How can I foster autonomous work in those students from 5th grade C who usually do not work in individual activities?

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(1)School of Education English Department. How can I foster autonomous work in those students from 5th grade C who usually do not work in individual activities? Gustavo Elías S. This research was carried out to obtain a university degree as an English teacher.. Tutor: Carola Pinto Seminar Teacher: Claudio Jaramillo Santiago, Chile. 2016.

(2) Abstract The following action research explores the concept of autonomy and its development in a group of students from 5th grade. The project seeks to find answers and possible ways to solve situations where students are reluctant to work autonomously. The research was done in a subsidized school in La Pintana. The process to collect data was made through ethnographic records, interviews, checklists and self-assessments. The intervention in this research consisted in considering the length of activities, the own interests of students and the distinction between pair and individual work. In terms of results, findings show that students improved their performance after the concepts mentioned before were applied. Key words: Young learners, autonomy, length of activities, pair work vs individual work. Resumen La siguiente investigación – acción explora el concepto de autonomía y su desarrollo en un grupo de estudiantes de 5to grado. El proyecto busca encontrar respuestas y posibles formas de resolver situaciones donde los estudiantes están reacios a trabajar autónomamente. La investigación fue llevada a cabo en un colegio particular subvencionado de La Pintana. El proceso para recolectar datos fue hecho a través de registros etnográficos, entrevistas, listas de chequeo y autoevaluaciones. La intervención en esta investigación consistió en considerar la duración de las actividades, los intereses de los estudiantes y la distinción entre trabajo en parejas y trabajo individual. En relación a los resultados, los hallazgos muestran que los estudiantes mejoraron su desempeño después de que los conceptos mencionados anteriormente fueron aplicados. Palabras claves: Aprendizaje en niños, autonomía, duración, trabajo individual y en parejas. 2.

(3) Acknowledgments First of all, I have to thank my family. My parents and siblings have been a strong support in this process especially when I needed help. Thank you for trusting me. This paper represents the end of a process I started some years ago and during this time I met different people, classmates that became friends and teachers who contributed a lot to my learning. I will never forget those teachers who taught me the importance of reflection. All of them are part of this process and have encouraged my passion for education. Moreover, this year was full of new learnings and challenges. My practicum represented a strong improvement in my professional development. Therefore, I would like to thank my 5th graders; they have been the ones who made this action research possible. I have to recognize that I ended up learning from them. Now, rapport is not just theory; I experienced it and I loved it. I cannot finish without mentioning my host teacher, Gabriela Escobar, who always trusted me. She was always available when I needed help. Thank you for providing your support and being committed with my own process, miss. Thank you all very much.. 3.

(4) Index Introduction __________________________________________________5 Context _____________________________________________________6 Problem _______________________________________________8 Research question _______________________________________9 Rationale ___________________________________________________10 Literature review _____________________________________________13 Methodology ________________________________________________16 Procedures for data collection _____________________________19 Interventions ________________________________________________20 Data analysis ________________________________________________22 Analysis of interventions _________________________________34 Reflections and analysis________________________________________38 Conclusions and implications ___________________________________42 References __________________________________________________45 Appendix __________________________________________________46. 4.

(5) Introduction Nowadays, autonomy is a concept seen as a positive characteristic in every human being. In the educational field, this concept appears as paramount when experts and teachers assume that fostering autonomy is a fundamental step to make learners aware of their own learning process. Having in mind the significance of this concept, one can deduce that autonomy represents a priority when educating children or, at least, it illustrates a transition from heteronomy to a reality where learners can be responsible of their own knowledge. Nonetheless, teachers are the first group that must comprehend the reason why autonomy should be promoted from the very beginning. Undoubtedly, there may be several teachers who have faced complex situations when fostering autonomy in classrooms. We can find or create infinite activities or teach lots of strategies to foster the development of autonomy in learners; nevertheless, every school has a particular context with specific children or adolescents who create a unique atmosphere in every classroom. Every teacher must be able to recognize the fundamental features of every context, since these aspects will be the first step to find the way which conduct to autonomy. The current action research is focused in a group of learners from 5th grade. In this group it was observed that some learners rarely used the instances of autonomous activities to work. Instead, they dedicated their time to do extra activities which did not correspond to the lesson. In this sense, the following action research seeks to find relevant information to understand the main reasons this occurs. Furthermore, the intention is also to find a solution to this problem in order to improve the teaching practice. Finally, this paper represents also an invitation to reflect for those teachers who have faced similar situations in their particular contexts. 5.

(6) Context The school where this action research is conducted is located in La Pintana, Santiago. The school bases its teaching on the Marist doctrine, which has a catholic orientation seeing the Virgin Mary as its main figure to follow. In this sense, the school seeks to evangelize the community. It is a subsidized particular school receiving contributions from a Marist foundation; therefore, parents do not pay money to enrol students in the school.. Considering these aspects, the ultimate goal consists in training students through a technical education so they can feel committed with their environment and become good citizens and Christians. It is a professional technical school which offers education from pre-k to 12th grade. Students from 11th grade can choose from three specialties: administration, electronics and metal constructions. In terms of English, the teaching of the subject begins in 5th grade and in 11th grade English contents are oriented to students´ specialty. The school uses the national curriculum to guide its teaching. Specifically, this action research is conducted in 5th grade C. In this group of students there are 24 girls and 18 boys. Their age ranges from 10 to 11 years old. The sitting arrangement consists in 6 rows and the place where every student sits is determined by a tutor, the teacher in charge of the group. According to some observations such as ethnographic records, the proficiency level of students varies between A1 and A2 since many of them can just understand and respond to basic phrases and routines such as day of the week, numbers, month, year and colors. 6.

(7) The English lesson is commonly structured in pre, while and post stages plus a closure activity. Activities of every stage contain checking comprehension questions and revisions to make sure if students are really comprehending and learning new contents. Instructions are normally given in English; nonetheless, in some instances translation is the tool used to specify what learners are expected to do. In terms of materials, a data is frequently used to show images, videos and instructions as well. Besides, the students´ book is not always required since lessons are not based on its activities. There are several instances where students are asked to work autonomously and these activities take place in any stage. In other words, autonomous work can be required in pre, while or post stages. For example, one of these instances occurs during the process of giving instructions, occasions where students can be asked to work individually. Commonly, these activities are oriented to improve the learning of new vocabulary plus the acquisition of new chunks such as “I like”, “I do not like”, “Yes, I do”, and “No, I do not”. In order to clarify what sort of autonomous activities students develop, the following list shows samples about frequent work students are asked to do . Matching vocabulary with images / multiple choice activities.. . Drawing your favourite food / animal.. . Writing personal preferences with the use of I like – I do not like.. . Filling the blanks with specific information about the unit ( weather, season, temperature). Most of the students usually work and finish autonomous activities on time. However, there is a group who rarely works and tends to concentrate on other things,. 7.

