An Investigation Into Learners’ Autonomy At An Institution In Vietnam

Abstract

The study employed a mixed method research design to investigate the self-perceived levels of learners’ autonomy at the institution where the researcher works. The study also explores the teachers’ support in fostering students’ autonomy. In addition, the study attempts to determine the relationship between genders, learning styles and the learners’ levels of autonomy. The main findings reveal that the level of learners’ autonomy where the study was conducted was at medium level (M = 2.66 out of 5.0 scale). In terms of the students’ perception of their teachers’ roles in fostering students’ autonomy, the finding of the current study reveals that it was quite supportive (M = 3.29 out of 5.0 scale). The finding also indicated that the difference in level of autonomy is not significant between male and female students (M = 2.667 for male compared with M = 2.668 for female students). Finally, the result showed that there a statistically significant difference in the levels of autonomy between students with different learning styles. To be specifically, the students who prefer kinesthetic learning style possess the highest level of autonomy (M = 2.75) compared with M = 2.60 and 2.59 for visual and individual learning style students. M=2.72; M=269 and M=2.62 are the level of autonomy for group, tactile and auditory students respectively.