Autonomy in Scaffolding as Learning in Teacher-Student Negotiation of Meaning in a University EFL Classroom

2017 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Li Danli
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Teacher Development ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Learner Autonomy ◽  
Negotiation Of Meaning ◽  
Pedagogical Tool ◽  
Teacher Student ◽  
Student Dialogue ◽  
Chinese Teacher

AbstractBased upon sociocultural theory, this study investigates the dynamics of the teacher’s roles and learner autonomy in the process of scaffolding in teacher-student negotiation of meaning in an EFL classroom. The participants were 25 undergraduate students and a Chinese teacher of English at a university in China. The teacher-student dialogue was the central mechanism mediating the construction of negotiation of meaning and form in language learning. The analysis of classroom discourse and the teacher’s retrospection from an interview illustrated the teacher’s different roles in interaction, where scaffolding acted as a structured pedagogical tool. The study revealed that the learners were afforded assistance to progress from other-regulation to self-regulation, and consequently, the teacher exploited opportunities to enhance learner autonomy in negotiation of spaces for autonomy in classroom teaching. The study has probed into the significance of the teacher’s capacity of controlling scaffolding effectively and generated implications for teacher development and learner training.

scholarly journals Self-Regulation: Why is it Important for Promoting Learner Autonomy in the School Context?

2014 ◽  
pp. 342-356 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoshiyuki Nakata
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
School Context ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Learner Autonomy ◽  
Foreign Language Education ◽  
Teacher Autonomy ◽  
Language Learning Strategies ◽  
Research Areas

Both researchers and practitioners in the field of foreign language education are increasingly interested in the notions of self-regulation and learner autonomy. Indeed, there is a growing body of evidence highlighting the importance of self-regulation in promoting learner autonomy. For many practitioners, an important question to be addressed is how to help learners become more self-regulated in order to promote their learner autonomy. As it stands, however, the majority of learner autonomy research following this line of inquiry has been conducted within the framework of language learning strategies. Although learner autonomy research conducted within the framework of language learning strategies has to some extent contributed to addressing the question above, it has not provided enough guidance to practitioners and practitioner trainers, especially those who are struggling to promote autonomy in their learners in the EFL school context, which is full of constraints and limitations and does not allow much freedom. The present paper attempts to fill this gap, first by comparing the roots and the avenues of development of these two (essentially related but) distinct research areas—self-regulation and learner autonomy—and then by integrating the notion of self-regulation within the theoretical framework of learner autonomy, together with other notions of agency, teacher autonomy and scaffolding.

The importance of the self: using online diaries in the EFL classroom

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 395-412
Author(s):  
Micòl Beseghi
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Expressive Writing ◽  
English Language ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
Learner Autonomy ◽  
Self Awareness ◽  
Final Questionnaire ◽  
Diary Writing

Abstract Learner journals, diaries, and logs have been used in a variety of learning contexts, including foreign language learning. This paper investigates how diary writing can be used in the EFL classroom to encourage students to express their identities through the language they are learning; it is also a way of supporting them in their quest for greater autonomy, with a view to exploring the interconnections between learner autonomy, learner self (L2 self), and learner emotions. More specifically, it will be shown how reflective writing – in the form of online diaries – can offer learners an important tool to explore their thoughts and emotions and reflect on their identity as learners and users of English. Moreover, diaries are a qualitative research tool for teachers and scholars, who can examine metacognitive and affective aspects of language learning. The paper reports a study conducted within a university English Language course, in which the students were encouraged to keep a reflective online diary throughout a semester. The analysis of their personal and expressive writing has shed light on their need to speak as themselves, not just as language learners, and to explore their emotions, both positive and negative. A final questionnaire has revealed that the students were generally positive about the activity, highlighting its usefulness in terms of learner autonomy, self-awareness, and self-regulation.

scholarly journals Learner Autonomy and EFL Learning at the Tertiary Level in Vietnam

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Thi Cam Le Nguyen
Keyword(s):  
Academic Achievement ◽  
Pilot Study ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Learner Autonomy ◽  
High Achievers ◽  
Second Phase ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Three Phases

