Comparison of Vietnamese Teachers' and Learners' Perceptions of Autonomous Language Learning

• Published in: Sodobna pedagogika Vol. 72; no. 3; pp. 174 - 194
• Main Author: Van Vu, Tuan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ljubljana The Slovenian Association of Eduationalists 01.10.2021
• Subjects: Accountability; Classrooms; Decision making; Language; Language Acquisition; Language teachers; Learning Activities; Learning Processes; Pedagogy; Questionnaires; Responsibilities; Second language learning; Student attitudes; Teacher attitudes; Teaching; Teaching Methods
• ISSN: 0038-0474

This study is a contrastive analysis of Vietnamese teachers' and students' perceptions of autonomous English language learning. The participants were selected from two national universities and one regional university during the first semester of the 2020-21 school year. In total, 370 teacher and 392 student participants were chosen using Slovin's formula (r = ±5%). Questionnaires were administered to these 762 participants via emails embedded with links to a Google form and also as handouts. The questionnaires were adapted from Ustunluoglu (2009); the piloted Cronbach's alpha liability range was 0.9 > a > 0.8 and included three contrastive sections of different areas of learner autonomy: responsibilities, abilities, and activities. Descriptive frequencies and mean were employed to differentiate respondents' perceptions of learner autonomy. The results revealed that the students surrendered their responsibilities to their teachers, while the teachers considered themselves dominant figures who were responsible for their students' learner autonomy. The teachers and students mostly agreed that the students had the abilities to do well in autonomous language learning if they were given opportunities to do so. Furthermore, the findings show a mismatch: the teachers claimed that their students participated in autonomous learning activities to a moderate extent, whereas the students claimed to engage in them at a high level. Therefore, it is necessary to adapt teachers' responsibilities to students' accountability. Both curriculum and practical pedagogical approaches should be adjusted, and students should be encouraged to use authentic learning materials and communicate with native English speakers in English.