INDIVIDUAL AND GROUP AUTONOMY IN DIFFERENTIATED ESP INSTRUCTION OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY STUDENTS

Abstract

This study was aimed to check the effectiveness of links between individual and group autonomy of information technology (IT) students who studied ESP at university with the use of differentiated tasks. The mixed type of research was used. The study was held in 2020-2021 academic year and involved 40 IT students of the Physics and Technology Department of National Technical University of Ukraine “Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute”. For the purpose of the study we used a three-degree individual autonomy model involving the partial autonomy, semi-autonomy and conditionally full autonomy degrees, and a two-degree group autonomy including the minimum and relatively maximum degrees. Both models were based on the criteria of motivation; goal, content and procedure; control and reflection. The significantly and insignificantly effective links between individual and group autonomy of IT students in differentiated ESP instruction were identified. The relatively maximum degree of group autonomy combined with individual semi-autonomy of IT students, as well as the relatively maximum degree of group autonomy combined with conditionally full individual autonomy of IT students were found significantly effective. In contrast, the combinations of the minimum degree of group autonomy with partial individual autonomy of IT students, as well as the minimum degree of group autonomy with conditionally full individual autonomy of IT students were found insignificantly effective. It was concluded that the promotion of the individual and group autonomy in differentiated ESP instruction should be based on individual characteristics of students.