(8) especially when they are required to do this type of work. For instance, some of them stand and walk in the classroom making noise, others start drawing or painting. This is the behaviour that this group often shows. In addition, they rarely finish activities on time and it is complex to include them in revision after activities are done. Problem After analysing the main conditions and how students normally behave in the classroom, the current action research will focus its attention on the last group of students; the ones who rarely complete autonomous work. However, it is important to remark this does not happen when part of the lesson is teacher centred since all students tend to pay attention in these moments. Nevertheless, as it was pointed out before, students who do not work tend to do this during autonomous activities. This basically means students must produce something with the use of the language. In these instances, while the teacher is monitoring students’ work and solving doubts, it is common to see a few students not only walking around the classroom, making noise or talking about personal matters, but also students who are in silence and drawing or reading a book. Therefore, this research aims at this group and how they behave during these instances of work. Additionally, as it was observed in some lessons, this behaviour lasts until the teacher comes to where they are and asks them to do the activities. Nonetheless, this works momentarily since after a few minutes they are doing something different again. Consequently, this represents a problem for the teacher since it consumes important. 8.

(9) minutes of the class in the attempt of achieving these students not only respect the rest of their classmates but work on what they are expected to do.. Research question Taking into consideration all the facts and conditions mentioned before, a research question was created in order to guide this work. How can I foster autonomous work in those students from 5th grade C who usually do not work in individual activities?. 9.

(10) Rationale First of all, as it was mentioned before, every autonomous activity is designed to, at the very end of them, revise students´ learning. Usually, these students do not do activities and do not have any answer during the revision in order to contribute to the lesson. Therefore, they are lost and out of discussion during the closure process of every autonomous activity. In consequence, they are not able to participate or give opinions about what other classmates did. Moreover, the meaningfulness of choosing this problem is not only because these students do not work during autonomous activities, but it also represents a problem to the teacher as well. Considering it is extremely difficult to include these students in the lesson when they are not used to work, the problem here affects the teacher´s work since these students are being left out in the revision stage. Therefore, it is more complex to notice what they actually learned in the lesson. Additionally, another and significant component of choosing this topic is the idea of making students feel they can apply what they have previously learned. Autonomous work comes after the teacher has already taught contents. Therefore, the objective is empower students to use their own knowledge. In order to clarify the problem and its characteristics, it is necessary to mention some key concepts which strongly relate to the issue. Firstly, the main issue identified in this context is related to the concept of autonomous work. Basically, students must produce something based on the contents they have been learning. By setting individual activities where students can use their knowledge, 10.

(11) the teacher can assess them and determine what students are learning and how useful lessons are. Secondly, this action research is focused on children, students from 10 – 11 years old. In consequence, this concept is quite relevant considering that children learn in a different way in terms of how adolescents or adults do. It is important to remark this difference because the way autonomous work is presented might have a different impact depending on the students’ age. At the same time, conducting an action research in this area is beneficial for learners considering the aim is fostering strategies to develop autonomy so they can take these instances of work as fundamental for their learning process. Hence, what is expected as outcome in this research is that students who usually do not work in autonomous instances can use these occasions to demonstrate and practice their knowledge. At the same time, this research will help not only students, but also teachers since it will contribute with alternatives and strategies to deal with contexts where autonomous work is not usual. However, learners are not the only group who will benefit with this research, but also me, since one of my expectations consists in finding ways to deal with this sort of problems as well as tools to prevent this situations happen. In this sense, I also believe that one important contribution will be sharing personal findings with others teachers who probably have faced similar contexts at this school. Finally, the outcomes expected are basically to understand why some students usually do not work in individual activities. There might be several possibilities or reasons that have impacted the way how some students react when they work by themselves. 11.

(12) Moreover, as it was stated before, another outcome is to find solutions and ways to make these students actually complete activities during autonomous work.. 12.

(13) Literature review When we read theory about children and their development in terms of intelligence, we find that Piaget appears as the most prominent figure in this field. Considering his findings and the focus this action research has, the concept of children appears as relevant if we take into account students in this research are 10 -11 years old. Their age fits in what Piaget (1947) called, the concrete operation stage, which occurs between 7 and 11 years. Essentially, in the course of these years, children begin to think more rationally and develop logic thought in terms of objects and their shapes. In this process children learn that some objects change and transform; therefore, they conserve ideas about concrete things (p.139 147). Moreover, Piaget (1932) mentioned that: Autonomy must be one of the paramount goals in education. Thus, from 5 to 10 years old, children are used to be heteronomous, which in other words, means otherdirected in terms of rules and instructions. After 10 years old, these conditions can be contrasted by autonomy where some elements, decisions and activities are negotiated among adults and children. Consequently, children develop autonomy in both moral and intellectual area. (p.355) However, it is crucial to highlight in this point the adult´s role in terms of enabling instances of negotiation with children since adults are the prominent figures that can propitiate instances where both they and children can reach agreements where autonomy is fostered.. 13.

(14) In addition, it is important to remark what some recognized authors say about autonomy and its implications in the classroom. Firstly, when we do research about autonomy, we find considerable definitions and researches associated to it in the educational field. Benson (2001) stated that “To its advocates, autonomy is a precondition for effective learning; when learners succeed in developing autonomy, they not only become better language learners but they also develop into more responsible and critical members of the communities in which they live” (p.1). Moreover, Ur (2007) stated that “Learning a skill basically consists in three stages called verbalization, automatization and autonomy. In this last stage learners continue to use skill on their own, becoming more proficient and creative” (p. 19). Here we can see a clear connection between this point of view and what Piaget and Benson stated in terms of autonomy and the role of education. On the one hand, Piaget saw autonomy as a vital concept in education and it must be developed in both areas moral and intellectual. Benson also described autonomy as fundamental to develop effective learning and make learners more responsible of their own learning process. The connection between what Piaget and Benson stated in terms of autonomy and what Ur considered relevant about this concept is clear since the three of them advocated autonomy in order to achieve proficient and responsible learners. If we analyse these ideas bout autonomy, we find that in these authors there is a positive view about autonomy and they consider it as a final goal in the learning process of students. Nevertheless, according to Harmer (2001), and considering the idea of students working by themselves, there are certain advantages and disadvantages for both the teacher and learners when this type of work is used. On the one hand, he states that: 14.

