The impact of increased student choice on learner autonomy in a second -year Spanish course
Abstract
This study considers learner and teacher perspectives about the interjection of more student control in the classroom. Extending more decision-making and choice in the learning process to students is a central principle in theoretical formulations of learner autonomy. In this high-intermediate Spanish class, students completed three choice plans or choice projects during the semester. Each one corresponded to a three-week cycle during which they selected the content and materials to prepare for a culminating presentation to the class. The presentation was required, but the manner in which it was developed and executed was at the discretion of the learners. In addition, learners participated in self-evaluation of their work, another tenet of learner autonomy. Although participants reported some difficulties adapting to this initiative, primarily a discomfort with self-evaluation and tension between the choice and non-choice elements of the course, the overall response was favorable. Particularly salient findings include participants' emphasis on the increased creativity, target-language use, and role reversal between student and teacher that choice added to the course. These and other findings are discussed in relation to theoretical conceptions of learner autonomy and the researcher suggests that the choice component, along with some other aspects of the teacher's instruction, did, in fact, assist learners in engaging in numerous autonomous learning activities to varying degrees. In addition, it is also suggested that this choice approach, and other similar ones, can play an important role in differentiating intermediate from basic-level instruction in the Foreign Language curriculum.
Degree
Ph.D.
Advisors
Garfinkel, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Language arts
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