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- Giving learners opportunities to exercise their
independence;
- Helping learners to develop learning strategies so that they
can exercise their independence; - Helping learners to become more aware of
language as a system so that they can understand many of the learning
techniques available and learn sufficient grammar to understand simple
reference books;
- Sharing with learners something of what we know about
language learning so that they have a greater awareness of what to expect from
the language learning task and how they should react to problems that erect
barriers to learning.( Dickinson 1992:330)
In the same regard, Littlewood (1996) focuses on the
teacher's role in promoting learner autonomy. According to him:
«... a teacher might, for example, concentrate
on building up the learner's confidence in communication or on knowledge
involved in learning and, more specifically, learning
strategies.»
(Littlewood, 1996:431-434)
Whereas Dam (2011) claims that the teacher's role in the
enhancement of learner autonomy is «To make students both willing and
capable to make over the responsibility of learning, i.e. planning, carrying
out the plans, and evaluating the outcome.». (Dam
2011:41) However, Little (1995) sees that teachers need to be aware of their
responsibilities in order to be successful in implementing and reinforcing
learner autonomy. This requires the teachers' willingness to change, and
negotiate with their students in the classroom. In addition, he puts emphasis
on the teachers' new roles to enhance autonomous learning:
«I believe that all truly effective learning
entails the growth of autonomy in the learner as regards both the process and
the content of learning; but I also believe that for most learners the growth
of autonomy requires stimulus, insight and guidance of a good teacher.»
(Little, 2000:18)
Besides, Little suggests three basic pedagogical norms to foster
learner autonomy especially in language classrooms:
- Learner involvement. is to
make learners engaged in the learning process through sharing responsibility
(affective and metacognitive dimensions);
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- Learner reflection: helping
learners to reflect on the process of planning, monitoring and assessing their
learning (metacognitive dimension);
- Appropriate target language use:
the target language can be used as a fundamental instrument for language
learning (communicative and metacognitive dimensions).
According to Kohonen, «once they feel that they are
appreciated and their abilities trusted, they can gain a feeling of ownership
and responsibility of their own learning.» (Kohonen, 1992:32). In other
words, learners need to be encouraged and stimulated by their teacher who
should trust their capacities in order to give them a sense of self-confidence
which contributes effectively in raising their autonomy.
Moreover, Lewis and Reinders (2008) agree about some
practical tips which help teachers in promoting learner autonomy in language
classroom. Firstly, they see that language teachers should support the
collaborative learning through encouraging pair and group works, and making
their learners aware of the importance of such learning in improving their
language level and developing their learning skills. Secondly, teachers should
offer more opportunities for their learners to let them assess their language
learning by themselves through working independently, but under the teacher's
guidance and help. Thirdly, teachers have to provide their learners with the
reflective tools for self-assessment such as; diaries and portfolios which make
them reflect on their learning, and thus become more interested in. However,
Kumaravadivelu (2003) states that there are certain tips by which learners can
develop their independence and enhance their autonomy in formal language
learning. These tips can be summarized in the following points:
- Think in a critical way, act independently and make decision
concerning the learning process; - Look for more knowledge about the learning
process;
- Be responsible for learning and choose the appropriate
strategies in order to attain the learning objectives;
- Develop self-control and self-discipline ,which lead to
self-esteem and self-confidence ;
- Be more independent of the teacher and the educational
system;
- Interact with one's self, the teacher, the task, and the
educational environment.
(Kumaradivelu, 2003:133)
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