(15) Individualized learning allows teachers to respond to individual students in terms of pace of learning, learning styles, and preferences. Besides, it is likely to be less stressful for students than performing in a whole-class setting or talking in pairs or groups. On the other hand, individualized learning does not help a class develop a sense of belonging. It does not encourage cooperation in which students may be able to help and motivate each other. (p.115) According to this previous idea of autonomy and its advantages, Harmer (2007) also points out that the abstraction of, say, grammar rules, will be less effective the younger the students are. He states the following: Instead of imposing autonomy, therefore, we need to gradually extend the students' role in learning. At first we will expect them, for example, to make their own dialogues after they have listened to a model on an audio track. Such standard practice (getting students to try out new language) is one small way of encouraging student involvement in learning. We might go on to try to get individual students to investigate a grammar issue or solve a reading puzzle on their own, rather than having things explained to them by the teacher. (p.21) However, as it was observed in Harmer´ writings (2007), “fostering autonomy and self-responsibility does not always work since not all students are capable of being autonomous learners and we should do our best to encourage them to have agency without forcing it upon them” (p22).. 15.

(16) Methodology There are four instruments that will be used to collect data regarding the main issue in this action research. Furthermore, it will be included a description of each instrument and the reason why they are relevant for the purpose of collecting data. At the same time, in the appendix you can find samples of the instruments mentioned. 1) Ethnographic records: The use of this instrument consists in observing and. taking notes about every action in the class context. It is a way to register students´ performance as well as it is a useful tool to write down external factors that might impact students´ performance.. For the purpose of this action. research, the meaningfulness of using ethnographic records as a data collection method is basically the use of a tool that allows getting specific examples of what is going on in specific situations. In this case, ethnographic records might provide rich information about students´ performance during autonomous work activities. Basically, in order to avoid giving names, ethnographic records will use the following language when referring to participants: S: Student, SS: Students and T: Teacher. For the purpose of distinguishing among different students, it will be added a number to each participant. For instance S1 (student 1), S2 (Student 2) and so on. The procedure to use this instrument consists in choosing any instance of autonomous work and write down every relevant aspect for the purpose of the research (See appendix B) 2) Interviews: This instrument basically consists in asking questions to the participants involved in the research. Questions are oriented to get evidence about what they think and feel about the topic. This tool will be useful to this 16.

(17) research, since it will provide not only students´ points of view, but also other teachers´ opinion. Therefore, interviews will be made to teachers and students. In consequence, the reason why this tool was chosen is the aim of getting relevant information about what teachers and students perceive in the use of autonomous work in the classroom. Accordingly, with the use of this instrument the idea is to firstly inform teachers and students the goal of getting that sort of information, which is collecting data to implement strategies in order to improve students´ learning. It is important to highlight that questions must be previously visualized by the interviewees and they can decide whether they want to participate in the interview or not. In order to clarify this process, participants must sign a consent letter where they accept to participate in the interview. In the case of children, parents are in charge of deciding their consent. Therefore, a consent letter will be sent to parents so they can decide what to do. (See appendix C and D). 3) Checklist: It consists in a list of aspects related to the performance of someone or a group of student during a specific activity. The researcher observes the behaviour and performance throughout the process and completes the checklist in order to get evidence. The significance of using a checklist as an instrument to collect data in this research, lays in the fact the main problem is connected to autonomous work. Therefore, the checklist is a tool that will provide opportunities to observe how students perform during autonomous work and what aspects they fulfil or fail to achieve in these instances. Additionally, the use of a checklist in this context is easier to apply since the focus is not the 17.

(18) entire class but a specific group of students. Thus, the checklist will be used with those who tend to not work during autonomous work. Basically, the implementation of this instrument will be done during an activity related to autonomous work and will be carried out by observing students´ behaviour while the instrument is completed. (See appendix E). 4) Self- assessment: This instrument consists in each student assessing their own performance during a specific instance of work. Basically, in a self-assessment sheet, students find statements related to a certain activity or period in the lesson. Students must analyse their own performance in terms of what these asseverations state. Commonly, responsibility, commitment and personal learning are the main topics encompassed in a self-assessment. In this sense, the self-assessment instrument is relevant in this action research due to the fact it will provide crucial data in terms of how students assess themselves after autonomous work was required. In terms of procedures, the self- assessment instance will be carried out after any autonomous activity. Nevertheless, it is extremely important to inform students what the self-assessment is about and the purpose of it. (See appendix F). 18.

(19) Procedures for data collection. The first step to start collecting data is to use the ethnographic record instrument. The reason why this must be the first instrument is basically because it offers the opportunity to be more aware of what is happening in the classroom. The aim is to write down and describe weekly every situation where students are asked to work autonomously. This instrument should provide significant information about frequent or common aspects that might impact students´ work. Secondly, interviews must be done to get extra information about the problem and what others think about it. The idea is to make sure this problem is something relevant for others as well. Thirdly, the checklist is an important step in this research due to the fact it analyses students´ performance without interfering in their common behaviour during the class. In this sense, this instrument is in third place because it provides specific information about specific activities, which contrasts with ethnographic records where many aspects are included. Finally, the self-assessment is the final instrument to be used since it will contribute with significant information after students did an activity. Therefore, to sum up the procedure, the ethnographic record is an instrument that registers a general context in the classroom; the interview looks for opinions and perceptions about the problem among the participants; the checklist gets significant information throughout the autonomous work; and the self-assessment contributes with relevant data after the process of autonomous work is finished.. 19.

(20) Interventions. In order to collect data about the problem and its implications, it is necessary to plan specific interventions which deal with the main problem, in this case those students who usually do not work autonomously. Thus, the following key concepts were identified as possible points to improve the situation. Therefore, there will be five interventions based on the following three concepts:. 1) Length of activities (Intervention #1): Due to the fact some of the students got easily distracted and tended to concentrate on other activities such as talking to other classmates, walking in the classroom or making too much noise, the length of activities was considered relevant to make this group work. The main reason why the length of activities is relevant consists in the idea that some of these students showed interest in some individual activities but then they got distracted and did not finish it. According to data collected after applying ethnographic records #1 and 2, this situation occurred several times (see appendix B.1 and B.2). Activities in these instances were about 20 – 25 minutes long; therefore, this factor could have been one aspect that impacted students´ performance during the individual work.. 2) Pair work vs Individual work (Interventions #2 and 3): After applying the interview with students (see appendix D.1) I realized that many of them admitted that pair work represented more interesting instances of work since they can talk to their classmates, ask them questions, solve doubts and have 20.

(21) more fun learning. The idea is to contrast these types of work and get significant evidence and results about how students actually behave during both pair activities and individual work. Taking into consideration that this action research seeks fostering autonomous work in some students, what I expect in this intervention is to obtain evidence about how useful the mixture between pair and individual work is.. 3) Learning by drawing and painting (Interventions #4 and 5): Considering that some students were observed drawing and painting during autonomous work, this gave me the idea that I could use this interest they had and plan an intervention oriented to mix their passion to draw and paint with the learning and practice of class contents. I personally decided that because, according to ethnographic records (see appendix B.1 and B.2) it was very common some of them started drawing and painting during autonomous work. At the same time, painting and drawing are activities that were rarely used throughout the year; therefore, they represented newfangled activities for students.. 21.

