Learner Autonomy across Cultures: Language Education Perspectives

299 Pages·2003·30.29 MB·English

by  David Palfreyman

Learner Autonomy across Cultures
Learner Autonomy across
Cultures
Language Education Perspectives
Edited by
David Palfreyman
and
Richard C. Smith
* Editorial matter and selection © David Palfreyman and Richard C. Smith,
2003
All chapters © Palgrave Macmillan Ltd, 2003
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2003 978-1-4039-0354-9
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PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave
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ISBN 978-1-4039-9340-3 ISBN 978-0-230-50468-4 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-0-230-50468--4
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Learner autonomy across cultures: language education perspectives/edited by
David Palfreyman and Richard C. Smith.
p.cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1.language and languages-Study and teaching. 2.Autonomy.
3. Multicultural education. I. Palfreyman, David, 1964-
11. Smith, Richard C., 1961-
PS3.l377 2003
418'.0071-dc21 2003046940
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
12 11 10 09 08 07 06 OS 04 03
Contents
List of Tables and Figures vii
Preface viii
Notes on the Contributors ix
Transcription Conventions xii
Introduction: Culture and Learner Autonomy 1
David Palfreyman
Part I: Autonomous Learners
1 Becoming Autonomous in an Asian Context:
Autonomy as a Sociocultural Process 23
Phil Benson, Alice Chik and Hye-Yean Lim
2 Changes in Chinese Students' Learner Strategy
Use after Arrival in the UK: a Qualitative Inquiry 41
XuesongGao
3 Learner Autonomy as Agency in Sociocultural Settings 58
Kelleen Toohey and Bonny Norton
Part II: Theoretical Perspectives
4 Toward a More Systematic Model of L2 Learner Autonomy 75
Rebecca L. Oxford
5 Self-Access as Access to 'Self': Cultural Variation in
the Notions of Self and Personhood 92
Philip Riley
6 Social Autonomy: Addressing the Dangers of
Culturism in TESOL 110
Adrian Holliday
Part III: Practical Interventions
7 Pedagogy for Autonomy as
(Becoming-)Appropriate Methodology 129
Richard C. Smith
v
vi Contents
8 Autonomy in a Resource-Poor Setting: Enhancing
the Carnivalesque 147
E.A. Gamini Fonseka
9 Neither Here Nor There? Learner Autonomy
and Intercultural Factors in CALL Environments 164
Klaus Schwienhorst
Part IV: Institutions and Teachers
10 The Representation of Learner Autonomy and Learner
Independence in Organizational Culture 183
David Palfreyman
11 Learning Cultures and Counselling: Teacher/
Learner Interaction within a Self-Directed Scheme 201
Maria de los Angeles Clemente
12 Addressing Constraints on Autonomy in
School Contexts: Lessons from Working with Teachers 220
Flavia Vieira
13 Asserting Our Culture: Teacher Autonomy
from a Feminist Perspective 240
Naoko Aoki with Yukiyo Hamakawa
Postscript: Implications for Language Education 254
Richard C. Smith
References 261
Index 285
List of Tables and Figures
Tables
2.1 Details of participants 43
2.2 Factors influencing change, and their impact 46
4.1 A model of learner autonomy 77
6.1 Three approaches to autonomy 116
6.2 Differences in perception 121
8.1 English examination results of school candidates 150
11.1 Details of the sessions 203
11.2 Degree of satisfaction expressed by the learners 205
11.3 Counsellors' attitudes to power 206
11.4 Types of conversational move in two sessions 207
11.5 Comparative table of factors related to students' good/bad
records 210
12.1 Action principles in a common framework for learner and
teacher development 226
Figures
5.1 Identity, person and self 93
5.2 Parameters of social identity 95
7.1 'Weak' and 'strong' versions of pedagogy for learner
autonomy 131
7.2 A 'snapshot' of student-directed classroom activities 135
7.3 A 'student-directed learning cycle' 136
9.1 The MOO: general layout 170
12.1 Grid for the analysis of foreign language learning tasks 238
12.2 Observation schedule for the implementation of
foreign language learning tasks 239
vii
Preface
One of the wonders of modern communication for us is that we have
only ever met each other once, briefly, at the IATEFL conference in
Dublin in 2000. An idea shared between us then has grown into this
book, a labour of love for both of us during 2002 and the early part of
2003. In our e-mail negotiations across time-zones and, latterly,
whizzing to one another across continents of developing versions of this
book, we've both learned a lot from the process of collaborating, and
have much to thank one another for. David is grateful to Richard for
being such a stimulating, supportive, painstaking and polite collabora
tor (24 hours a day, to judge by the timing of some of his e-mails!); and
Richard is grateful for David's up-to-date appreciation of the diverse
meanings of culture, his enviable respect for deadlines, and his overall
technical wizardry (especially impressed by his e-mail message from the
back of a car in a sand-storm!). But we've learned even more from the
contributions of the chapter authors, with whom we unfortunately have
just as little day-to-day face-to-face contact. It says a lot for the power of
