scholarly journals Through an English Teacher’s Eyes: Self-Directed Learning and Advising in Language Education E-Conference

2021 ◽  
pp. 301-306
Author(s):  
Ezgi Celik Uzun
Keyword(s):  
Distance Education ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
The Self ◽  
English Teacher ◽  
Self Directed Learning ◽  
Directed Learning ◽  
Learning Issues ◽  
Education Conference

In this review, I aim to convey my ideas on the Self-Directed and Advising in Language Education Conference from an English teacher’s point of view. I watched both plenary sessions and some of the concurrent sessions in which I learned a lot. I will briefly mention the topics in the plenary sessions and concurrent sessions, my related ideas, and the implications I drew. I attended the conference as an English teacher seeking solutions for learners’ language learning issues and the specific problems that I personally faced during distance education times. This event encouraged me to reflect more deeply about education during post-COVID times, which, I believe, underlines the importance of self-directed learning and advising in language learning.

scholarly journals A Review of The Plenary Talks on Advising and Self-Directed Learning: Two Important Systems for Learner Autonomy

2021 ◽  
pp. 295-300
Author(s):  
Neslihan Atcan Altan
Keyword(s):  
Interest Group ◽  
Special Interest ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Learner Autonomy ◽  
The Self ◽  
The Other ◽  
International Studies ◽  
Self Directed Learning ◽  
Directed Learning ◽  
Education Conference

This paper presents a review of the plenary talks at the Self-Directed Learning and Advising in Language Education Conference, one primarily on advising by Jo Mynard of Kanda University of International Studies and the other on self-directed learning by Lawrie Moore-Walter and Christian Ludwig of IATEFL Learner Autonomy Special Interest Group. It offers a brief overview of both sessions as well as underlining the highlights and the takeaways.

scholarly journals Introduction to the Special Issue

2021 ◽  
pp. 190-194
Keyword(s):  
Interest Group ◽  
Special Interest ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Learner Autonomy ◽  
Foreign Languages ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Self Directed Learning ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Directed Learning ◽  
Education Conference

Self-Directed Learning and Advising in Language Education Conference organized by IATEFL Learner Autonomy Special Interest Group (LASIG) and Ankara Yildirim Beyazit University School of Foreign Languages, Turkey (AYBU SFL) took place online on 24 April 2021. It was originally planned as a face-to-face event in 2019, yet it was postponed to a later date due to the global outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic.

scholarly journals A Framework for Curriculum Reform: Re-designing a Curriculum for Self-directed Language Learning

2013 ◽  
pp. 142-153 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Curriculum Reform ◽  
Curriculum Design ◽  
The Self ◽  
International Studies ◽  
Self Directed Learning ◽  
Environment Analysis ◽  
Design Project ◽  
Directed Learning

Welcome to this new SiSAL column, which will examine a long-term project conducted at one institution in depth over several issues. The focus of this column will be the curriculum design project currently being undertaken at the Self-Access Learning Centre (SALC) at Kanda University of International Studies (KUIS) in Chiba, Japan. In my role as Academic Coordinator of the SALC from 2011-2013, I was in charge of leading this project in its initial stages, before I moved institution. As editor, it is from this perspective, as someone familiar but no longer directly involved in the project, that I hope to collate and introduce a number of columns from the learning advisors and teachers who are conducting the research and designing the new self-directed learning curriculum. In this first installment, a revision of an earlier article which first appeared in the IATEFL Learner Autonomy SIG newsletter, Independence, (Thornton, 2012) I present the background to the project, the framework used to guide it and the results of the first stage, the environment analysis.

scholarly journals Self-directed Learning in Preparatory-year University Students: Comparing Successful and Less-successful English Language Learners

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (7) ◽  
pp. 59
Author(s):  
Fatimah M. A. Alghamdi
Keyword(s):  
English Language Learners ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Cognitive Strategies ◽  
Primary Objective ◽  
The Self ◽  
Self Directed Learning ◽  
Directed Learning ◽  
Preparatory Year

<p>There is consensus among those involved in teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) in the Saudi educational context that students’ achievement in language learning is below expectations. Much research has been directed towards finding the reasons for low achievement amongst learners. However, very few studies have looked at parameters of learners’ agency and learners’ responsibility in the learning process. This study examines learners’ efforts at self-directed learning, measured with reference to a set of behavioral and metacognitive constructs. The primary objective is to diagnose efficiency problems in EFL learning and compare successful learners to those who fail to progress from one academic language level to the next. A secondary objective in this study is to find out if the General Aptitude Test (GAT) score is a predictor of success in language learning.</p><p>The findings reveal significant differences between successful learners and less-successful learners in aggregate self-directedness scores. However, while the analysis of the component constructs shows statistically significant differences between successful and less-successful learners in the self-management and study time measures, differences in the self-monitoring and motivation measures were non-significant. The lack of significant differences between some of the measures is attributed to the relative baseline similarity of the two groups. Moreover, the GAT measure yielded a counter-intuitive result; namely that less-successful learners had higher GAT scores than the successful ones, though the difference wasn’t statistically significant. The study concludes with implications for further research; for example, calling for a larger scale investigation of self-directedness, as well as other meta-cognitive strategies, and the possible relationship of these to GAT scores. Academic coaching of self-directedness and self-regulation strategies for college students is recommended.</p>

scholarly journals The Relationship Between Learners’ Self-directed Learning Readiness and their English for Specific Purposes Course Accomplishment at Distance Education in Iran

