Thai Teacher’s Beliefs in Developing Learner Autonomy: L2 Education in Thai University

            The research presented investigated the implications implications of the teacher attitudes and professional experiences in six main aspects: their understanding of LA; the contribution of LA to L2 learning; the desirability and feasibility in promoting LA; their attitudes towards their students’ LA; their roles in promoting LA; and the obstacles they face in helping their students become autonomous.

Psychology and politics are two major factors influence LA while social and technical are the supporting ones. From the result for the first research question What does learner autonomy mean to Thai EFL teachers at the university level?, it was found that most teachers do support the implementation of learner autonomy in university level. The internal factors is the greatest factor in fluencing LA. Those are intention, motivation, and cognition. The second result in answering the question To what extent, according to Thai teachers, does LA contribute to L2 learning? The result showed that they do agree that an autonomous learner is a beginning of a successful learner. If they autonomous, mean that they can learn and find their own strategy, they will know their objective well and achieve it. The third research question is How desirable and feasible do Thai teachers feel it is to promote learner autonomy? The result indicated that they are willing of LA yet they are pesimistic towards the feasibility of implementing LA. The fourth To what extent do Thai teachers feel their learners are autonomous? Most teacher were not sure about LA. To what extent do Thai teachers say they actually promote learner autonomy? They promote it if they find learners with low motivation and anxious so they can implement it to him. What Challenges Do Thai Teachers Face In Helping Their Learners To Become More Autonomous? They depend on their teacher too much and make them as the main source of knowledge.

A Commonly Found Question

Question	:	Do you think that we can use vlog as a learning material? If so, what can we do?
Answer	:	We can implement vlog as a learning material as long as it is accordance with the topic. Therefore, the role of the teacher in this context is to choose and limit the specific topic and select the relevant channe such as the topic is simple past tense. Then, we ask them to watch a vlog about travelling or any other past activities. Then, they must identify the language features in simple past tense through the vlog content.

Critical Analysis

All teachers are willing to promote LA. However, they are too pessimistic regarding to the learners’ awareness. They believe that it can direct them into autonomous but the obstacles are hard to be overcome. The students rely on their teacher and make them the main and only source of their information and knowledge. As a note, before asking the students to be autonomous, the teacher should be first autonomous. It means that she has to acquire more information by joining seminar or converence. Indeed, she must be a role and an aexample for her students.

References

Barnard and Li. 2016. Language Learner Autonomy: Teachers’ Beliefs and Practices in Asia Context. Phnom Pehn: Ankor Thom Printer Co. Ltd.

http://hilltribechildren.weebly.com/uploads/5/1/9/5/51958651/1094345_orig.jpg