Efficiency, feasibility and desirability of learner autonomy based on teachers' and learners' point of views

Abstract

Learner autonomy has been a recent trend in education which highlights the students' engagement in their own learning. Although over the past 30 years, a large body of research has been carried on learner autonomy, limited attention has been paid to the sense teachers in comparison to learners would make of this concept. The present study is an attempt to shed light on the general existing pattern of the way teachers and learners view learner autonomy. To do so, applying the convenience method of sampling, a structured questionnaire consisting of five sections was emailed to most of the teachers teaching English as a foreign language in Isfahan, Iran. In order to have a more precise analysis, an interview was carried out to see what reasons are behind the participants' answers. Employing the referential statistics, the results indicated that nearly all the teachers and learners agreed on the fact that learner autonomy allows language learners to learn more efficiently than they otherwise would. Furthermore, in relation to desirability and feasibility of learner autonomy, almost all the participants agreed that it is more desirable than feasible. The findings of this study might benefit those teachers and institution officials interested in enhancing learning autonomy among their students and even educating themselves or the other teachers to make use of it practically in classrooms. © 2014 ACADEMY PUBLISHER Manufactured in Finland.