LEARNER AUTONOMY Essay
1 Describe the theoretical background and key principles of Learner Autonomy.
Explain what it is
2 Demonstrate an understanding of how Learner Autonomy may be achieved in the context of an EFL classroom.
The godfather of Learner Autonomy is Douglas Barnes:
’’to learn is to develop relationships between what the learner knows already and the new system presented to him, this can only be done by the learner himself’ (From Communication to Curriculum 1976)
Autonomy as a self directed process for a language learner and the ways on how to teach it was first systematically researched at CRAPEL (Centre de Recherches et d’APplications En Langue) institute in
Nancy under Yves Chalon in late 60ties. After his death in 1972 the research and publications went on under new director Henry Holec. In the following years he, as an language methods expert, was active
promoting Learner Autonomy at the Council of Europe as an important aspect of language acquisition guidelines on the European Union grounds. Learner Autonomy under Holec was described as 'learner’s willingness and capacity to take charge of their leaning. The learners should be able to define their own goals and objectives, monitor as well as evaluate the progress'.
The process here employs the Darwinian engine of trial-and-error.
Leni Dam (From Theory to Classroom Practice, Copenhagen 1995) has a similar take:
‘readiness to take charge of one’s own learning in the service of one’s needs and purposes’.
She promotes Learner Autonomy in nudging the students helping them realize why the autonomous approach is actually the only real way and how to develop and use it. Depending on the prevailing attitudes (tired or
frustrated), some reasonable force may be needed (‘I forced them to be involved’). Students will need to cooperate and became aware why and how (choices, risks and trials) they learn.
She describes some instances of how to devise and how to plan the activities for class and home and how to evaluate their outcome. Her approach is congruent with the flipped classroom approach/strategy when the students are expected to carry out some introspective research at home and then discuss and evaluate it in a shared, whole-group environment under the teacher’s guidance.
The tools/materials to find out
what learners want and need in their journey are e.g. picture dictionaries (intriguing words), movies, talks, games, diary (why, how to keep, monitoring, logbook), grammar maps, portfolios, posters and
evaluation sheets. I found her experience inspiring.
P.Benson and P.Voller (Autonomy and Independence in Language Learning, 1997) state that there are different ways in which Learner Autonomy had come to be perceived and used. It may be
a self study,
skill-set applied in self directed learning,
exercising of one's learning responsibility,
power of learners in choosing of their learning direction
or an innate capacity often suppressed by schools.
The definition for TEFL, as I see it, is similarly vague. It surely is non-dogmatic, important and complementary to communicative teaching approach.
Learner's role is to learn to act independently in cooperation with others. Most of pupils can manage but I think there are some, probably older learners from other cultures, who won't be able to.
There is this innate ability to learn which changes and evolves with age and experience. Its nature is not as much of a self-improvement but rather of following, mimicking and pattern seeking. If a learner fails to
learn to learn autonomously, there might have been an embedded truth that independent learning is awkward or gets punished.
Routines of studying are the superstructures imposed by culture and tradition. People easily become blind to this conditioning as in our culture it is obligatory to go to school.
I think a good teacher is able to feel into these nuances and use, suppress or overcome them.
The role of the teacher of Learner Autonomy is both more important (rarer) and demanding than that of the traditional one. He/she is not just a relaxed monitor, corrector and facilitator. Teacher also
diagnoses, finds bespoke ways of application and nudges.
The diagnoses differ among the learners a lot, depending on the depth of research.
There will be differences not just in the easily quantifiable variables of knowledge, expectation and aspirations but also in grit ability, assertiveness, decision readiness, communication habits and playfulness. I think there is a lack of research in this field.
The influence of Internet. Its sole presence suggests 'why not to learn something new?' One may start a blog, show the expertise at Quora.com or research how to teach learning. There is a plethora of information and with the help of references and discussion fora, it is not that hard to distinguish what works, what is helpful. Content is king. One just needs to try out new stuff and play with variations.
I apply autonomy on my own learning of English teaching and develop my own teaching ways:
Communicating Learner Autonomy early will set the rules and culture of the teacher-learner relationship as down-to-earth partnership. I would manage the students' expectations towards self diagnosis (show
how it helps and how to review peers) and experimenting (show what is possible).
They should understand the reality of being the sole builders of their own knowledge houses. I would point to 2 powerful, well translated works that complement 'learner autonomy' showing it as an integral part of
successful life practices.
First is 2011 TED talk by English economist
Tim Harford: 'Trial, error and the Good complex' which shows how important and applicable is validated learning.
Second is a short book
'The Four Agreements', 1997 by Miguel Ruiz that stresses the openness and intent in life and in the language use.
