Fostering Autonomy through Class ReflectionAnthony DiGiulio digiulio-a@kifl.ac.jp Kanda Institute of Foreign Languages

DifficultiesIt should be noted that even though some of the difficulties and issues below which may be hindering the development of autonomy may serve other useful purposes.•ReflectioninL2–limiteddepth•Responseswhichsimplystatewhatwasdonechronologically•Irrelevant,unfocusedorcontentbasedcomments

» Ssmaynotclearlyunderstandthepurpose•InterpretingcommentsrequiresknowledgeoftheSs,commongrammatical/worderrorsbasedonL1,andsomeinference.

•Autonomy→Capacity—notobservablebehaviour(Holic,1981;Sinclair,1999)

Questions & Ideas for Future Research WouldreflectionsdoneinL1bemorevaluableforstudents?

» WouldthepotentialgaininautonomyoutweighthelinguisticbenefitsofusingL2?Ormerelycompromisethe‘EnglishOnly’classroomenvironment?

Howtoencouragedeeperreflection?» Moredirectfeedbackonresponsesthroughoutthecourse» Moreinstructionaboutthepurposeofreflectionatthebeginningofthecourse.» Moreopportunitiestomakedecisionsabouttheirlearningwithintheclassroom.

My Adapted Criteria for Assessing Class Reflections (basedonSinclair,1999)Can students:

• identifytheirownstrengthsandweaknesses?

• “Debateisdifficultforme,Ithinkagain.EvenifIcanexplaininJapanese,difficultwouldbenochange,soIhavetohaveextensiveknowledgetodebate.”

• expresstheirthoughtsorfeelingstowardanactivityandwhy?

• “Thenewgame‘Taboo’wasreallyfun.ItissodifficultbecauseIcan’tsaythewordsthatIwanttosaytoexplain.”

• “Today’sclassisalittlebored.Becausetoday’sclassspendedoftimeforReading.Ihatereadingandnotgoodatreading.Andonemorereasonisalotofclassmatesdon’tcometoclass,soI’msadbecauseIwannatalkalotwitheveryone!”

• identifythepurposeofanactivity,it’spotentialbenefits,orsituationsinwhichitmightbeuseful?

• “Thewordexplainwasthemostlikeactivate[activity],Ithink.Because,ifwewanttoexplaintosomeonewhoisforeigner,weexplainlikethatgame.“

• “Whenwedidthegamethatwecouldn’tuse‘think’,Ithoughtthegameisreallygoodforme.BecauseIconsidertryingtouseanothervocabulary.

• connectclassroomexperiencestopastexperiences?

• “Before,Icouldn’tusethisgrammarwellbut,fromtodayIcanuseit.”

• “Iwatched‘SpongeBob’.Ithoughtitwaseasy,comparewithlastyear.IcouldhearEnglishconversation.”

• identifywhyclassactivitieswentwellordidn’tgowellforthemandwhy?

• “IcoulddiscussitbecauseIhaveknowledgeaboutsports.WhatIwanttosayispreparationisveryimportantwhenwediscusssomething.”

• “Idon’tknowJapanesefairystory...IliketostudyinEnglishmagazine.Ithinkmagazineisinteresting.butitwasdifficultforme.Especiallyquestionsaboutfairystory.”

• noticethingsaboutthemselves,theirclassmatesortheteacher,whichcouldinformfutureactions?

• “it’snotgoodtoputtoomuchpressureonmyselfbecauseIcan’trelax...whenIenjoyspeakingEnglish,Icanrelaxandspeaksmoothly.”

• “I’veseenDaikiatECLsometimesandItalkedtohimtoday.He’salreadyfluentinEnglish.IthinktheendeavortotooftenbeatECLresultsinhisgoodspeaking.AndthenIthoughtIshouldtrytogotoECLmore.”

• giveaplanwithrationaleforlearningorimprovingskills?

• “I’mshysoIdecidedtochangemymind.Iwanttosayanswers.Butsomeclassmatesdon’tsayanswers...NextclassI’lltrytosaymyanswers.”

• usemetalanguageorotherperspectivestodescribetheirexperience?

• “Irealizedinmygrammarofspeaking,Beverbisoftenused.Iwanttousenot-be-verbsandIshoulduseit.”

• “Ithinklearningvocabulariesandgrammarleadtospeakingskills.”

• asksubstantivequestions?

• “Firstwestudiedpronunciation.Itwasdifficultforme,socouldyouteachitagain?”

• “Iusuallyheareveryonesay,“should”buthowabout“oughtto”?Doyouusethatphrase?WhydoesEnglishhavemorethan2wordsthathavethesamemeaning?

Context:Sample:2ndYearVocationalSchoolEnglishMajorstudents

»Oneclassfocusedonspeakingandlistening.(advanced)»Oneclassfocusedonreadingandwriting.(lowintermediate)

School: » Self-AccessCenterwithabundantmaterialsandsupportstaff»Oftenhighlydirective,heavyemphasisonTOEIC.

“...once learners have begun using self-access as a part of their language learning experience, they must be encouraged to engage in a process of reflection on their learning” -Gardner and Miller (1999)

Why Class Reflections?From a Teacher Standpoint•DirectlineofcommunicationbetweenSsandteachers

»Motivating» Strengthenrapport–esp.ifteachersrespondinsomeway

•ActionResearch–“activeongoingattempttobemoreinformedandefficientasateacher...”(Murphey,1993)

» InformClassPlanning/Decisions»AdjustContent/Practices» ClarifyPointsofConfusion

From a Student Standpoint•Moreattentive—havetowriteaboutitlater•DirectlineofcommunicationbetweenSsandteachers

»Askquestions/requestclarification•ExtendedWritingPracticeinL2•Deepenunderstandingbyrecalling

From a Standpoint of Promoting AutonomyThe benefits of self-assessment given by Oscarson (1989) also apply to reflections:•TrainsSstoevaluatetheeffectivenessoftheircommunication.•Raisesawarenessofthelearningprocess/Ssthinkcriticallyaboutclasscontent.

•Increaseknowledgeofpossiblegoalsinlanguagelearning.•Increasemotivation(Blanche,1988).

Reflection samples from previous years Final Reflection Activity Samples--One completed in L1 and and one completed in L2 from the same class

References• Blanche,P.(1988)‘Self-assessmentofforeign-languageskills:Implicationsforteachersandresearchers’,RELCJounal,1975-93.• Gardner,D.andMiller,L.(1999)EstablishingSelf-AccessfromTheorytoPractice.Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress.• Holic,H.(1981)AutonomyinForeignLanguageLearning.Oxford:Pergamon.• Murphey,T.(1993)WhyDon’tTeachersLearnWhatLearnersLearn?TakingtheGuessworkOutwithActionLogging.EnglishTeachingForum

WashingtonDCUSIS.• Oscarson,M.(1989)‘Self-assessmentoflanguageproficiency:rationaleandapplications’,LanguageTesting6.1-13• Sinclair,B.(1999)MorethananActofFaith?EvaluatingLearnerAutonomy.InC.Kennedy(Ed.),InnovationandBestPracticeinBritishELT.Harlow

Longman,inassociationwiththeBritishCouncil.

The Learning Process•attitudes•beliefs•expectations•motivation•needs•learningstyle•preferredlearningenvironment

The English Language•languageawareness•systems•varieties•similaritiesanddifferencesbetweenL1andL2

•socialappropriacy•pragmatics

Themselves as Learners•activityevaluation

•strategyevaluation

•self-assessment•goal-setting•monitoring•organizing

*uneditedstudentcomments

Sinclair (1999) says to develop autonomy, learners should be aware of...