Learner autonomy

Definition

What is Autonomy?

For a definition of autonomy, Dimitrios Thanasoulas quotes Holec (1981: 3, cited in Benson & Voller, 1997: 1) who describes it as 'the ability to take charge of one's learning'. On a general note, the term autonomy has come to be used in at least five ways (see Benson & Voller, 1997: 2):

• for situations in which learners study entirely on their own;
• for a set of skills which can be learned and applied in self-directed learning;
• for an inborn capacity which is suppressed by institutional education;
• for the exercise of learners' responsibility for their own learning;
• for the right of learners to determine the direction of their own learning.

What do we mean by learner autonomy?

Students take responsibility for their learning and work in partnership with tutors and other students. It involves risk taking by all concerned. Learner Autonomy is about learning to learn and developing assessment for learning. Students reflect on their experiences and are able to create their own meanings and challenge ideas/theories. It requires tutors to trust students' abilities and to promote the use of student directed learning.

Characteristics of an autonomous learner include

• Critical reflection and thinking
• Self-awareness
• Taking responsibility for own learning
• Working creatively with complex situations
• The ability to create own meanings and challenge ideas/theories.

Learner Autonomy Video [1]. It is hard to define what Learner Autonomy is in words so the researchers in Sheffield Hallam University have interviewed members of their CETL team and asked them what Learner Autonomy means to them.

what caracterise autonomous learners?

Rousseau ([1762] 1911, cited in Candy, 1991: 102) regards the autonomous learner as someone who 'is obedient to a law that he prescribes to himself'. Within the context of education, though, there seem to be seven main attributes characterising autonomous learners (see Omaggio, 1978, cited in Wenden, 1998: 41-42):

1. Autonomous learners have insights into their learning styles and strategies;
2. take an active approach to the learning task at hand;
3. are willing to take risks;
4. are good guessers;
5. attend to form as well as to content, that is, place importance on accuracy as well as appropriacy;
6. develop the target language into a separate reference system and are willing to revise and reject hypotheses and rules that do not apply; and
7. have a tolerant and outgoing approach to the target language.

Possible Methods to Investigate Learner Autonomy

MSLQ (the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire) [2]

• a self-report Likert-scaled instrument designed to assess the motivational orientation and learning strategy use of college students and based on a social-cognitive view, has been under development since 1986 at the National Center for Research on Improving Postsecondary Teaching and Learning at the University of Michigan. Pilot testing resulted in refinements incorporated into a final version of the MSLQ designed to be given in class in 20 to 30 minutes. To test the utility of the theoretical model and its operationalization, MSLQ responses were gathered from 380 midwestern college students over 14 subjects and 5 disciplines. Results suggest that the MSLQ has relatively good reliability, and confirmatory factor analysis supports the validity of the general theoretical framework and the scales that measure it. Three general factors of student motivation are identified. In addition, the predictive validity seems reasonably good. The MSLQ seems to be a useful, reliable, and valid way to assess motivation and learning strategies in the classroom.
• The motivation scales tap in consist of three broad areas:

1. 1 value(intrinsic and extrinsic goal orientation, task value)
2. 2 expectancy (control beliefs about learning, self-efficacay)
3. 3 affect (test anxiety)

• The learning strategies sections consist of nice scales which can be distinguished as cognitive, metacognitive, and resource management strategies:

1. 1 cognitive strategies: rehearsal, elaboration, organization, critical thinking
2. 2 metacognitive strategies: planning, monitoring, and regulating
3. 3 resource management: managing time and study environment, effort management, managing time and study environment, help-seeking

• Content of the questionnaire :pdf file of MSLQ[3]

MSLQ in on-line learning environment

• As an instrument designed to ascertain classroom self-regulation skills, MSLQ has limitations to assess online self-regulated learning . Because the instrument was design to reflect self-regulation in traditional classrooms, it does not relate well to online self-regulated strategies. Whip and Chiarelli (2004) found that students’ online and face-to-face learning strategies are different. David Jonassen, Moon-Heum Cho and the group of researchers have been carrying on a research in University of Missouri. They intend to predict what extent each MSLQ factor predicts students’ achievements and they will identify each MSLQ factor’s internal validity. This study is a preliminary step to developing an online self-regulated learning instrument[4].

How to promote Learner Autonomy

See Open learner model

References

• Dimitrios Thanasoulas.(2000)What is Learner Autonomy and How Can It be Fostered? the Internet TESL Journal, Vol.VI,No.11,November 2000 html