becomes conducive as learners learn actively with a purpose and is able to engage in the teaching and learning (Abugohar et al., 2019;Almusharraf, 2020;Bakar et al., 2018;Darsih, 2018). Students can make sense of things they learn and relate it to their surroundings. The autonomous learning approach is believed to boost students' confidence and motivation to learn (Abugohar et al., 2019;Bakar et al., 2018;Borg & Alshumaimer, 2019;Darsih, 2018;Hasim & Zakaria, 2016;Khalymon & Shevchenko, 2017;Mokhtar, 2016;Ostovar-Namaghi & Gholami, 2018;Yükselir, 2016;Yuzulia, 2020). This automatically changes students' perceptions and their learning attitudes. Students gain their autonomy and have a sense of responsibility towards their learning. New opportunity and approaches are generated from autonomous learning where teaching methods are diversify (Agudelo & Morales-Vasco, 2019;Almekhlafi & Abulibdeh, 2018;Darsih, 2018;Mokhtar, 2016;Sabbir, 2019;Xu et al., 2017). The use of technology allows students to experience out of the classroom experience through creating blogs and communicating with overseas peers (Yükselir, 2016). Xu et al (2017) explains how the exposure to training and resources enable teachers to equip and assist the students better. Moodley & Aronstam (2016) autonomous learning enables students to relate learning to real life situations and develop valuable skills. Teachers should focus more on open-ended questions for emergent outcomes than predetermined outcomes. This then students are given the space to ponder and generate ideas or solutions to fill the void in the questions given. The use of authentic materials help to promote meaningful learning (Mokhtar, 2016;Moodley & Aronstam, 2016;Yükselir, 2016;Yuzulia, 2020). Ostovar-Namaghi & Gholami (2018) highlighted that autonomous learning reduces students' tension. The practice of memorisation causes students to be constantly under pressure. Students tend to have the expectation to complete memorising a certain chapter or subtopic within a specific time frame. The use of known materials helps students to warm up during the introduction of new materials.

Teachers' Perceptions
The negative perceptions of autonomous learning include surrounding factors such as large number of students, limited materials, lack of use outside of the classroom (Xu et al., 2017). Students only practice the language during lessons. They lack intrinsic motivation during language learning for personal benefits. Teachers' personal prejudice towards the student-centred method due to the lack of assurance and conflicting beliefs (Abugohar et al., 2019;Ju, 2018;Yuzulia, 2020). The long history of traditional teaching is more promising with students' good grades than the directionless autonomous learning. Autonomous learning is suitable for advanced learners as they are equipped with prior knowledge. However, lower proficiency learners will experience a washback effect as they have minimal knowledge and do not know where to begin or the continuation of the next lesson (Hamzah & Cheang, 2016). Moodley & Aronstam (2016) voiced the concern of autonomous learning involving complex tasks. It is time consuming for preparation and teachers are not able to complete the syllabus on time. The tasks are just complimentary activities but take up more preparation time than the main content of the lesson (Abugohar et al., 2019). In autonomous learning, teachers no longer play the character of an autonomous educator or knowledge giver. Students are given more spare and freedom to venture into the learning with their peers. All the six articles agree that teachers fit in the role as a facilitator. Teachers will watch by the side. Instead of the usual practice of top-down approach, the bottom-up method is applied in the autonomous classroom. Javid (2018) stated that teachers should treat all their students equally and should not favour anyone regardless of their proficiency and background. The need to instigate and prompt students in asking questions when there are doubts is essential in promoting learners autonomy. According to Yunus, & Arshad (as cited in Javid), bestowing students with autonomy during their learning process, allows the growth of mutual coordination and trust. In return, students take initiative in acquiring knowledge by taking control of the student-centred classroom. In Yasmin, Naseemb & Masso (2019) the teacher gave responses as such,"Taking full responsibility of transmitting knowledge does not guarantee that the learning process can or will take place". Autonomous learning gives learners the opportunity to self-directed learning. Alonazi (2017) too initiated the need of a teacher to motivate and encourage students in order to make learning easy. Teachers cannot spoon-feed students at all times however the former can push the latter to be better through moral support. The role as monitor and mentor are essential in guaranteeing the success rate of autonomous learning Lin & Reinders, 2019;Tayjasanant & Suraratdecha, 2016). Challenges faced by teachers are mostly due to surrounding factors. The teachers' factors are the largest contributor to challenges faced by educators. The lack of training, exposure, professional development and resources were highlighted in all of the 18 articles related to the challenges faced by teachers when an autonomous learning approach was being applied in the classroom. It was an inevitable circumstance from the transition of conventional teaching to autonomous learning. Students being the centre of the lesson have their equal share of cooperation during autonomous learning. Therefore, students' passive attitude during learning is a form of setback towards this learner-centred approach (Almusharraf, 2020;Borg & Alshumaimeri, 2019;Dogan & Mirici, 2017;Dwee & Anthony, 2017;Hamzah & Cheang, 2016;Lin & Reinders, 2019;Liu et al., 2018;Yasmin & Sohail, 2018a;Yavuz et al., 2020). The lack of students' participation in an active communication restricts the smooth flow of the speaking activities during the teaching and learning settings. The low communication ability and the lack of exposure to different genres in conversation confine learners to limited words and slowly lead to drifting apart from expanding their network when socialising (Abdulkader, 2016). Students' low understanding and proficiency level in English language does not allow teachers to go above and beyond with a variety of learning materials and resources. This is needed in order to fit alongside students' level of acquisition. The fear of making mistakes among learners is rather prominent. Learners have the implication that getting things done right the first time is the good way to go. Mistakes are deemed as a form of embarrassment. Activities involving pair work and group work do not welcome responsive and warm feedback from students. Passive responses are typical among students from the Asian and Middle East region. This is due to the culture understanding of abiding by your elders and showing out most respect to those of high seniority.