<p>There has been a growing interest in the role of learner autonomy (LA) in language teaching and learning. Over the last twenty years, researchers have extensively explored LA in a range of settings and have developed various approaches to fostering it both as a means to language learning and as an end in itself. This study attempts to investigate LA in the Vietnamese EFL context, and to explore the relationship between LA and language learning results. In this study, LA was conceptualised and operationally defined as learner self-initiation and learner self-regulation. The research was composed of three phases. The pilot study looked at the range of activities, and the amount of time devoted to learning English by 388 Vietnamese English majors of different levels of academic achievement. It identified differences in LA among students of different year levels as well as LA at two types of tertiary institutions in Vietnam. In the first phase, an exploratory correlational study was conducted among 177 students to comprehend features of LA as demonstrated by these students, their preferred self-initiated activities both inside and outside the classroom, and the relationship between each aspect of LA and language proficiency. In the second phase, an intervention study was conducted with the participation of 37 students in an experimental group, and 54 students in two control groups. Phase two explored the efficacy of a learner-based approach to promoting LA with a focus on strategy-based instruction. The three phases revealed several important findings. The pilot study discovered that the level of autonomy was related to students' level of academic achievement but not to their year level. In addition, autonomy seemed to be affected by the social setting in which it was exercised. In Phase one, the findings revealed that Vietnamese learners' self-initiation efforts mainly concentrated on covert learning in class. Outside the classroom, these learners preferred to undertake receptive rather than productive activities, and tended to avoid social interaction. Moreover, most aspects of LA positively and significantly correlated with EFL proficiency measures. Lastly, the task-specific training of self-regulation in Phase two resulted not only in significantly improved writing scores but also in greater LA. However, these metacognitive skills in writing did not seem to transfer to other areas of language learning, although improvements in writing were maintained in a delayed test. Overall, the study suggests that LA appears to be linked positively to language proficiency. High achievers are more likely to be autonomous learners. Most importantly, training learners in metacognitive regulation improved learners' writing ability and their autonomy in learning.</p>

scholarly journals CASE STUDY: EXPERIMENTAL EVALUATION OF KNOWLEDGE COMPONENT OF UNIVERSITY STUDENTS HUMANITARIAN CULTURE

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-79
Author(s):  
L. N. Metelskaya ◽  
N. V. Loseva
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Global Changes ◽  
Teacher Student ◽  
Cultural Codes ◽  
Cultural Paradigm ◽  
Knowledge Component ◽  
Student Dialogue ◽  
Comparison Of The Results ◽  
The University

Tis article analyzes the results of the experimental test that has been conducted at the MGIMO Politics and Governance Department to study and assess the general humanitarian cultural level of undergraduate students. Accepting a broader interpretation for this concept, that is predominant in the contemporary scientifc research, the authors focused on the knowledge component of the general humanitarian culture, understood as a set of concepts about history, geography, literature and art. Internalized knowledge of such kind forms cultural background enabling any dialogue, in our case “teacher – student”. To achieve the set goals, the authors of the study have developed a test – to evaluate the general humanitarian cultural level of freshmen and fourth-year students in compliance with the teachers’ expectations, thereby exposing a deep cultural gap between people of different generations. Te results obtained vividly show that current freshmen meet the expectations of the university professors in terms of general humanitarian knowledge by slightly more than 50% (the average test score is 52.5%), which can signifcantly impede the process of education. A qualitative analysis of the test results suggests that modern students, or millennials, live in a new cultural paradigm, triggered by global changes in our society. To optimize the teacher-student dialogue teachers must recognize the fact of discrepancy in cultural codes, abandon old stereotypes and just systematically work on reflling gaps in the general cultural level of students, which, as the experiment shows, can be successfully achieved by the Baccalaureate program (relative gain of knowledge by the 4th year equals 25%). Te comparison of the results for the two age groups of the tested students led to the conclusion that the cultural-linguistic element of the French language course is quite effective.

