There has been a remarkable growth of interest in the theory and practice of autonomy in language teaching and learning in recent years. Focusing on work published since the turn of the 20th century, this review examines major trends in the recent literature on autonomy related to the emergence of alternative views of autonomy, new contexts of practice and interaction with concepts such as self-regulation, motivation, sociocultural theory and teacher development. The review also covers relevant developments in the philosophy of autonomy and the role of autonomy in global educational policy and reform. It concludes by discussing possible directions for future research in the field.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0261444806003958

Autonomy in language teaching and learning

This article draws on work done in educational psychology to propose a new approach to generating a psychometrically-based measure of second language learners’ strategic learning, operationalized as their self-regulatory capacity ,a s an alternative to the scales traditionally used to quantify language learning strategy use. The self-regulation instrument was developed through a three-phase process, focusing on the realm of vocabulary learning. The first phase involved the generation of an item pool, the second a pilot study in a sizeable sample, and the third an evaluation of the psychometric properties of the revised instrument, using confirmatory and exploratory factor analysis. The results show that the proposed instrument has satisfactory psychometric characteristics and that the hypothesized theoretical model had a good fit with the data. We argue that the results provide evidence for the validity of transferring the theoretical construct of self-regulation from educational psychology to the area of second language acquisition. We also propose that instruments targeting learner self-regulation in a similar way to the questionnaire presented in this study can provide a more psychometrically sound measure of strategic learning than traditional language learning strategy scales.

/pdf/a-new-approach-to-assessing-strategic-learning-the-case-of-3zkqpfrnxw.pdf

A New Approach to Assessing Strategic Learning: The Case of Self-Regulation in Vocabulary Acquisition

A brief overview of individual differences in second language learning

Second language listening has historically proved to be a difficult skill. Strategy instruction studies have sought to bring about improvements in subjects' listening but with mixed results. This lack of success might be due to the nature of listening strategy theory and its influence on conceptualizations of listening strategy instruction. The current study, based on an initial descriptive investigation of a specific population of learners, measured the effects of strategy instruction on both the listening performance and self-efficacy of 68 lower-intermediate learners of French in England, against a comparison group. Moreover, the effects of high- and low-scaffolded interventions were compared. Results suggest that the program improved listening proficiency and learners' confidence about listening. Implications for pedagogy and strategy theory are discussed.

/pdf/strategy-instruction-in-listening-for-lower-intermediate-49a4jsb03w.pdf

Strategy Instruction in Listening for Lower-Intermediate Learners of French

This study focuses on the problems in teaching tenses to Turkish students at university level in Turkey. Some of the problematic and confusing tenses such as Past Simple and Present Perfect Tense, Present Continuous and Present Simple, Past Simple and Past Continuous Tense Teaching grammar have been handled throughout this study with the data obtained from the written exams of the learners. Most frequently occurred errors have been listed and they have been analyzed in detail. The findings reveal that the reasons for these errors mostly derive from mother tongue interference and lack of adequate linguistic background. The other component of this article is to offer remedial teaching activities for foreign language learners to compensate the shortcomings.

Theory and Practice in Language Studies

Cognitive Styles in the Service of Language Learning.

https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED481003.pdf

Mentoring in Style: Using Style Information To Enhance Mentoring of Foreign Language Teachers.

Typically, the purpose of faculty development is to empower new and experienced teachers by providing information, enhancing self-confidence, and developing attitudes and beliefs favorable to effective teaching. Such empowerment usually requires teachers to change their teaching behaviors— and change does not come automatically or identically to all teachers. Rather, “teachers change in areas [in which] they are already primed to change, and this priming depends on their individual characteristics and prior experiences” (Pennington 1996, 340).

/pdf/individual-difference-theory-in-faculty-development-what-15bb4j6qz9.pdf

Individual Difference Theory in Faculty Development: What Faculty Developers Should Know about Style

This article introduces the reader to two online sources of materials for working on improving listening and reading skills. The materials are intended for learners already at Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR) Level 3 (Superior) proficiency in Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, Korean, Russian, and Spanish, who desire to reach Level 4 (Distinguished, or in the vernacular, near-native) proficiency. The materials are available on RussNet and LangNet. A rationale for moving beyond Superior level proficiency to Distinguished level proficiency is also provided. Introduction For some years now, the increasing globalization of world markets and the interweaving of different nations' politics has influenced many disciplines to develop pragmatically and internationally oriented course objectives. In the foreign language held, a growing pragmatic orientation lias caused the acquisition of foreign language skills to begin lo be viewed as the development of a useful commodity, rather than as the purely intellectual endeavor many had considered it in the past. The nearly concurrent appearance of the Proficiency Movement with globalization (and perhaps not altogether unmotivated by the changing nature of international interaction) has pushed the language teaching profession into treating language as a tool of communication, rather than as a subject for study. Some foreign language departments have been quick to embrace this new direction, some have resisted the trend, and still others have ignored it. Regardless of departmental objective and attitude, few students today actually attain the narrow goal of oral proficiency sufficient to minimal professional needs, let alone a broader level of what might be called multiliteracy (Belcher & Connor, 2001) or mult'dinguacy (Brecht & Ingold, 2000). Those who do rarely have support systems, let alone classrooms, to support them (Leaver &Atwell, 2002). After the events of September 11, 2001, policymakers' statements have pointed to the lack of available, useful language expertise in the United States as a danger to security, as well as a handicap in global economics. This lack (and the need for competent language professionals) has been especially salient at the highest level of foreign language proficiency: "near-native," "distinguished," or "Level 4." Although near-native proficiency is not a new requirement for a number of language-dependent professions, including teaching, most establishments have never demanded that practitioners of the profession actually achieve that level of communicative competence, and, with the exception of U.S. government language schools, foreign language programs have generally continued to produce graduates at no more than Intermediate levels of proficiency (Levels 1-1+ on the Interagency Language Round table [ILR] scale), or, for those acquiring advanced degrees, Advanced proficiency (ILR Levels 2-2+) (Brecht & Rivers, 2000).' Some learners of Romance languages who spend a significant portion of time studying or working abroad, do achieve Superior-level proficiency (ILR Level 3), but even among them Level 4 is very rare-so rare, in fact, that some institutions that do work at much higher levels (e.g., the Monterey Institute of International Studies, which trains students at professional and native levels in two or more languages to be skilled interpreters and translators) must frequently conduct preparatory courses in the United States and abroad to help their incoming French and Spanish students reach minimal levels of proficiency for the Translation and Interpretation program (Angelelli & Degueldre, 2002). Distinguished-level proficiency (ILR Levels 4-4+) is often what is really needed, especially for students who plan to work in areas such as diplomacy, negotiation, translation, interpretation, or international business (e.g., a European study of corporate needs pointed strongly to the need for near-native skills in a second and third language, [Didiot-Cook, Gauthier, & Schierlinckx, 200O])2. …

Betty Lou Leaver

Papers

A brief overview of individual differences in second language learning

Cognitive Styles in the Service of Language Learning.

Mentoring in Style: Using Style Information To Enhance Mentoring of Foreign Language Teachers.

Individual Difference Theory in Faculty Development: What Faculty Developers Should Know about Style

Distinguished‐Level Learning Online: Support Materials from LangNet and RussNet