The application of a course management system to enhance autonomy in learning English as a foreign language

Abstract

This study investigated the extent to which learner autonomy could be fostered in a blended learning situation involving the integration of a course management system into a traditional face-to-face English class. The purpose was to identify whether there was evidence that such an intervention brought about changes in the students’ perception and practice in relation to their autonomous learning. The research engaged two groups of Thai university students who enrolled on an English Foundation course. In the Thai educational context, cultural influences and normal educational practices are obstacles to the promotion of autonomous learning. The prevailing characteristics attributed to Thai learners are that they are obedient, uncritical and unwilling to challenge the authority of teachers. To promote autonomous learning in Thailand is, therefore, a challenge. The research makes use of both qualitative and quantitative methods. The data from questionnaires and student learning journals suggest that the course management system plays a prominent role in the creation and development of four aspects of learner autonomy. These are autonomous perception, autonomous behaviour, autonomous strategy and interdependence.

Introduction

Autonomy, which is defined as the extent to which learners demonstrate the ability to take control of their learning, has been justified by learner autonomy researchers during the past decades on the grounds that it can increase motivation to learn and consequently increases learning effectiveness. In a normal educational context, as Little (2002) points out, learners do not automatically accept responsibility for their learning and they will not necessarily find it easy to reflect critically on the learning process. There is therefore a need for an intervention in ongoing classroom practice to promote learner autonomy.

The fact that Thai university students were over-dependent on their teachers in EFL learning was instrumental in prompting this research. Cultural influences and the norms of educational practice are obstacles to promoting autonomous learning in Thailand. On the one hand, the prevailing view of Thai learners is that they are passive, obedient, uncritical and unwilling to challenge the authority of teachers. On the other hand, Thai teachers who were taught in the expository mode and whose training was in the same tradition are most likely to find it difficult to make the transition from being a knowledge transmitter to being a counsellor or a manager of learning resources. Consequently the most preferred learning style in Thailand is often seen as rote memorisation, attention to detail, and precise, linear and logical analysis without critical thought (Adamson, 2003, Champagne and Walter, 2000, Thadphoothon and Jones, 2004). The expository mode requires Thai teachers to talk for a large part of each lesson and this encourages them to believe that when they are not talking, they are not teaching. It is believed that this teaching practice is unlikely to be a process in which learners engage deeply with ideas in order to make meaning.

One of the aims of this research is to show that, by carefully scaffolding activities, learners can achieve a greater level of engagement with ideas in class. Rather than trying to challenge the constraints of the classroom, the curriculum or existing teaching practice, this particular study chose to change the power structure of the classroom by means of blended learning (BL), involving the integration of a course management system into a face-to-face classroom. Blended learning (BL) is a fairly new term in education and it usually refers to a teaching and learning environment that combines traditional classroom-based, instructor-led learning with technology-based learning. Its recent emergence is a consequence of the failure of many e-learning environments which lack a face-to-face component (Stracke, 2007). This research was initiated on the assumption that learners would not automatically know how to achieve autonomy; they needed to be guided in developing it by means of ‘greater flexibility’ in classroom practice, and a teacher may start by providing them with appropriate tools and with opportunities to practise with them. Blended learning which involves the application of a course management system has the potential to provide this ‘greater flexibility’. This project reflects the idea of seeking a ‘third space’ presented by Kramsch (1993) and a ‘third culture’ by Palfreyman (2003). The course management system here is hypothesised to serve as a third space which provides greater flexibility in teaching and learning and resolves the tension that takes place when learners are liberating individual capacity but at the same time have to negotiate with responsible compliance with organisation requirements.