a concept like 'autonomy' that it means so much to and can unite peo
ple from such a variety of contexts, and we sincerely appreciate the com
mitment of all the contributors to this project. We thank them for
writing with such vision and honesty, for reading and commenting on
each other's chapters, and for being willing to refine and re-refine their
own chapters on the basis of feedback. Finally, on a more personal note,
David would particularly like to thank Ash and Aithy for their great
patience and support; Richard especially thanks Dilek for her support
and encouragement.
As we finished editing this book Iraq was invaded, despite popular
protests world-wide. Autonomy across cultures, for us, became still more
important to understand, support and strive for.
DAVID PALFREYMAN
RICHARD C. SMITH
April2003
viii
Notes on the Contributors
Naoko Aoki is an Associate Professor in the Graduate School of Letters
at Osaka University, Japan, and works with in-service and pre-service
teachers of japanese as a second language. Her pedagogical and research
interests include learner autonomy, teacher autonomy and life stories of
second language teachers.
Phil Benson is an Assistant Professor at the English Centre, University
of Hong Kong, where he teaches English and Applied Linguistics. His
research interests include autonomy and language learning biography.
Alice Chik teaches English literature and English language in a Hong
Kong secondary school. She is a doctoral student at the University of
Hong Kong, where she is researching language learning biographies.
Maria de los Angeles Clemente is a Lecturer and Tutor at the
Universidad Aut6noma Benito juarez de Oaxaca, Mexico, where she
directs the MA programme in Applied Linguistics. She has carried out
and published research into theoretical and practical issues connected
with autonomy and self-direction, and teacher education and beliefs.
E.A. Gamini Fonseka is Senior Lecturer in English and Chair of
Languages at the General Sir John Kotelawala Defence Academy, Sri
Lanka. He has published song-based course books in English, compan
ions to poetry, drama, prose, and fiction for young learners and teachers
of literature, and a recent novel.
Xuesong Gao recently gained his MA from the University of Warwick,
UK, and is now doing a complementary degree in Social and Cultural
Anthropology at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium. He looks
forward to integrating his anthropological training into his future ELT
research in China.
Adrian Holliday is a Reader in Applied Linguistics at Canterbury Christ
Church University College, UK. He directs the PhD programme in the
Department of Language Studies, and is the Director of Research Degrees
Training in the Graduate School. His and his students' research concerns
social and cultural issues in TESOL.
ix
x Notes on the Contributors
Hye-Yeon Lim is a PhD candidate in Foreign Language Education at the
University of Texas at Austin, USA. Her research interests focus on
second/foreign language acquisition in the areas of cognition, emotion,
teacher education, and computer-assisted language learning.
Bonny Norton is Associate Professor in the Department of Language
and Literacy Education at the University of British Columbia, Canada.
She has published widely in the areas of identity, language learning, and
social change.
Rebecca L. Oxford is a Professor at the University of Maryland, USA, and
the author of a number of books on language learning strategies, motiva
tion, and instructional methodology. She has written over eighty articles
and book chapters and has presented keynote addresses around the world.
David Palfreyman is based at Zayed University, Dubai, contributing
to ESOL-related programmes in the English Language Centre and
educational development in the Centre for Teaching, Learning and
Assessment. His research interests include the roles of sociocultural con
text in language education, vocabulary curriculum development, and
the use of information and communication technology.
Philip Riley is Professor of Ethnolinguistics at the University of
Nancy 2, France, and Director of the CRAPEL (Centre de Recherches
et d'Applications Pectagogiques en Langues). His main areas of
interest include language didactics, bilingualism and inter-cultural
communication.
Klaus Schwienhorst lectures in Applied Linguistics at the Centre for
Language and Communication Studies, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland.
His main research interests are learner autonomy, computer-assisted
language learning, and the design, implementation, and evaluation of
virtual environments for language learning.
Richard C. Smith is a Lecturer in ELT/Applied Linguistics in the Centre
for English Language Teacher Education, University of Warwick, UK.
Previously he taught for 13 years in Japan. His main research interests
are in the fields of learner autonomy, teacher education, cultural studies
in ELT and history of language teaching.
Kelleen Toohey is Professor of Education at Simon Fraser University in
British Columbia, Canada. She is interested in sociocultural theory, sec
ond language learning and the education of minority language speakers.