(22) Data Analysis First of all, this section will be focusing the analysis on all the information got before during and after every instrument that was applied. Therefore, it will be shown both the results of data collection and the analysis of the interventions. Instrument 1: Ethnographic records This instrument was used four times and it was applied after giving instructions for a specific activity. In order to clarify in what instances this instrument was used; the following description shows the order in which these five were made.. . Ethnographic record #1 and 2. This instrument was applied two times before interventions since the aim was to get significant evidence about how some students normally behaved during autonomous work. It is important to mention again that this instrument was used to write down every relevant aspect I considered meaningful during the activity. In this sense, it is also crucial to highlight that the attention was focused on those students who rarely worked in autonomous activities. Having in mind these factors, now I will continue mentioning and quoting some important observations I made during this process. In regards to ethnographic record #1 it was frequent to see students doing other activities which did not correspond to the class itself, For instance: Students #1 was usually walking and talking to student #3 who 22.

(23) was sitting but doing nothing (See appendix B.1). This situation did not change after I asked the two of them to work and complete the activity. Additionally, students #4 and 5 were drawing as usual and when they were asked to do the activity they started working but after some minutes they were drawing again (See appendix B.1). Considering what these four students did in this period, I realized that asking them to work was not a useful strategy since they continued doing other activities. Regarding ethnographic record #2, these situations were quite similar; nevertheless, I would like to add another situation observed with student #8 who started doing the activity but after some minutes he stood up and met student #10. Both of them were making noise and I asked them to be in silence in their sits but that did not work (see appendix B.2). This reality confirmed me that asking students to be in silence and work is not always a good strategy.. . Ethnographic record # 3. In this opportunity the instrument was applied during intervention #2 called “Adjective for animals”. The intervention consisted in a pair work activity in order to get evidence and contrast it with results in individual activities. In this occasion students were allowed to choose their own pairs to do the activity which consisted in completing a worksheet about animals and their adjectives. The following situations drew my attention: Student #1 likes talking to student #3 and both are part of those who usually do not work in classes. Considering the answers student #1 and 3 gave me during the 23.

(24) interviews (see appendix D.1), I took into consideration the fact they told me they did not like working individually but with friends. In this sense, I focused my attention on them in order to notice whether they were working or not. Nevertheless, I could hear and notice they were not doing the activity but talking about video games. After time was over, I collected worksheets and theirs was not finished. This situation was very similar with students # 4 and 5 who did not finish the activity (see appendix B.3). It is important to remind these two students also stated they liked working with friends instead of individually. However, another significant situation that drew my attention occurred with student #9 who worked with a classmate who usually works in classes. This pair finished the activity on time and I could observe both of them participated completing the worksheet. This last situation made me think of some possible strategies I may implement to mix students who do not work with students who actually do.. . Ethnographic record #4. This time the record was made during intervention #3 called “Guess the animal” which consisted in a pair work activity. Pairs were designed by me and I tried to mix students who usually worked with those who did not. What I could observe in this opportunity were positive outcomes; for instance, students #7 and 8 worked together last intervention, but this time they were working with other classmates. They did not focus on the activity the whole time, but they were observed working and completing the worksheet (see appendix B.4). These results made me think of length of 24.

(25) activities as a relevant concept for those students who get distracted because, instead of intervention #1, length was not shorter this time. Furthermore, considering the group this action research is aiming, it is necessary to mention that not all of them finished the pair work; nevertheless, levels of noise were not as high as in previous classes and not all of them were standing as usual. After writing this fourth ethnographic record, I realized that making students work with classmates they are not used to work with, may be a meaningful strategy when trying to foster autonomous work since if you mix student with different levels of autonomy, then you can get more positive than negative results and this observation is a clear example of it.. Instrument #2: Interviews As it was explained in the methodology section, interviews were designed for both teachers and students in order to know their thoughts and feelings about autonomous work. Firstly, I interviewed two teachers: The English and the Head teacher of 5th grade C. In addition, I also interviewed 8 students. All the interviews were made in Spanish; however, a translation of them will be provided (see appendix C.1, C.2 and D.1). In order to make the process clearer I will refer to questions with the following language: Q1 (Question one), Q2 (Question two) and so on. The following paragraphs represent an analysis of each interview.. 25.

(26) . Interview with the English teacher. In Q1 the teacher recognizes that autonomous work represents a good instance to learn, but there must be a previous work. In this point I consider extremely relevant the teacher considers there is a lack of autonomy in students because they are coming from a period where nothing is related to autonomy (fourth year). In Q2, the teacher assumes that drawing students´ attention is the strategy used by her to make students work. That strategy is the one I have been using this year; however, it does not always work, especially with those who rarely work. In Q3 the teacher assumes that the process of giving clear instructions might be one factor that impacts autonomous work. This belief is something that I cannot assure. Finally, in Q4 the English teacher sees autonomous work as something positive to help students in their learning process because it develops several skills. In this point I can find an agreement in terms of what recognized authors said about the relevance of fostering autonomy in classrooms and what the English teacher think of this concept. Therefore, autonomous work is something that must be fostered.. . Interview with the head teacher. In Q1 the teacher says that autonomous work should begin earlier because in 4th grade they are with the same teacher in every subject and the change impacts our own role as teachers. I find this opinion very significant because the change these students face is huge and it may be one possible. 26.

(27) explanation to understand why it is difficult to make some of them work autonomously. In Q2 the head teacher states that it is difficult to her when students are asked to work in groups playing a specific role. In consequence, she has designed leaders to solve the problem. However, this situation described by the teacher fits more in what students do in group work instead of what they do individually, which is the focus of this action research. In Q3 the teacher recognizes that students are not used to work autonomously because of the reality they have in 4th year. Now in 5th grade they face a change that can impact negatively their performance. Basically, this change means that students have only one teacher in 4th year and autonomy is not commonly promoted at this grade.. In this sense, I find an agreement. between what the English and the head teacher say in terms of identifying autonomous work something complex to foster when students are just getting used to it. Finally, in Q4 the teacher considers that autonomous work should not be something that just one teacher fosters, but it must be a cooperative work among all the teachers in order to make students work in more challenging activities. From my point of view, this idea represents what Piaget, Benson and Ur said about autonomy and its importance in the learning process of students (see literature review section).. . Interview with students. In Q1 students #1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, and 10 said they did not like working individually but with friends. On the contrary, students #5 and 6 said they liked working individually (see appendix D.1) This situation confirm what 27.

