Foreign language teachers’ ideas about the educational autonomy of schoolchildren

Aim. To identify foreign language teachers’ beliefs about educational autonomy in secondary schools and the practice of its formation among students in foreign language lessons, as well as to develop necessary recommendations.
Methodology and methods. The methodological basis of the research is the provisions of competencybased (I. L. Bim, I. A. Zimnaya), reflexive (L. M. Mitina, S. L. Rubinstein), a learner-based activity (L. V. Vygotsky, S. L. Rubinstein), communicative (G. A. Kitaygorodskaya, A. A. Leontiev) approaches, differentiated instruction (A. A. Mirolyubov). To solve the tasks, the following research methods were used: theoretical analysis of the literature on the research topic; empirical methods (analysis, questionnaire, evidence). With the introduction of the communicative method of teaching a foreign language into curricula, personality-oriented and system-activity approaches are actively used in language education, in which students are expected to be more active in their own learning process. In the classroom, the teacher can act as a facilitator and consultant. However, in most cases, teachers are more concerned with the role of a knowledge transmitter. In this context, educational autonomy is poorly represented, and sometimes simply absent. In recent years, numerous publications have been devoted to teachers' views on educational autonomy (Borg, Alshumaimeri, Mansooji, Ghaleshahzari, Javid, Nguyen, Habók).
Results. Data were collected from the questionnaire and interviews of 26 teachers in Yekaterinburg and Nizhny Tagil. The results showed that the participants expressed positivity towards students’ educational autonomy (80,8%) and preferred socio-cultural model of autonomy (about 71%) but some of them did not have sufficient knowledge of it (15%). Teachers believe that their students do not have a sufficient level of educational autonomy (55%). In their opinion, the implementing of educational autonomy in foreign language lessons is difficult due to many factors: the unwillingness of students and their families, the incompetence of teachers in this matter and a number of institutional factors (according to the personal interviews).
Theoretical and/or practical significance. The paper describes the features of the formation of students’ educational autonomy in foreign language lessons and summarizes methodological material on this problem; the practical significance of the paper lies in the possibility of using the main provisions of the study to assess the level of educational autonomy formation in foreign language lessons.
Conclusions. The paper offers recommendations concerning the more effective formation of students’ learner autonomy at various levels: from individual to institutional ones.

1. Grigoreva E. Ya., Maleeva E. A. [Autonomy of students as a principle of organizing foreign language teaching]. In: Sovremennye problemy nauki i obrazovaniya [Modern problems of science and education], 2014, no. 2. Available at: https://science-education.ru/ru/article/view?id=12621 (accessed: 01.01.2024).

2. Danilenko A. S., Shershnyova V. A. [Learner autonomy: current state and prospects]. In: Problemy sovremennogo pedagogicheskogo obrazovaniya [Problems of modern pedagogical education], 2019, no. 64-3, pp. 79–81.

3. Koryakovtseva N. F. [Autonomy of the learner in the process of learning a foreign language and culture]. In: Avtonomnost' v praktike obucheniya inostrannym yazykam i kul'turam: sbornik nauchnyh trudov Moskovskogo gosudarstvennogo lingvisticheskogo universiteta [Autonomy in the application of teaching foreign languages and cultures: collection of scientific papers of the Moscow State Linguistic University], no. 461. Moscow, Moscow State Linguistic University Publ., 2001, pp. 16–17.

4. Simonyan K. V. Metodika ispol'zovaniya komp'yuternyh tekhnologij pri organizacii samostoyatel'noj raboty studentov (yazykovoj vuz, nachal'nyj etap): avtoref. dis. … kand. ped. nauk [Methodology of using technologies in students' independent work on a computer (language university, initial stage of organization): abstract of Cand. Sci. thesis in Pedagogy]. Tambov, 2008. 27 p.

5. Solovova E. N. Metodika obucheniya inostrannym yazykam [Methodology of teaching foreign languages]. Moscow, AST, Astrel Publ., 2008. 192 p.

6. Khusainova S. V., Khusnutdinova R. R., Fedekin I. N. [Learners’ autonomy of as a cognitive problem]. In: Kazanskij pedagogicheskij zhurnal [Kazan pedagogical journal], 2022, no. 3 (152), pp. 210–218.

7. Benson P. Autonomy in language teaching and learning. In: Language Teaching, 2006, no. 40 (1), pp. 21–40.

8. Borg S., Alshumaimeri Y. Language learner autonomy in a tertiary context: Teachers’ beliefs and practices. In: Language Teaching Research, 2019, no. 23 (1), pp. 9–38.

9. Bui N. Learner autonomy in tertiary English classes in Vietnam. In: English tertiary education in Vietnam. London, Routledge Publ., 2019, pp. 158–171.

10. Chong S. W., Reinders H. Autonomy of English language learners: A scoping review of research and practice. In: Language Teaching Research, 2022, no. 1-26. DOI: 10.1177/13621688221075812.

11. Dickinson L. Self-instruction in language learning. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1987. 200 p.

12. Farrell T. S., Jacobs G. M. Essentials for successful English language teaching. London, UK: Continuum, 2010. 160 p.

13. Holec H. Autonomy and foreign language learning. Oxford, UK: Pergamon Press, 1981. 53 p.

14. Kraft M. A., Dougherty S. M. The effect of teacher–family communication on student engagement: Evidence from a randomized field experiment. In: Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, 2012, no. 6 (3), pp. 199–222.

15. Little D. Language learner autonomy: some fundamental considerations revisited. In: Innovation in Language Teaching and Learning, 2007, no. 1 (1), pp. 14–29.

16. Mansooji H., Ghaleshahzari A., Javid M. EFL learner autonomy: Iranian university instructors' beliefs vs. actual practices. In: Mextesol Journal, 2022, no. 46 (1), pp. 2–16.

17. Nguyen S., Habók A. Students’ beliefs about teachers’ roles in Vietnamese classrooms. In: Electronic Journal of Foreign Teaching and Learning, 2021, no. 18 (1), pp. 38–59.

18. Sinclair B. Learner autonomy: The next phase? In: Learner autonomy, teacher autonomy: Future directions. London, Longman Publ., 2000. R. 4–14.

19. Smith R., Ushioda E. Autonomy: Under whose control? // Maintaining control: Autonomy and language learning. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2009, pp. 241–253.

20. Teng M. F. Autonomy, agency, and identity in teaching and learning English as a foreign language. London, Springer Publ., 2019.132 p.