I would nudge them to use a diary and bring in some polyglot role models. The recently discovered role of mirror neurons shows how important are observation of a model behaviour; simulation. I reckon role-model observation is something rather under-used in the autonomy
development curricula.
There are many inspiring language learners to follow and perhaps be motivated by. They usually have their own style of L-n acquisition. Here are some linguistic heroes, MacGyvers of self-induced learning, with the points that I consider remarkable:
Benny Lewis: learn Esperanto as your L2 to have a reference model, improve memory with electric shocks via the Pavlok device, speak the target language from the day 1 online or even with your peers /first in
target then repeat in L1/
Timothy Ferriss: learn 20 sentences with some object-subject-pronoun relationship based clauses first, use clever drugs
Gabriel Wyner: train the ear and pronunciation on the minimal pairs, use mnemonics and spaced repetition via Anki or card decks
Judith Meyer: make smart plans and log your progress in a xls table, track the progress with obstinence
Emanuele Marini: start with a several basic grammar books and a good dictionary, then create – write down sentences with the useful words you've found alone correctly, then travel; ( note: he speaks some
35 languages)
Luis Von Ahn: learning crowd /discussions and gamification of Duolingo.com; (note: there are fewer Irish natives than learners of Irish on Duolingo.com platform)
Boris Shekhtman: master stacks in your 'island of interest', master the decoration, conversation switches and connectors. Don't translate in your mind=break away from the mother tongue, have a class in a pub with the natives, mix with monolingual natives.
Conor Quinn: work on oral choreography, start with the short and frequent words, ask for help, look forward to/embrace your change via a language study
Alexander Arguelles: shadow – speak aloud along a challenging audio; can be done while walking; (note: he sports some 40 languages)
Whereas they all stress a different stage or 'flavour' of acquisition, we still can put some of their recommendations into contrast. The logical conclusion points back to D.Barnes and so that one needs
to see for himself what works and what not.
Technology had changed and continues to change language teaching. To get an automated feedback on pronunciation or grammar is easier than ever.
In future we can expect further increase of importance of learner autonomy. Technology will upgrade both the learner (memory drugs, Pavlok, theta waves learning) and teaching (virtual classroom, spaced repetition, instant machine interpreting based on speech recognition and 'Deep learning' algorithm).
In the far future of 10+ years there will be first robotic language teachers and the notion of Learner Autonomy will gain yet another new sense:
An ability to be taught by a personal robot
1 Describe the theoretical background and key principles of Learner Autonomy.
Explain what it is
2 Demonstrate an understanding of how Learner Autonomy may be achieved in the context of an EFL classroom.
The godfather of Learner Autonomy is Douglas Barnes:
’’to learn is to develop relationships between what the learner knows already and the new system presented to him, this can only be done by the learner himself’ (From Communication to Curriculum 1976)
Autonomy as a self directed process for a language learner and the ways on how to teach it was first systematically researched at CRAPEL (Centre de Recherches et d’APplications En Langue) institute in
Nancy under Yves Chalon in late 60ties. After his death in 1972 the research and publications went on under new director Henry Holec. In the following years he, as an language methods expert, was active
promoting Learner Autonomy at the Council of Europe as an important aspect of language acquisition guidelines on the European Union grounds. Learner Autonomy under Holec was described as 'learner’s willingness and capacity to take charge of their leaning. The learners should be able to define their own goals and objectives, monitor as well as evaluate the progress'.
The process here employs the Darwinian engine of trial-and-error.
Leni Dam (From Theory to Classroom Practice, Copenhagen 1995) has a similar take:
‘readiness to take charge of one’s own learning in the service of one’s needs and purposes’.
She promotes Learner Autonomy in nudging the students helping them realize why the autonomous approach is actually the only real way and how to develop and use it. Depending on the prevailing attitudes (tired or
frustrated), some reasonable force may be needed (‘I forced them to be involved’). Students will need to cooperate and became aware why and how (choices, risks and trials) they learn.
She describes some instances of how to devise and how to plan the activities for class and home and how to evaluate their outcome. Her approach is congruent with the flipped classroom approach/strategy when the students are expected to carry out some introspective research at home and then discuss and evaluate it in a shared, whole-group environment under the teacher’s guidance.
The tools/materials to find out
what learners want and need in their journey are e.g. picture dictionaries (intriguing words), movies, talks, games, diary (why, how to keep, monitoring, logbook), grammar maps, portfolios, posters and
evaluation sheets. I found her experience inspiring.
P.Benson and P.Voller (Autonomy and Independence in Language Learning, 1997) state that there are different ways in which Learner Autonomy had come to be perceived and used. It may be
a self study,
skill-set applied in self directed learning,
exercising of one's learning responsibility,
power of learners in choosing of their learning direction
or an innate capacity often suppressed by schools.