(28) teachers said in the interviews in terms of assuming that students from 5th grade are not used to work autonomously because of the reality they have in 4th year in terms of having only one teacher. Moreover, it seems there are some students who actually enjoy working individually; however, that was not observed with students #5 and 6 in the ethnographic records (see appendix B.3). In Q2 all of them recognized they preferred to ask teachers when solving doubts instead of asking classmates. The rarely asked classmates since they do not trust them as much as they trust teachers. These answers gave me the idea that the dependence they have had on one teacher from pre-school until 4th grade is still a huge conditioner, and that is demonstrated for the lack of confidence they have in their classmates since they all see themselves dependant on teachers when doing activities. In Q3 students #1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 said they liked when the teacher was doing the class instead of them working by themselves. On the contrary, students #9 and 10 said they liked both when the teacher was doing the class and when they were working individually because they learned in both instances. The interpretation I do in this question is basically similar to Q2. Students are used to have teacher centred lessons because of the reality they have experiencing until 4th year.. 28.

(29) Instrument #3: Checklist This instrument was applied one time during intervention #1 called “The Alphabet and animals”. It was applied with those students who usually do not work in autonomous activities, in this case ten students and the focus was the length of the activity which was shorter than common. The checklist consisted in three questions (see appendix E) and the analysis of results is the following: . Checklist #1. Criterion #1: The student raised his hand to solve doubts about the activity.. In this point I could notice that only 2 of 10 students raised their hand to solve doubts about the activity. This situation has two main interpretations; on the one hand, most of them understood instructions and knew what to do. On the other hand, it was possible most of them did not understand what was asked, but they did not request my help to solve their doubts.. 29.

(30) Criterion #2: The student made a lot of noise during the activity or stood up frequently.. According to the information gathered in this part, there were six students who usually made lot of noise, but did not stood up in the task. On the contrary, four of them remained in silence during the activity and focused on it (See appendix E.1). According to previous observations made in ethnographic records where the length of activities were longer, this time the activity was very specific and shorter, which may explain the reason why some of them focused more on the task than in other opportunities. Criterion#3: The student finished the activity on time.. 30.

(31) After analysing the results got in this criterion, I realized that eight of ten students completed the activity on time. It is important to remind again this activity was 10 minutes long instead of 20-25 minutes as usual. However, students #5 and 7 did not finish the activity even though they remained in silence during the activity and apparently focused on it. After the activity finished I would say that length of activity could be one relevant factor to take into consideration when trying to make students work individually.. Instrument #4: Self-assessment This instrument was used one time, specifically after intervention 5. Even though the selfassessment was applied to the whole group, the samples taken to analyse results are those of students who tended to not work in autonomous activities. Therefore, 10 samples were chosen. The following graphs indicate and allow analysing students´ answers.. Question 1: Did I use my time completing the activity? Students´ answers demonstrate that most of them used time to complete the activity and only 3 of them stated “sometimes” as answer.. 31.

(32) Question 2: Did I understand what I had to do? In this point answers are categorical and all of them said they understood what the activity was about. In other words the activity was easy to understand and instructions. were. clear.. Question 3: Did I solve my doubts with the teacher or classmates? I can identify that many of them were not dependent on the rest to complete the activity and that is demonstrated when we see that only 3 students solved doubts with the rest or the teacher. Question 4: Did I get distracted easily during the activity? When I see these answers I can observe that distraction was a common aspect in 4 students and it was always present in 2 of them. However, I do not consider this situation affected students´ performance at the end since many of them finished the activity on time.. 32.

(33) Question 5: Did I finish the activity on time? 9 students finished the activity on time and only 1 of them did not. From my point of view, length was one of the aspect that impacted their performance and also that I ask them to draw and paint their own creation, which are activities they are not used to do.. Question 6: Did I like working individually? Students are used to work with others or with the teacher´s help. In this case answers demonstrate that; however, that was not an impediment for them to finish the activity on time. Question 7: Is responsibility one of my best characteristic during autonomous work? Even though many of the students recognize that responsibility is not one of their main characteristics, many of them could finish the activity on time. This reality makes me think that sometimes what students think of themselves may not impact on an activity they like.. 33.

(34) Analysis of interventions Throughout this action research, five interventions were made in order to improve students´ performance in terms of autonomous work. Therefore, the following paragraphs represent an analysis of the results after each intervention was delivered. Intervention #1 “Alphabet and animals” The focus of this intervention was the length of the activity. Previously it was explained that the main reason to consider this concept as relevant was that some students tended to concentrate some minutes only on activities and then they got distracted. In this sense, the intervention was planned to be finished in 10 minutes instead of the common length which was 20-25 minutes. The activity consisted in delivering an individual sheet to each student. In this sheet it was written the alphabet with the exceptions of letters Q, X and Y. Students were asked to write one animal for each letter; for instance, A_____ = Ant. In previous classes vocabulary about animals was presented and they wrote animals´ names in their notebooks; therefore, they were allowed to watch their notebooks to complete the activity. In terms of results, some students finished after 5 minutes. Most of them finished after 8 minutes and a few did not finish the activity. Students #1, 4, 5, 6, 8, and 10 finished the activity on time, but students # 2, 3, 7 and 9 did not finish the activity and argued they did not have the vocabulary written on their notebooks. In consequence, I consider these results positive because the intervention was designed to make students work in a shorter activity than usual. It was also relevant that at the beginning I highlighted that this was a short activity and everyone was expected to finish it as soon as possible. In this sense, the. 34.

(35) length of activities is a meaningful aspect to take into consideration when trying to make students work individually. Intervention #2 “Adjectives for animals” This intervention was planned based on students´ answers in the interview. Many of them stated they liked more working with classmates than individually. Consequently, I prepared a worksheet for them to work in pairs. They were asked to write adjectives for 25 animals. In previous classes the vocabulary about animals was presented as well as adjectives. Students were allowed to choose who they wanted to work with. The activity was 20 minutes long and length was not the focus this time. In terms of results I can say that pair work was not as successful as I thought it would be because students #1, 2, 4, 5, 8 and, 9 did not complete the activity on time and they dedicated time to do other things ( see appendix B.37). However, the most important aspect that I could identify during this intervention was that student #9 worked and finished the activity. This situation may be the results of working with a classmate she was not used to work with. Intervention #3 “Guess the animal” In this opportunity, the intervention was also planned to be in pairs. However, I designed groups and I mixed those students who usually do not work with those who actually do. The activity was 20 minutes long. I wrote an activity on the board which consisted in guessing the animal by writing some characteristic of it. For example, it is brown and yellow, it eats meat and it lives in the jungle. Every pair was asked to copy these descriptions in their notebooks and then guess what the name of the animal was. It is also 35.

