Fostering Students’ Autonomy in Learning English in Nonlinguistic University

EasyChair Preprint 4242

Abstract

The study aims to find out whether it is possible to foster students’ learner autonomy in the context of ESP language learning in non-linguistic universities by the creation of a special learning environment. It was carried out at National Aviation University in Ukraine with two groups of first-year students of electronics (experimental and control) in 2018-2019. Testings to determine students’ level of communicative competence in English and surveys to identify students’ level of learner autonomy development were conducted in September and May of the same year of education. The control group did not receive any special training, while in the experimental group were created special learning conditions for students’ autonomy fostering. With the purpose to prepare students to accept responsibility for their learning, they were given the opportunities to choose educational materials; to set goals of their learning; to reflect the process and evaluate the results of learning, etc. Modern technologies were widely used as well as scaffolding(if necessary). According to the results of the experiment, it was stated that only a part of the most active students used the created conditions and gained experience in autonomous learning. The conclusion was made about creating such an environment. It is a challenge that is appropriate to realize to give an autonomous learning experience to aspiring students.

Keyphrases: ESP, Learning English, Special learning environment, Ukrainian context, autonomous learning, english speaking activity, foreign language, learner autonomy, non-linguistic university, self-directed learning, student autonomous learning, student autonomy fostering, student independent work, take responsibility

@booklet{EasyChair:4242,
  author    = {Oksana Pershukova and Nina Nikolska and Oksana Vasiukovych},
  title     = {Fostering Students’ Autonomy in Learning English in Nonlinguistic University},
  howpublished = {EasyChair Preprint 4242},
  year      = {EasyChair, 2020}}