Cultural and Situational Constraints on Undergraduate Students’ Performance of Learner Autonomy in EFL Learning
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17507/jltr.1506.04Keywords:
learner autonomy, culture, personal preference, higher educationAbstract
The complexities and variations of learner autonomy in language learning, both conceptually and operationally, have been extensively examined in recent literature. With the current shift towards a social perspective, there is contemporarily greater emphasis on socio-cultural factors and their connection to local contexts. Acknowledging the significant contribution of individual preference, attitude, and motivation from a particular Asian context, the study employed a retrospective approach to understand the factors that mediated EFL students’ performance of learner autonomy in Vietnam, where learning independence has been significantly encouraged recently. The research participants were guided to talk about (i) the learning activities that they had done, (ii) their reflections on those activities, and (iii) their future plans in individual semi-structured interviews. The analysis showed that students’ performance of learner autonomy was basically mediated by attributes at personal and situational and cultural levels. Available learning opportunities, familial expectation, and examination scheme in a certain context appeared to be the most dominant factors in shaping students’ autonomous learning behaviors. Further analyses indicated a significant impact of teachers on students’ adoption of a learning activity or behavior. The study calls for a holistic approach to fostering learner autonomy in the higher education sector in Vietnam and beyond.
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