Teachers' Challenges
Teachers' own personal affiliation regarding the application of traditional teaching method makes it hard for the full implementation of learner autonomy (Alonazi, 2017;Lin & Reinders, 2019;Liu et al., 2018;Shamir-Inbal & Blau, 2021;Yasmin & Sohail, 2018a). Teachers do not perceive their learners as autonomous due to the inconsistency of learning habits. This does not deny the fact that different degrees of autonomy require teachers' support and encouragement. Besides, the teacher's excessive workload including ad-hoc meetings, cocurriculum responsibilities and administrative duties are a setback to the main teaching profession. Teachers are divided as the original intention of the teaching profession is shifted into clerical work. Educators need to judge between the main task and subsidiary responsibilities. The influence and authority of policymakers make it hard for teachers to adjust the teaching according to learners' needs (Alonazi, 2017;Borg & Alshumaimeri, 2019;Dogan & Mirici, 2017;Liu et al., 2018;Yasmin et al., 2019). Teachers do not have the full autonomy over the syllabus due to the pressure coming from institutional reinforcement and institutional inflexibility. In Yasmin et al. (2019), educational barriers include obsolete and fixed syllabus where the criteria does not fulfil the lifelong learning concept.
The issues arising from class enrolment consist of large size classes, different proficiency level and classroom management. The content of the exercise is not compatible with the learners' proficiency. Students are not able to follow or catch the teaching as they have rather low proficiency. The students are unable to cope with the teaching and learning due to mismatch of the proficiency level compared to other learners. The need to give personal mentoring to weaker students is mandatory. Besides, the prescribed time does not sync the timetable. Surrounding factors such as number of students, culture barrier etc etc can manipulate and influence the effectiveness of autonomous approach being implemented in class (Abdulkader, 2016;Lin & Reinders, 2019;Sidhu et al., 2018;Yasmin et al., 2019). Ghavifekr et al (2016) elaborated on how the lack of assisting tools and pedagogical support can obstruct the autonomous approach in the teaching and learning setting. The large class size inhibits the teacher's ability to focus on all students. Teachers are not able to give emphasis on sections where learners tend to be weaker (Abdulkader, 2016). Limited time for the conduct of the lesson causes the teacher to rush the syllabus as the time given for the conduct is very tight and limited. Borg & Alshumaimeri

