English language teachers' beliefs and practices regarding learner autonomy in efl context

The concept of learner autonomy (LA) has highly correlated with language education for a half century, and it has been thought that autonomous learning contributed to language learning and teaching. Therefore, language teachers' beliefs and practices regarding learner autonomy aroused curiosity, and they were investigated. The aim of the present study was to discover English as Foreign Language (EFL) teachers' beliefs and practices with respect to learner autonomy. It was also aimed at finding out whether there was a relationship between secondary school and high school English teachers' beliefs and practices regarding the development of learner autonomy. Accordingly, a mixed method research design was employed and the data were collected both quantitatively and qualitatively. The type of mixed method design which was implemented was the explanatory sequential design. The participants of the study were 121 EFL teachers who worked at state secondary schools and high schools in Şahinbey and Şehitkamil, Gaziantep. Primarily the quantitative data were collected through the questionnaire which was developed by Borg and Al-Busaidi (2012). Then the qualitative data were collected through the follow-up interviews which were made with the 14 volunteer English teachers who firstly responded to the questionnaire. The results of the present study revealed that English teachers hold positive views about the concept of learner autonomy. Teachers associated the concept mostly with the terms such as 'motivation', 'success' and 'learning how to learn'. Besides, EFL teachers considered that the concept of learner autonomy was not only desirable but also feasible. Moreover, although most of the English teachers evaluated that their learners did not have a fair degree of autonomy, they indicated that they provided opportunities to their students. The mostly referred practices by participant teachers were 'including relevant activities and methods in the lesson', 'giving freedom to students' and 'giving tasks, homework or projects'. Another significant finding was that there was no signficant difference between secondary school and high school EFL teachers' beliefs and practices regarding promoting learner autonomy.