(36) relevant to mention all the vocabulary about animals, habitats, colours and food was presented in previous lessons. In terms of results, I personal found the activity was successful since levels of noise were not as high as in previous lessons. This was observed in students #1 and 3 while students #4 and 5 were not focused on painting or drawing this time. Although not all of them finished the activity on time, this group of students did not behave as they frequently do. These outcomes made me consider that mixing students is a good strategy to make them work; however, I question myself about the importance of length when planning a certain activity.. Intervention #4 “Paint the animal and write adjectives” Basically, this intervention was an individual activity in which students were asked to paint a drawing of a random animal I deliver to each of them. In every sheet there were four random colours. They had to read the colours and paint the animal with those colours. When they finished they were asked to write at least 4 adjectives for the animal and paste the sheet on their notebooks. The activity was 10 – 15 minutes long. I decided to do so because drawing and painting were two main activities that some students tended to do during autonomous work; therefore, I used this interest to plan this intervention. Regarding outcomes, I believe that I got positive results because students #4 and 5 were the most interested in painting the animals and they were precisely the ones who liked painting during classes. At the same time, I planned a shorter activity in order to make sure again that length was a relevant concept with this group of students. From my point of view, in this case, length was also a positive feature of the activity since students #1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 36.

(37) and 10 finished the activity on time. On the contrary, students #3, 7 and 10 did not complete the activity because they did not have the vocabulary on their notebooks.. Intervention #5 “My weird monster” This intervention was the last one and it was an individual activity. It was done after I presented vocabulary about body parts. In the activity, students were asked to draw a weird monster with an uncommon number of body parts. To do so, they were asked to imagine a number between 1 and 5 for the following body parts: eyes, nose, arms, legs, mouth and hands. Besides, they could choose a shape such as triangle, rectangle or circle to use it as body. In consequence, every student had to draw a monster with the body parts he chose. For instance, 3 eyes, 5 legs, 3 arms, 4 hands, 2 noses and so on. After they finished, they were asked to paint the monster and invent a name for it. The activity was 15 minutes long. In terms of results students were focused on the task and almost all of them finished the activity on time. It was a shorter activity than usual and I mixed individual work with painting and drawing plus the factor that length was shorter. In consequence, I tried to apply all the positive results I got in the five interventions such as length, painting and drawing.. 37.

(38) Reflection and Analysis Throughout the process of collecting data by using different instruments, several findings were encountered. Moreover, the interventions applied also left relevant outcomes. Therefore, in this section it would pertinent to analyse relevant information obtained after applying both instruments and interventions. First, the information collected in ethnographic records mainly provided data about how students normally behaved during autonomous work. In addition, the use of this instrument allowed identifying specific activities some students usually did, such as painting and drawing. Another significant aspect was that asking students to be in silence and work on the activity was not a successful strategy since most of the time they continued focused in their own activities; for instance, talking to other classmates and again, painting and drawing. Nevertheless, the fact that some students liked painting and drawing made me consider the possibility of designing activities where these interests were included. Furthermore, considering the ethnographic records was also used during interventions, one important outcome was that pair work results were more negative than positive since students normally chose friends to work, and talking and making noise were the most prominent behaviour in these instances. These conditions made me think about the possibility of mixing pairs as an option to solve. During ethnographic record #4 I got positive outcomes when I mixed students who usually did not work with those who actually did. However, my intention was not to solve the problem of autonomous work in some students by making them work all the time in pairs, but find and implement activities where they could work individually and focused.. 38.

(39) In this point, it is crucial to consider the nature of the research question: How can I foster autonomous work in those students from 5th grade C who usually do not work in individual activities? According to data collected some important concepts emerged after observing how students behaved in autonomous activities. For instance, the concept of pair work mentioned before was relevant when making students work by themselves. However, this type of work did not help me at all since what I was trying to figure out was not how to make students work in pairs but how to make them work individually. Additionally, the concept of length was also relevant when applying the checklist instrument. The results got showed that time was a significant aspect to take into consideration when making students work autonomously. In this sense, the length of activities showed me a way to find answers to the research question. Therefore, the length of activities, pair work vs individual work and learning by drawing and painting were the most relevant concepts that I got from these observations after applying instruments after and during interventions. Interviews were also useful to make sure that other teachers considered autonomous work as a significant concept to foster in the classroom. Nonetheless, they offered me extra information that allowed me to comprehend better why some students were not used to work autonomously. The process of change from 4th grade to 5th was an element that provided me certain explanations to understand students´ behaviour and it made me comprehend why autonomy is a concept that must be promoted in an integral way by all the teachers. Interviews with students offered rich information about what they considered more interesting to do in lessons. For instance, most of them preferred to work with friends and in pairs instead of working individually. These answers made me think about what the possible outcomes of a pair work activity would be. 39.

(40) In terms of self-assessments, the instrument provided information about what students did, understood and how responsible they were during intervention #5. According to the results obtained, I highlight that students were able to analyse their own performance throughout the work and recognized they understood what the activity was about. These results made me think that instructions are not always the problem when students do not work autonomously, but there are other aspects that may impact students´ performance; for instance, the length of activity. According to interventions, I started applying the concept of length in intervention #1. I obtained positive results since most of the students finished the activity on time. Therefore, I confirmed that time was a relevant aspect to keep in mind when promoting autonomous work and that was strongly related to the research question. Intervention #2 was designed according to students´ answers in the interview with them. In general terms, the pair activity did not work since students worked with friends. However, I got the idea of mixing students and that is precisely what I did in intervention #3 where students worked with classmates there were not used to work with. Even though results were more positive than previous intervention, according to the research question, pair work was not the focus this time, but anyways results made me reflect about pair work as a possible way to foster autonomy not only in individual terms but in pair activities. In intervention #4 I took the fact that some students liked painting to plan the intervention and I also included the concept of length to design a short activity. Results were positive since almost all of them finished the activity on time; nevertheless, the ones who did not finish argued they did not have the contents on their notebooks to complete the activity. Therefore, these conditions made me think about the relevance of every lesson, the connection among them and what I 40.

(41) do when I notice that some students cannot do a certain activity since they do not have the contents of previous lessons.. Finally, intervention #5 was planned to include all the. concepts that emerged during the application of instruments and the previous four interventions. Thus, length was shorter than common, it was an individual activity and I included certain aspects that this group of students were interested in such as painting and drawing. In general terms, results were positive and what I found was that most of them finished the activity on time. Therefore, during this intervention I also confirmed that these three concepts I could identify were meaningful for the purpose of the research question since the use of them achieved an improvement in students´ performance during the autonomous activity.. 41.

(42) Conclusions and implications This action research was done with the aim of finding answers to successfully promote autonomy by setting individual activities in a group of students from 5th grade. From my point of view, and taking into account the results I got, I personally consider that the last intervention represented a mode to promote autonomy in students who are not used to work in this way in this particular context. As it was mention in previous sections, the length of activities was a concept that I had to work with to make shorter activities than usual. However, shorter activities must be planed carefully since they must be embedded in a class of 90 minutes long. At the same time, autonomy was a concept that other teachers also find meaningful to promote. Nevertheless, I totally agree with one of them in terms that autonomy is a concept that every teacher in every subject must promote. Therefore, it must be developed integrally. Besides, students´ interests and hobbies are also a tool that teachers can use to plan activities. That is what I did in this project; I decided to observe how students normally behave in autonomous work and I notice that painting and drawing was a common interest in some of them. Thus, I plan an activity including these two aspects and I ended up with positive results since most of them worked and understood what I asked them to do. Considering all these results, I learned that autonomy is a crucial concept to develop responsibility and awareness of what I am doing and learning; nonetheless, to foster autonomy you must know who your students are and their interests as well as you must reflect on your own performance as a teacher. In terms of difficulties I found during the whole process, I can say that the most important was adapting the whole lesson to every intervention, especially when the focus was length. We have been taught that a lesson plan must be divided into three stages: pre, 42.

