One of the main factors that emerged from the teachers’ discussions related to their readiness and ability to work with learners at different levels of competence and motivation for learning within the same classroom, whether within a small group or a larger class. Juliette’s attitude and approach to fostering learner autonomy reflected her understanding of the need to support and enhance autonomous competences of both weaker and better learners.
For instance the Form 2 learners will work within such a plan, they get the worksheet, the CD, and they do their work at home but then there are others who come to school without their work. The latter do not bring any work to class however I realise that this is not due to carelessness but due to the fact that they are unable to work independently. In such an eventuality I would conduct an extra session with them at school (Juliette, Interview, January 2014).
Juliette realised that learners were not conscious of the need to support the autonomy of others in class to help them develop their language competences and move from the stage of learning that they were at. On one occasion at the beginning of the scholastic year, a group of learners in Juliette’s classroom stayed on after class, perturbed by the fact that she had praised a learner of lower academic achievement. Juliette explained to them that her expectations of learning outcomes hinged on the learners’ competences in the language, maintaining the need to support learners at different levels to enhance their learning potential. She furthermore demanded the better language learners’ support and understanding in relation to classmates who required assistance in this regard and discussed different learning outcomes for different learners. Learners readily accepted the teacher´s mind-set and agreed that all efforts in class ought be respected and acknowledged not only by the teacher but also by themselves as classmates. More knowledgeable learners assumed the role of helping others with their work in mixed-ability groupings and were encouraged to
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assume roles of responsibility to clarify things and interact with others in the group. In so doing, she encouraged learners to embrace an inclusive approach to teaching and learning, evident in the teacher’s tacit recounting of situations of classroom practice which reflected respect for the autonomy of others.
Sensitivity and respect for learners’ varied levels of autonomy was equally evident at several instances during May’s inquiry within her work with the diverse learners she taught. May noted how she had altered her planning in view of the more effective learners’ ability to take control of their learning. One such occasion occurred during the second part of the study when she gained access to internet in the classrooms and was able to make use of online resources during lessons. During a topic on food and drink the smaller group of Form 4 and Form 3 learners worked on online listening tasks, embracing the possibility of working on such tasks in class. However the larger Form 4 group of learners described by the teacher as more autonomous, felt demotivated when working with one laptop and interactive whiteboard in class preferring to engage independently on these tasks at home. May altered her approach with the groups stating that,
in another topic, on the Akkusativ, I worked differently, providing them with links that I used in class with the smaller groups which [the larger Form 4 class] gladly accessed from home (May, Interview, October 2013).
May noted that enabling learners to take charge of learning rather than tying them down to her rigidly planned teaching and learning agenda, enabled the better learners to work at the level and pace that suited their needs and motivation for learning.
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4.6.3.1 Overview of research question 3: addressing possibilities
The following table illustrates possibilities sought and uncovered during the process of inquiry.
Table 4.5
Addressing possibilities
Negotiating the teaching and learning agenda: tapping into learner readiness for autonomy
Negotiating aspects of both in- and out-of-class learning: nurturing learner readiness Open culture of learning: embrace less formal teaching and learning environments
Doing away with traditional approaches to teaching and learning in view of learners’ preferred modes of learning: creating spaces for collaborative work following discussion with learners
Devising ways of supporting learners through their work in class
Flexibility to manoeuvre around the teaching and learning agenda
Enabling learners to direct the teaching and learning agenda and address their learning requirements Create space for learners to work on language areas they themselves propose
Work with and provide a bank of material and resources for learning according to emerging needs Incorporating tasks that learners deem vital to their learning: providing learners with a sense of security in learning through the use of tasks of their choice
Creating space for learner talk: listening to learner voices
Creating an environment that nurtures learner talk: sustain collaboration and interaction Help learners express language learning requirements and preferred modes of learning Tap into areas learners are ready to invest time on: provide material and support required Discuss, plan and give space for implementation of tasks
Gain insight into spaces required by learners to direct their learning paths: help learners address gaps in learning they themselves problematise for the development of language competences
Detecting areas to work on through teacher-learner and learner-learner dialogue
Building confidence in language learning and language use
Building on what learners felt confident to help them venture with learning
Negotiating tasks at a level learners can master
Show learners how to break down tasks to master tasks set; eg. use of writing frames Tapping into individual learner capabilities; e.g. learner creativity
Linking in- and out of class learning
Maximising time for learning: space and time required to help learners address their needs beyond lesson time
Providing access to material and resources created by teacher and learners during lesson time Acknowledging and enabling learners to amalgamate independent learning activities to classroom Learning: encouraging learners to share their independent out-of-class learning activities with peers in class
Cultivating respect and support for learners’ varied levels of autonomy
Support level of autonomy of both the weaker and better learners: finding ways of working with leaners
of varied learning competences and motivation for learning
Nurturing the value of respect and support for the autonomy of others: raising learner consciousness of the need to support and respect the autonomy of others
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4.7 Conclusion
In this chapter I have portrayed illustrations of practice that emerged from the teachers’ findings of inquiry in-and-on classroom practice around the three research questions of the study that addressed the process of fostering learner autonomy, namely that of:
- critically looking at aspects that they problematized in their practice in this regard and understandings gained as a result of the inquiry,
- outcomes and reflections from the inquiry regarding aspects teachers deemed conducive to FL teaching and learning during the course of inquiry,
- constraints and possibilities encountered during the process of teacher inquiry.
The chapter provided an overview of findings related to each of the research questions, however the overlap between the various aspects discussed point at the interrelation between the questions. The iterative nature of the inquiry process moreover points at a journey of inquiry that was not always initiated by the problematisation of factors. The non- linearity of the inquiry provided teachers with the opportunity to revisit a number of emerging factors from multiple perspectives.
The depiction of findings regarding constraints and possibilities indicate that while some learners learned to be more autonomous and benefited from the approach to teaching and learning adopted by their teachers, the process did not yield the same results with all learners at the same degree. Within such a picture, in particular with regards to the latter more reluctant learners, the teachers retained their focus through the knowledge that ‘autonomy is not an all or nothing construct’. The next chapter brings together the various elements that contributed to the research journey and draws the conclusions of the study.
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