Learner Autonomy

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This presentation was given on Methodology Day on 21 February 2014 by Alina Brooks. "Perhaps the most often-quoted proverb among teachers is "you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink". However, perhaps our duty as a teacher is not just to "give" material to the students, but also to teach them to learn? By developing the students' learning skills and strategies and by giving them options we empower and motivate the students."

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Learner Autonomy

Looking Behind the BUZZ word

How do we view our students?

Resisters

Receptacles

Raw material

Clients

Partners

Individual explorers

Social, democratic explorers

How do you want the learners to feel about the process of learning in your classroom?

How do you want the learners to feel about the content of learning in your classroom?

Do you know how they actually feel?

How much of it is under your control?

How much opportunity do the learners have to exercise the following in your classroom:

Critical reflection Decision making Independent action

Learner autonomy is “essentially a matter of the learner's psychological relation to the process and content of learning – a capacity for <...> critical reflection, decision-making and independent learning” (D. Little).

Learner autonomy involves helping learners understand the _____ of learning both inside and outside the classroom. They begin to ______ that they have a large role to play in their own learning. It also allows learners to understand what their _____ are and to set ______ for themselves. Part of the process involves finding out about specific _____ that help them to learn. As a result they can, to some extent, decide _____ they should learn and _____ they should learn it.

Pension

Brandy

Shops

Sobriety

Slippers

Sausages

Children

Friends

The papers

When I'm an old woman I shall wear ___________.

And I shall spend my pension on _________ and _________.

How to encourage Learner Autonomy?

How to encourage Learner Autonomy?

Explain WHY things are being done (in this way)

Homework

a) exciting and moreish;

b) accountability Delegating tasks and decisions in and before lessons (but: INFORMED

choices)

Tutorials: help learners to set goals and monitor achievements

Practical training in Dictionary Use

Practical Info on Sites they can use – with Specific tasks!!!

Encouraging self-assessment

Encouraging feedback to the teacher; What would you like more or less of?

Compromising and meeting them halfway

AUTONOMY – ON YOUR OWN or TOGETHER WITH OTHERS?

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