scholarly journals Promoting Autonomous, Collaborative English learning Practices and Fostering Greater Learner Autonomy among Secondary Students in Hong Kong

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hoi Wing Chan
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Secondary Students ◽  
Learner Autonomy ◽  
English Learning ◽  
Passive Learning ◽  
Learning Practices ◽  
Multiple Case ◽  
Hong Kong English

Learner autonomy can be referred as an individual’s ability and responsibility to take charge of his or her own learning, which is important to language learning. In Hong Kong, English is more like a foreign language. It is considered as the high variety and speaking the language in a non-required situation is always associated with a negative connotation of being arrogant. To most local people, it is a language learned in a classroom and is seldom used for communicative purposes. Meanwhile, Hong Kong classrooms are featured with teacher-centred, examination-oriented teaching, and passive learning. These factors make the taking up of chances of practising the language with Cantonese-speaking peers in outside of class situations and the development of learner autonomy very difficult. However, out-of-class learning is essential to language learning and learner autonomy. In this multiple-case study, the case participants were asked to reveal their approaches to overcoming challenges, engaging in collaborative English learning practices, and developing greater autonomy. In this paper, their ways to tackle the difficulties of participating in out-of-class English practices with peers and develop learner autonomy, will be discussed.

Creating autonomous learners in the teaching of English as a second language (ESL) in Zimbabwean secondary schools : a reality or a myth?

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 103-132
Author(s):  
Rungamirai Matiure ◽  
Erick Nyoni
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Second Language ◽  
Multiple Case Study ◽  
Document Analysis ◽  
Learner Autonomy ◽  
Case Study Design ◽  
Midlands Province ◽  
Multiple Case ◽  
Comprehensive Framework

This study explored the utility of the learner autonomy concept in the Zimbabwean O Level English as a Second Language (ESL) classroom focusing on three Gweru urban high schools of the Midlands Province. The researchers intended to establish whether learner autonomy was a reality or just a myth in Zimbabwean classrooms. A qualitative multiple case study design was applied focusing on teaching strategies, availability of resources, challenges faced and ways of optimising it. Questionnaires and document analysis were used for data collection. The findings revealed that the concept did not manifest in explicit terms, the learners did not participate in decision making, and the teachers were not adequately prepared to administer autonomous processes with students. For it to be a reality, the Education Ministry is recommended to establish a comprehensive framework of how autonomous learning should be implemented. Teacher training should explicitly focus on how to develop autonomous learners. Teachers ought to be flexible enough to accommodate learners' contributions towards their learning.

scholarly journals Vocabularies of Citizenship: West Coast Secondary Students Describe Their Civic Subjectivities, Skills, and Classrooms

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jamie Elbert
Keyword(s):  
Secondary Students ◽  
Social Identity Theory ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Popular Narrative ◽  
Civic Skills ◽  
Multiple Case ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Support Students

Canada’s changing geopolitical landscape will require a generation of engaged and active citizens. Citizenship education in British Columbia must negotiate conflicting narratives while opening spaces for students to develop civic skills and subjectivities. Given negative program reviews, empirical evidence for the impact of identity - especially group identifications - on behaviours and beliefs, and continued low youth political engagement, there is a great need to understand how citizenship and civic subjectivities are constructed in real school contexts in order to gain insight into how secondary civics classrooms might support students’ active political voices and development of efficacious subjectivities. This article reports preliminary results from a large mixed methods, multiple-case study project. The data reported here focuses on students (n = 64) from two purposefully sampled secondary school classrooms on Vancouver Island: a special civics program, and a regular stream Social Studies classroom in the same school. Data collection consisted of a class-wide online survey near the beginning of the course. Grounded in the larger understandings of social identity theory and rooted cosmopolitanism, qualitative data from open-ended questionnaire responses analyzed with a constant comparative coding technique explored the extent to which students construct regional, national, or global notions of citizenship. A preliminary report of quantitative items investigates the level of conflict present between levels of identification and suggests avenues for future research. Examined against previous research and the theory of rooted cosmopolitanism, this project aims to question the popular narrative of youth apathy and to describe the ways in which students characterize their civic subjectivities. In giving voice to student perspectives on their civic selves and their Civics classrooms, this study aims to contribute to more representative classrooms and pedagogies.

scholarly journals EXPLORING REASONS BEHIND JOINING ENGLISH LANGUAGE CENTERS (ELC): A CASE STUDY OF PASHTO SPEAKING UNDERGRADUATES IN QUETTA CITY

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zainab Akram, Hina Arfeen, Khadija Karim
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
Longitudinal Research ◽  
Expanding Circle ◽  
Multiple Case ◽  
Multiple Case Studies ◽  
Spss Software ◽  
Good Environment ◽  
Instrumental Reasons

English language centers prove to be very helpful in being one of the major contributors of English language learning in expanding circle countries of concentric model introduced by Kachru (1989). This study undertakes the theory presented by Stephen Kreshan (1981, 1982) “monitor model” which is basically amalgamation of five hypotheses. This very endeavor was done through quantitative mode of inquiry utilizing survey questionnaire as an instrument for data collection. Total population was Pashto speaker students of Quetta city and sample size comprised of 100 undergraduates, particularly, the Pashto speakers, from Quetta city. Collected data was analyzed through SPSS software. The Findings show various reasons behind students joining English language centers. Some of them include good environment of ELC, along with several academic, personal, and instrumental reasons. It is recommended that in future the research could be expanded to multiple case studies comprising Pashto speakers and multilingual, longitudinal research and comparative study between teaching English at school and language centers.   

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