Autonomy and Language Learning Behavior: The Role of Student Initiation and Participation in L2 Classrooms

Abstract

There are many different views of what learner autonomy entails. But what does autonomous language<br />learning look like in practice? In this short article we argue that student initiation and participation<br />are crucial to and (one type of) evidence of autonomous language learning.<br />In this study we looked for evidence of student initiation and participation both in classroom and<br />self-study settings. Over a period of 12 months, second language classrooms in several New Zealand<br />language schools were investigated by audio recording classroom interaction at regular intervals.<br />Focus on grammatical items initiated by the students was then matched with performance on post-tests<br />for evidence of acquisition of those items. Also during this period, 42 language advisory sessions were<br />recorded in one university self-access centre. The recordings were analyzed for evidence of student<br />initiated focus on both linguistic items and learning-related issues. The results of these analyses show<br />that student-initiated topics can significantly impact on students’ subsequent learning. These findings<br />corroborate our hypothesis that student initiation, as a measure of involvement in the learning process,<br />can be one of the predictors of learning success. In addition, if active learner participation is seen as a<br />component of autonomy, then this research provides evidence for a link between learner autonomy and<br />learning gains.