The definition for TEFL, as I see it, is similarly vague. It surely is non-dogmatic, important and complementary to communicative teaching approach.
Learner's role is to learn to act independently in cooperation with others. Most of pupils can manage but I think there are some, probably older learners from other cultures, who won't be able to.
There is this innate ability to learn which changes and evolves with age and experience. Its nature is not as much of a self-improvement but rather of following, mimicking and pattern seeking. If a learner fails to
learn to learn autonomously, there might have been an embedded truth that independent learning is awkward or gets punished.
Routines of studying are the superstructures imposed by culture and tradition. People easily become blind to this conditioning as in our culture it is obligatory to go to school.
I think a good teacher is able to feel into these nuances and use, suppress or overcome them.
The role of the teacher of Learner Autonomy is both more important (rarer) and demanding than that of the traditional one. He/she is not just a relaxed monitor, corrector and facilitator. Teacher also
diagnoses, finds bespoke ways of application and nudges.
The diagnoses differ among the learners a lot, depending on the depth of research.
There will be differences not just in the easily quantifiable variables of knowledge, expectation and aspirations but also in grit ability, assertiveness, decision readiness, communication habits and playfulness. I think there is a lack of research in this field.
The influence of Internet. Its sole presence suggests 'why not to learn something new?' One may start a blog, show the expertise at Quora.com or research how to teach learning. There is a plethora of information and with the help of references and discussion fora, it is not that hard to distinguish what works, what is helpful. Content is king. One just needs to try out new stuff and play with variations.
I apply autonomy on my own learning of English teaching and develop my own teaching ways:
Communicating Learner Autonomy early will set the rules and culture of the teacher-learner relationship as down-to-earth partnership. I would manage the students' expectations towards self diagnosis (show
how it helps and how to review peers) and experimenting (show what is possible).
They should understand the reality of being the sole builders of their own knowledge houses. I would point to 2 powerful, well translated works that complement 'learner autonomy' showing it as an integral part of
successful life practices.
First is 2011 TED talk by English economist
Tim Harford: 'Trial, error and the Good complex' which shows how important and applicable is validated learning.
Second is a short book
'The Four Agreements', 1997 by Miguel Ruiz that stresses the openness and intent in life and in the language use.
I would nudge them to use a diary and bring in some polyglot role models. The recently discovered role of mirror neurons shows how important are observation of a model behaviour; simulation. I reckon role-model observation is something rather under-used in the autonomy
development curricula.
There are many inspiring language learners to follow and perhaps be motivated by. They usually have their own style of L-n acquisition. Here are some linguistic heroes, MacGyvers of self-induced learning, with the points that I consider remarkable:
Benny Lewis: learn Esperanto as your L2 to have a reference model, improve memory with electric shocks via the Pavlok device, speak the target language from the day 1 online or even with your peers /first in
target then repeat in L1/
Timothy Ferriss: learn 20 sentences with some object-subject-pronoun relationship based clauses first, use clever drugs
Gabriel Wyner: train the ear and pronunciation on the minimal pairs, use mnemonics and spaced repetition via Anki or card decks
Judith Meyer: make smart plans and log your progress in a xls table, track the progress with obstinence
Emanuele Marini: start with a several basic grammar books and a good dictionary, then create – write down sentences with the useful words you've found alone correctly, then travel; ( note: he speaks some
35 languages)
Luis Von Ahn: learning crowd /discussions and gamification of Duolingo.com; (note: there are fewer Irish natives than learners of Irish on Duolingo.com platform)
Boris Shekhtman: master stacks in your 'island of interest', master the decoration, conversation switches and connectors. Don't translate in your mind=break away from the mother tongue, have a class in a pub with the natives, mix with monolingual natives.
Conor Quinn: work on oral choreography, start with the short and frequent words, ask for help, look forward to/embrace your change via a language study
Alexander Arguelles: shadow – speak aloud along a challenging audio; can be done while walking; (note: he sports some 40 languages)
Whereas they all stress a different stage or 'flavour' of acquisition, we still can put some of their recommendations into contrast. The logical conclusion points back to D.Barnes and so that one needs
to see for himself what works and what not.
Technology had changed and continues to change language teaching. To get an automated feedback on pronunciation or grammar is easier than ever.
In future we can expect further increase of importance of learner autonomy. Technology will upgrade both the learner (memory drugs, Pavlok, theta waves learning) and teaching (virtual classroom, spaced repetition, instant machine interpreting based on speech recognition and 'Deep learning' algorithm).
In the far future of 10+ years there will be first robotic language teachers and the notion of Learner Autonomy will gain yet another new sense:
An ability to be taught by a personal robot