Teacher' Strategies
Encourage independent work, give students control 3. Darsih (2018) Provide structured task, recommend applications, motivate students, foster reading habits, apply various learning methods, students choose own materials, encourage students to perform outside of classroom 4. Dogan & Mirici (2017) Encourage students to engage, help learners to realise their strength and weakness 5.
Ju (2018) Well-organised teaching material and method, motivate teaching and learning, 8. Phan & Hamid (2016) Students choose working partners, teachers redesigned activities to meet students requirement, teachers' reflection 9. Sidhu et al. (2018) Read a variety of text, collaborative writing tasks, corrective feedback 10. Yasmin & Sohail (2017) Learners take charge of learning, build confident environment, learner experiment and practice the language, motivate learners 11. Yasmin & Sohail (2018b) Encourage independent learning, encourage creativity, boost students' confident, motivate learners, choice in topic selection, help learners in collecting tasks, collaborative task, out-of-class activities 12. Yuzulia (2020) Work cooperatively, use technology, worldwide interaction through video conference From the systematic reviews, the majority of the suggested strategies by teachers are learnercentred approaches where students are given autonomy in their learning process. Most of the articles suggested collaborative work as their strategies. Students are encouraged to work collaboratively either in pair work or group work (Dwee & Anthony, 2017;Phan & Hamid, 2016;Sidhu et al., 2018;Yasmin & Sohail, 2018;Yuzulia, 2020). On the other hand, giving students the choice of freedom in the selection of their own learning materials and taking charge of their learning are complementary strategies in promoting autonomous learning (Almusharraf, 2020;Borg & Alshumaimeri, 2019;Darsih, 2018;Dwee & Anthony, 2017;Phan & Hamid, 2016;Yasmin & Sohail, 2017;Yasmin & Sohail, 2018b). The materials selection and preparation by teachers play an important role in promoting autonomous learning (Darsih, 2018;Dwee & Anthony, 2017;Ju, 2018;Phan & Hamid, 2016;Yasmin & Sohail, 2018b) . Reflection from both learners and teachers after lesson or activities are suggested for better improvements in the next lesson (Dwee & Anthony, 2017;Phan & Hamid, 2016;Sidhu et al., 2018). Teachers' continuous reflection and analysis of their own teaching process is an effective method in assisting teachers to be an autonomous learner. The use of teachers' reflection after lessons relating with students allows two-way interaction instead of using the traditional top-down approach. CEFR emphasised on the communicative approach in order to build up learners' confidence to speak or voice their opinions as suggested by . Communicative and cooperative approaches are encouraged in the teaching and learning setting in alignment with the 21 st century learning classroom. Students are given more opportunity to voice their opinions and lead the class. The use of technology was also mentioned in line with 21st century teaching and learning (Almusharraf, 2020;Yuzulia, 2020). The statement is further proven in a study by Yunus and Arshad as cited by Javid (2018) stating group discussion helps learners to think in a wider spectrum as two or more ways of interaction take place. Pair and group work is instrumental in the English language learning setting (Javid, 2011). It is the teacher's role to diversify the teaching method by making assessment fun and interesting. Providing building feedback for corrective purposes to improve learners' understanding for their learning experiences is mandatory (Sidhu et al., 2018). Critical thinking involving students in learning aids exposes learners to develop their self-confidence when expanding academic vocabulary (Almusharraf, 2020).

Conclusion
This systematic review analyses the teachers' factors on autonomous learning and the representative of teachers' factors towards autonomous learning. It covers the teachers' perceptions, teachers' role, teachers' challenges and teachers' strategies. Majority of teachers harbour positive perceptions on autonomous learning. Only a handful of teachers have negative perceptions towards autonomous learning due to personal choice of approach and students' attitude. The roles played by teachers include facilitator, monitor, counsellor and motivator. Next, challenges faced by teachers are inevitable as it covers students' ability, lack of materials, policymaker inflexibility, sociocultural background and time. The highly recommended strategies include collaborative work in pairs or groups and incorporating technology by creating own blogs and connecting with overseas peers.

Implications and Recommendations
The need to consider students' perceptions is mandatory as the teaching and learning involves students as well. Learning is a two-way process. Teacher and student components are related to the teaching and learning process. Feedback from learners will be of great help in the implementation of autonomous learning. The study of students' learning attitude can be the main highlight for the future systematic review. The breakdown of factors affecting students' motivation and learning habits can get to the root of students' refusal to study. Students' suggested activities and tasks should be carried out. Factors such as family background, students' proficiency level, students' mindset, social influence and socioeconomic aspect should be studied to bridge the gap between learners' autonomy and students' perceptions. Another suggestion will cover a narrower study of the teachers' perceptions and strategies in the Malaysia English Second Language Learning (ESL) classroom. The cultural factor and geographical aspect will shift the attention of the future systematic review to the local context. The need for more qualitative studies or mixed method studies are needed in order to fill the gap in terms of methodology.

Limitations
Among the limitations of this systematic study is the sole coverage on teachers' factors on the use of autonomous learning in the teaching and learning setting. Besides, this systematic study only used two research engines, which were Google Scholar and Web Of Science (WOS). It would be a grander study if a third research engine was included. The study might cover more teachers' factors on the implementation of autonomous learning in the teaching and learning setting. The time constraint in order to meet the deadline with endless attempts to skim and scan a total of 157 journal articles can be very painstaking.