Task-Based Language Learning and Learner Autonomy in 3D Virtual Worlds

2018 ◽  
pp. 50-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iryna Kozlova
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Learner Autonomy ◽  
Negotiation Of Meaning ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Task Instructions ◽  
Learning Tasks ◽  
3D Virtual Worlds ◽  
3D Virtual World ◽  
Problem Solving Task

This chapter investigates whether a problem-solving task with an environment exploration component mediates learner autonomy in a 3D virtual world (VW). Two groups of English as a foreign language (EFL) learners were to collect information by exploring the 3D VW and eliciting information from player avatars to complete the task. An analysis of student interaction reveals that only one of the groups acted as autonomous learners by generating new topics based on their observations in the environment; eliciting information and controlling the topics when interacting with the player avatars; and initiating repair leading to input modification, negotiation of meaning, and modification of output. Results suggest that learner autonomy could be promoted in 3D VWs by improving the clarity of task instructions and by designing learning tasks in such a way that students would be able to complete the tasks only if they share their observations with peers and player avatars.

scholarly journals Learner Autonomy and EFL Learning at the Tertiary Level in Vietnam

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Thi Cam Le Nguyen
Keyword(s):  
Academic Achievement ◽  
Pilot Study ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Learner Autonomy ◽  
High Achievers ◽  
Second Phase ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Three Phases

<p>There has been a growing interest in the role of learner autonomy (LA) in language teaching and learning. Over the last twenty years, researchers have extensively explored LA in a range of settings and have developed various approaches to fostering it both as a means to language learning and as an end in itself. This study attempts to investigate LA in the Vietnamese EFL context, and to explore the relationship between LA and language learning results. In this study, LA was conceptualised and operationally defined as learner self-initiation and learner self-regulation. The research was composed of three phases. The pilot study looked at the range of activities, and the amount of time devoted to learning English by 388 Vietnamese English majors of different levels of academic achievement. It identified differences in LA among students of different year levels as well as LA at two types of tertiary institutions in Vietnam. In the first phase, an exploratory correlational study was conducted among 177 students to comprehend features of LA as demonstrated by these students, their preferred self-initiated activities both inside and outside the classroom, and the relationship between each aspect of LA and language proficiency. In the second phase, an intervention study was conducted with the participation of 37 students in an experimental group, and 54 students in two control groups. Phase two explored the efficacy of a learner-based approach to promoting LA with a focus on strategy-based instruction. The three phases revealed several important findings. The pilot study discovered that the level of autonomy was related to students' level of academic achievement but not to their year level. In addition, autonomy seemed to be affected by the social setting in which it was exercised. In Phase one, the findings revealed that Vietnamese learners' self-initiation efforts mainly concentrated on covert learning in class. Outside the classroom, these learners preferred to undertake receptive rather than productive activities, and tended to avoid social interaction. Moreover, most aspects of LA positively and significantly correlated with EFL proficiency measures. Lastly, the task-specific training of self-regulation in Phase two resulted not only in significantly improved writing scores but also in greater LA. However, these metacognitive skills in writing did not seem to transfer to other areas of language learning, although improvements in writing were maintained in a delayed test. Overall, the study suggests that LA appears to be linked positively to language proficiency. High achievers are more likely to be autonomous learners. Most importantly, training learners in metacognitive regulation improved learners' writing ability and their autonomy in learning.</p>

Negotiation of Form Among the Displaced

2020 ◽  
pp. 179-200
Author(s):  
Alexander H. Jones
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Mixed Methods ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
International Language ◽  
Teacher Student ◽  
Student Dialogue ◽  
Effective Form ◽  
Metalinguistic Feedback ◽  
Clarification Request ◽  
Better Than

This chapter presents a mixed-methods study of error sequences in an English as a Second Language (ESL) classroom comprised of refugees from multiple countries to answer the question: What does the negotiation of feedback look like among displaced, preliterate learners? Teacher-student dialogue at an international language learning centre was recorded and coded, totalling 12.5 hours of data. A total of 146 error sequences consisted of a learner error, followed by the teacher's feedback and the student's uptake. Results show that when content errors occurred among this population, elicitation, feedback that many scholars suggest is the most effective form, is not as effective as metalinguistic feedback. The reasons for this difference are consequently explored. Findings also indicate that certain types of feedback (metalinguistic feedback, elicitation, clarification request) lead to self-repair better than others (recast, explicit correction).

