College English Teachers’ Roles in Fostering Learner Autonomy in the Context of Blended Learning - An Empirical Research from the Perspective of Students based on SPSS 25.0

Abstract

Previous research has revealed that learner autonomy depends on teachers’ roles. Yet, College English teachers’ roles in fostering learner autonomy in blended learning context remains understudied. The present research seeks to investigate the ideals and realities of College English teachers’ roles in promoting learner autonomy in blended learning classes. Quantitative research method is adopted in the study. Two questionnaires with Likert-scale were administered to 100 undergraduate students. The collected data were processed in SPSS 25.0. Descriptive analyses of the collected data were carried out to reveal students’ expectations of teachers’ roles and teachers’ real practices while a paired-samples t-test was conducted to figure out whether there is a significant difference between students’ expectations and teachers’ real practices. The findings reveal that, in the blended learning context, teachers are expected to play diverse roles in fostering students’ learning autonomy, and the roles of teachers that students expect most are a resource provider, counselor and techno-literate person. However, teachers as a assessor, facilitator and guide are much less expected by students. Teachers’ real practices mostly show no conformity with students’ expectations, which indicates that teachers fail to meet the need of students. Suggestions are made to foster students’ autonomy in the blended learning context.