(43) while and post and I usually plan three main activities to every lesson. In consequence, the difficult part was to include the intervention which lasted 10-15 in a class of 90 minutes long. I am not completely sure what correct time to intervene is and what impact these interventions have in the own routine of students who are 10-11 years old. Additionally, it is important to mention that I see as a difficult aspect the fact that some students do not always have the contents on their notebooks due to they did not attend to classes or simply they did not write. Personally, this was what happened to me during intervention #4 where some students did not have contents from previous lessons. I did not know how to solve the problem and I could not include those students in the activity. Another aspect that I should have included was the use of a self- assessment after pair work in intervention #3 in order to see how students analyse their performance with someone they were not used to work with.. According to results obtained in this. intervention, the pair work activity was mostly successful. However, and considering the focus of the project was individual work, I did not continue researching in this area. Therefore, pair work could have been part of the solution to foster autonomy not in individual work only but also in pair work. In this sense, and considering the research question again, the answers I got throughout this research allow me to assure that length of activities plus the own interest of students such as painting and drawing were the most meaningful concepts to foster autonomy and they solved and give answers to the problem I could identify at the beginning of the process. Finally, this action research project aimed at finding answers to deal with a problem that other teachers and I have found in this particular context. By doing action research I understood that knowing what students and other teachers think about the 43.

(44) problem is extremely relevant to the process since they give toy the chance to discover other aspects that you may have not noticed. For instance, the change students face from 4th to 5th grade and the vision students have when working in pairs or individually.. I. personally consider this process of collecting data was extremely important to my own growth as teacher since it gave me the opportunity to reflect on ways to help as much as I can my students in their own learning process. In this sense, now I feel that reflecting on my own practices as a teacher is something that I will keep doing. For instance, if I would not have noticed that length of activities was an aspect that I had to change from my own practice, perhaps it would have been more difficult to find relevant answers to the research question. Therefore, I believe that every teacher must reflect on the significance of fostering autonomy in students in order to help them in their own learning process by developing their own sense of responsibility.. 44.

(45) References. . Benson, P. (2001). Teaching and Researching Autonomy. Harlow, Essex, England: Pearson Education Limited.. . Harmer, J. (2001). The practice of English language teaching. Cambridge. UK.. . Harmer, J. (2007). How to Teach English. Editorial development by Ocelot Publishing, Oxford, with Helen Gomm. Cambridge, UK.. . Piaget, J. (1947). The psychology of intelligence. New York: Harcourt Brace.. . Piaget, J. (1932). The moral judgment of the child. New York: Free Press.. . Ur, P. (2007). A Course in Language Teaching. Fifteenth Edition. Cambridge University Press.. 45.

(46) Appendix Appendix A: Action plan timeline Activity. August. Day. 3. Observe. the x. September. 1. 1. 2. 0. 7. 4. x. x. x. x. x. 7. October. 1. 2. 2. 4. 1. 8. X. X. x. 5. November. 1. 1. 2. 2. 9. 6. x. x. X. x. x. X. 2. 9. 1. 2. 6. 3. context Problematize and R. Q Rationale Consulting. x the. X. literature Data collection. x. Data analysis Reflection. and. X X. x. x. conclusions Possible. x. improvements. 46. x.

(47) Appendix B Ethnographic records Appendix B.1: Ethnographic record #1 I wrote an activity on the board and I asked students to copy it. The activity is about creating the weather and temperatures for specific cities they named. Students have 20 minutes to complete information for 15 cities. Some students have not started writing and 3 of them are standing around the classroom. Student #1 is talking to student #3 who is sitting at the bottom of the room. I asked student #1 to sit and start writing the activity. He sits but after some minutes he is talking with student #3 again. I monitor students work walking for every row. Students #2 ask for permission to go to the toilet. Student #4 and 5 are in silence but they are not copying the activity in their notebooks; one of them is drawing and the other one is painting. I also ask them to copy the activity because are contents for the coming test in two more weeks. They start coping but after some minutes they got distracted and stop copying. I hear a lot of noise from the back of the room; student #1, 2 and 3 are together talking and making noise. I went where they are and I ask them what they have done during the class. Student #2 tells me that he did not understand. I explained to him the activity. Time´s up and I check students´ answers on the board. Students #1, 2, 3 did not finish the activity.. 47.

(48) Appendix B.2: Ethnographic record #2 After I gave the instructions students received a word search related to vocabulary of the unit. It is an individual work and they have to find 25 words. Most of them have already started the activity. Students #8, 1, 4, 5 and 7 are working in silence and are using different colors to find the words. Student #10 has not started the activity; he is talking with the classmate next o to him. I do not ask him to work, but I said they have 15 minutes left. I am monitoring the activity and helping students who find difficult to find words. Student #2 stands up, walks to the bottom and start talking with a classmate. I ask him to sit and he answers me that he was asking his classmate about a word he could not find. Student #8 is not working now; he is with student #10 at the bottom of the room. Sometimes they make a lot of noise and they occasionally run short distances. Now the noise is more global. I ask students #8 and 10 to sit and complete the activity but they do not do so. The activity finishes and we continue with another activity.. 48.

(49) Appendix B.3: Ethnographic record #3 I wrote instructions on the board and I deliver a worksheet so students can work in pairs. The activity is 15 minutes long, but I added 5 more minutes since some students did not have a pair to work with. Students #1 and 3 are working together in this activity as well as students #4 and 5. I walk through rows asking if they have any doubt. I solve doubts. After 5 minutes I focus my attention on students #1 and 3. They are not completing the worksheet and are talking to each other. I continue solving doubts and I write some adjectives on the board that a group of students did not remember. After 10 minutes I observe students #4 and 5 and they are not completing the worksheet but talking to each other. One of them is grabbing a pen over her head. I do not ask them to work. Time is over and I collect worksheets. Students #1, 3, 5, and 6 completed only 3 exercises out of 15. Student #9 worked with a classmate who she is not used to work and they finish the activity on time. Almost all pairs finished the activity or left 1 or 2 exercises incomplete.. 49.