Task-Based Language Learning and Learner Autonomy in 3D Virtual Worlds

2019 ◽  
pp. 669-692
Author(s):  
Iryna Kozlova
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Learner Autonomy ◽  
Negotiation Of Meaning ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Task Instructions ◽  
Learning Tasks ◽  
3D Virtual Worlds ◽  
3D Virtual World ◽  
Problem Solving Task

This chapter investigates whether a problem-solving task with an environment exploration component mediates learner autonomy in a 3D virtual world (VW). Two groups of English as a foreign language (EFL) learners were to collect information by exploring the 3D VW and eliciting information from player avatars to complete the task. An analysis of student interaction reveals that only one of the groups acted as autonomous learners by generating new topics based on their observations in the environment; eliciting information and controlling the topics when interacting with the player avatars; and initiating repair leading to input modification, negotiation of meaning, and modification of output. Results suggest that learner autonomy could be promoted in 3D VWs by improving the clarity of task instructions and by designing learning tasks in such a way that students would be able to complete the tasks only if they share their observations with peers and player avatars.

scholarly journals Pedagogy of cooperation of the 1980s as an innovative practice

2021 ◽  
Vol 53 (5) ◽  
pp. 620-630
Author(s):  
Vladimir B. Pomelov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Self Regulation ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
Educational Practice ◽  
Student Work ◽  
Teacher Student ◽  
Student Dialogue ◽  
Personal Approach ◽  
Best Teachers ◽  
Creative Self ◽  
Main Ideas

Introduction. The relevance of the research topic lies in the possibility of using the axiological and didactic potential of the pedagogy of cooperation in modern domestic educational practice. The purpose of the article is to give a scientific assessment of the movement of innovative teachers that arose in the second half of the 1980s in the USSR on the wave of "perestroika" and the reform of the domestic general educational and vocational schools. Materials and methods. The author uses an axiological approach that allows identifying the most valuable content in the studied phenomenon that can enter the main fund of science. Methods – a retrospective and comparative historical analysis of the works of innovative teachers, a method of analytical grouping of the studied material, as well as a historical and typological method that allows you to define the main content lines of the pedagogical phenomenon under consideration. Results. The socio-political reasons that led to the emergence of the movement of innovative teachers in the 1980s are characterized. The most important of them were state resolutions that proclaimed the mandatory nature of general secondary education, which, in turn, stimulated the research search of the best teachers in the country in the direction of finding new forms and methods of educational practice. The main ideas of the pedagogy of cooperation are briefly described. These include the ideas of the content of the child's personality and personal approach to him, the development of his creative and performing abilities, the ideas of a difficult goal, support in learning, quick assessment of student work, free choice of the type of task by the child. The innovative teachers attached great importance to the implementation in practice of their work of the ideas of "reincarnation of a child into a teacher", advance in the study of educational material, teaching in large blocks, as well as the ideas of the children's half of the day, the selection of the appropriate form of the lesson, introspection, creating an intellectual background of the class, collective creative education, creative productive work, creative self-management, self-respect and self-regulation, the uniqueness of each child, teacher-student dialogue, cooperation with parents and colleagues. Conclusion. The scientific and practical heritage of the founders of the pedagogy of cooperation is of considerable value for education and pedagogy, and deserves further study.

scholarly journals Learning Space-Based Initiatives for Developing Learner Autonomy: Design And Implementation

2016 ◽  
pp. 69-71
Author(s):  
Katherine Thornton
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Learner Autonomy ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Metacognitive Skills ◽  
Learning Spaces ◽  
Learning Space ◽  
Teacher Student

Recently, traditionally resource-heavy self-access centres have increasingly been reinvented as social learning spaces (Allhouse, 2014; Murray & Fujishima, 2013), usually with a greater emphasis on peer interaction and communication in the target language. By elevating the communication aspect of a language learning space, however, there is a danger that the important task of developing metacognitive skills gets sidelined in favour of simply developing language proficiency through peer or teacher-student interaction. Language learning spaces that set themselves up as conversation lounges are missing a big opportunity to do so much more than just develop language proficiency in users. Learner autonomy should be a central mission of any language learning space. Indeed, a language learning space can be an ideal milieu for supporting learners to become autonomous. Unlike in the classroom, users of self-access and other non-classroom learning spaces already have a sense of being in control of their learning choices, even if they are not entirely sure how to exercise that control. It is therefore vital that support is offered to guide and support learners, and this support can take many formats. The best forms of support do not simply attempt to help learners make single learning decisions such as which materials to choose or service to use, but to support their long-term development as autonomous language learners.

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