2013 ◽  
pp. 73-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Parinaz Mohammadi ◽  
Seyed Mahdi Araghi
Keyword(s):  
Distance Education ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Positive Relationship ◽  
English For Specific Purposes ◽  
Self Directed Learning ◽  
Learning Readiness ◽  
Directed Learning ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Learning Data

The major role of self-directed learning, a sub-division of autonomy, in successful learning at distance education has been informed by various studies. Although learners pass General English courses before studying any ESP courses at distance education in Iran, they sometimes lack the preliminary skills for independent language learning. The current study aimed to explore ESP learners’ self-directed learning readiness (SDLR) and the relationship between SDLR and ESP course accomplishment. Participants were 126 B.A students (33 male and 93 female) studying English for Students of Economy and Management (ESEM) at Tabriz Payam-e-Noor University which is based on distance learning. Data gathered by Guglielmino’s (1978) self-directed learning readiness scale (SDLRS) and a test of ESEM. Data analysis revealed that half of the learners’ SDLR is at an average or below average level, which is likely to be insufficient for conducting successful self-directed language learning (SDLL). Furthermore, the correlation coefficient demonstrated that there is a positive relationship between SDLR and ESP course accomplishment. Therefore, the need for appropriate training to improve learners’ SDLR that directly contributes to a successful ESP learning at distance education in Iran becomes apparent.

scholarly journals Learning without a teacher: self-directed language learning in the digital wilds

2021 ◽  
pp. 43-47
Author(s):  
Ana Beaven
Keyword(s):  
Social Interaction ◽  
Social Networking ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Focus Of Attention ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Self Directed Learning ◽  
Language Classroom ◽  
Production Distribution ◽  
Directed Learning

What is it? Self-Directed Learning (SDL) has been the focus of attention on the part of scholars for at least four decades. However, it is with the advent of technology and the possibilities offered by the Internet that researchers and practitioners have begun to look more closely at what students do autonomously to support their own learning outside of the classroom. Indeed, as Sauro and Zourou (2019) have recently pointed out, “developments in technology – such as mobile devices that afford connection and social interaction anytime and anywhere, social networking offline and online, horizontal patterns of connectivity that allow users to create natural bonds based on shared interests – all offer possibilities for user-driven, self- and group- initiated practices that redraw models of production, distribution, and reuse of knowledge” (p. 1). However, much of the literature on autonomy in language learning focuses on developing autonomy within the language classroom (Dam et al., 1990; Little, Dam, & Legenhausen, 2017; Miller, 2009); and learner practices that take place outside the classroom itself are often seen – at least by language education researchers and practitioners alike – as supplementary to classroom-based teaching.

scholarly journals Accessing the Self in Self-Access Learning: Emotions and Feelings in Language Advising

2013 ◽  
pp. 262-280
Author(s):  
Maria Giovanna Tassinari ◽  
Maud Ciekanski
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Interpersonal Relationship ◽  
The Self ◽  
Self Directed Learning ◽  
Affective Dimension ◽  
Ongoing Research ◽  
Dimensions Of Learning ◽  
Directed Learning ◽  
Affective Dimensions

The importance of the affective dimension and the role of beliefs, self-efficacy and learners’ voices in language learning are recognized in the literature (Arnold, 1999; Brewer, 2006; Ogasa, 2010). Although emotions and feelings seem to play an important role in self-directed language learning (Bown & White, 2010; Candas & Eneau, 2010), little is still known about how to support the affective dimension throughout the self-directed learning process (Aoki, 1999). Clearly, the cognitive and the metacognitive, the subjective and affective dimensions of learning need to be addressed, in a self-access centre, in order to support learners on their road to autonomy. Language advising provides the appropriate arena for this. Within the professional and interpersonal relationship between advisors and learners (Ciekanski, 2007), it is easier to reflect on the affective implications of learning and to help learners to cope with them. Ongoing research into emotions and feelings in advising contexts shows that affect and subjectivity occupy a large proportion of learners’ (and advisors’) discourse. This paper makes a case for integrating reflection on the affective and subjective dimensions of learning, both in the research and in the practice of language advising.

scholarly journals Sharing Stories of Practice in Self-Access Facility Design and Management

2015 ◽  
pp. 216-218
Author(s):  
Katherine Thornton
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
The Self ◽  
International Studies ◽  
Learning Spaces ◽  
Self Directed Learning ◽  
Learning Space ◽  
Learning Modules ◽  
Directed Learning ◽  
The University ◽  
Access Services

Welcome to the new column in SiSAL Journal. So far, this regular column has followed two different institutions as they reconceptualised aspects of their self-access services, in the case of Kanda University of International Studies (Japan), the self-directed learning modules offered through their SALC, and, in the case of the University of Bradford (UK), the reinvention of the self-access facilities as a social learning space. The upcoming column is a much bigger project. It will run for seven volumes of SiSAL Journal. Each issue will address a different aspect of self-access management, through reflective case studies from professionals who work in language learning spaces.

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