(50) Appendix B.4: Ethnographic record #4 I wrote the activity on the board. It is a pair activity and I designed every pair. Student must copy what I wrote and complete the task. They have 25 minutes to do everything. Student # 1 and 3 are not working together this time. They are working with other classmates. Student #1 is talking with his classmate while both write in their notebooks. Student #3 and his pair are in silence and copying what it is on the board. I walk through the room and I ask students # 7 and 8 if they understood what the activity is about. They are note working together this time. Both said to me they know what to do. I sit and I focus on student #2. He is not copying but this time he is in silence. Students #1 and 3 are talking louder now with their pairs. Students #4 and 5 are not drawing or painting but writing on their notebooks. Time is over and I inform students I will go seat by seat checking what every pair did. After the process finishes, these are some results: Students #1 and 3 did not finish the activity on time, but they did not make too much noise this time. Student #2 told me he did not like working with his pair and did not help him to complete the activity. Students#4 and 5 did not finish the activity but they were not focused on drawing or painting. Students #7 and 8 finished the activity on time.. 50.

(51) Appendix C: Interview with Teachers (sample) Teacher´s name: _______________Subject: ____________Date:___________. A) What do you think about using autonomous activities with children who are 10 11 years old? B) Have you had any problem or negative situation when in your class students from 5th grade C are asked to work autonomously? (Completing worksheets, answering written questions, identifying words in a text, filling the blanks, etc.) If so, what decisions have you made to solve that situation? C) Assuming some students are not used to work autonomously, what factors might impact the way they perform during this type of work? D) Do you consider autonomous work is something that every teacher must foster to help students in their learning process? Why?. 51.

(52) Appendix C.1: Interview with the English teacher. A) What do you think about using autonomous activities with children who are 10 - 11 years old? It is a good instance, but there must be a previous work, you just cannot deliver a worksheet waiting students complete it by themselves. They are coming from a period where nothing is individual. Time to time they must learn to work in this way.. B) Have you had any problem or negative situation when in your class students from 5th grade C are asked to work autonomously? (Completing worksheets, answering written questions, identifying words in a text, filling the blanks, etc.) If so, what decisions have you made to solve that situation? Yes, I have had that sort of situations and the way I have solved it is drawing their attention taking measures such as changing the sitting arrangement. However, if that does not work I stand by their side monitoring them.. C) Assuming some students are not used to work autonomously, what factors might impact the way they perform during this type of work? It is because they do not know how to do it. Sometimes they understand instructions but it is easier to make the decision of doing nothing.. D) Do you consider autonomous work is something that every teacher must foster to help students in their learning process? Why? 52.

(53) Of course, but since they are children one must make them work autonomously because it develops several skills and students start being more conscious of their own learning. They realize what they understand and what they do not. They also notice in what aspects they need help.. 53.

(54) Appendix C.2: Interview with the head teacher. A) What do you think about using autonomous activities with children who are 10 - 11 years old? I think autonomous work must start earlier because they are used to be with the same teacher until 4th year; therefore, it is difficult to assume the change. Autonomous work is good but it must be fostered because they are dependent, one has to help them in everything.. B) Have you had any problem or negative situation when in your class students from 5th grade C are asked to work autonomously? (Completing worksheets, answering written questions, identifying words in a text, filling the blanks, etc.) If so, what decisions have you made to solve that situation?. In group work it is complex for them to organize themselves, to distribute roles and play that role. In these situations we have designed leaders who monitor everyone´s performance. Every group shares what they have done, but it does not always work.. C) Assuming some students are not used to work autonomously, what factors might impact the way they perform during this type of work?. The main reasons are that they are not used to it.. 54.

(55) D) Do you consider autonomous work is something that every teacher must foster to help students in their learning process? Why? It must be a cooperative work among all the teachers, every teacher must prepare activities related to autonomy. We must foster more challenging activities where students work individually.. 55.

(56) Appendix D: Interview with students (sample) A) Do you like when some teacher asks you to work individually? (Completing worksheets, answering written questions, identifying words in a text, filling the blanks, etc.) Why? B) What do you do when you do not understand what you have to do in some individual activity? C) In your opinion, do you learn more when the teacher is doing the class or when you are working by yourself? D) What do you think of doing other things, like making noise, drawing, taking to other classmates, when students are asked to work individually.. 56.

(57) Appendix D.1: Interview with students Student 1: 1.. No, because I feel alone and I want to be with my Friends.. 2. I ask the teacher, I do not as my classmates because sometimes they do not know. 3.. I learn more when the teacher is speaking.. Student 2: 1- I do not like to work individually because I have more fun with my Friends and I can tell jokes and work with them. 2- I always ask the teacher, I do not ask my classmates because sometimes they know even less. 3- I prefer when the teacher is doing the class because I can learn easier. Student 3 1- I do not like it because I get more focused when I am working with friends and I ask help. It complicates me to work individually. 2- I ask the teacher because he knows more. Sometimes I ask my classmates. 3- I learn more when the teacher is doing the class, because it is more important and he explains well. Student 4 1. 1 –I do not like working individually because I feel alone and there is no one to talk to. I hate loneliness. 57.

(58) 2. I ask the teacher and if he does not help me I ask an expert classmate in the activity. 3. I learn more when the teacher is doing the class, It is easier for me than when I am working individually.. Student 5 1. 1 –I like it, because one can do whatever you want, but with another person there are different opinions. 2.. I ask the teacher. My classmates may do not know but sometimes I ask one classmate I am confident with. 3.. I learn more when the teacher is doing the class, because he explains well. Working alone is complicated sometimes.. Student 6 1. 1 –No, because I get distracted and I do not do activities 2. I do nothing because sometimes I am lazy, but sometimes I ask the teacher or some classmates. 3. I like when the teacher speaks because I do not get distracted, although I also like individually.. 58.

(59) Student 7 1- I do not like because it is funnier to work with someone else. I get bored alone. 2- I ask the teacher or someone who knows, but I prefer to ask the teacher. 3- I like when the teacher speaks because everyone is in silence.. Student 8 1- I like to work with Friends because it is difficult to work alone. 2- I ask the teacher. 3- I like when the teacher is doing the class because it is easier to understand and learn. Student 9 1.. I do not like it because I prefer to work with classmates.. 2. I ask the teacher or sometimes my classmates but they can make mistakes and it is more correct to ask the teacher. 3. I learn with the two options because I understand what the teacher says and alone I can practice what the teacher explained.. 59.

(60) Student 10 1.. It depends, because it is difficult to work alone. I like to work with classmates because it is funny and one can work with friends.. 2. Sometimes I ask the teacher or classmate, although other times I stay doing nothing. 3. I like the two of them because first of all I understand what I have to do and then I complete the activities.. 60.

(61) Appendix E: Checklist (sample) Student´s name: _______________ Date: _______________ Yes The student raised his hand to solve doubts about the activity. The student made a lot of noise during the activity or stood up frequently The student finished the activity on time. 61. No. Comments.

(62) Appendix E.1: Checklist results. 62.

(63) 63.