EFL high school teachers’ beliefs and practices of learner autonomy

Abstract

This paper aimed to investigate the beliefs and practices regarding learner autonomy (LA) among the Vietnamese EFL teachers at high schools. Data were collected from the survey and the interviews. A total of 136 EFL teachers from high schools across Vietnam completed the questionnaires, and 10 of them participated in the interviews later. The results showed that the participants expressed positivity towards LA and preferred sociocultural and psychological modes of LA, but some of them did not have sufficient knowledge of LA. The teachers perceived that their students did not possess a reasonable level of LA. Those teachers made efforts to promote LA in the English classes and found it challenging because of learners, teachers, family, and institutional factors when implementing LA. The implications are then put forward for the improvement of LA among high school students at three different levels of the individual teacher, management, and the decision-making process.