English Language Lecturers’ Perception About Learner Autonomy

JOURNAL OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND EDUCATION ISSN 2597- 6850 (Online), 2502-4132 (Print) Journal Homepage: https://jele.or.id/index.php/jele/index Article English Language Lecturers’ Perception About Learner Autonomy https://doi.org/10.31004/jele.v6i2.163  Tesa Yoshika Puteri, Loli Safitriabcde IAIN Bukittinggi ABSTRACT The English language lecturers’ perception about learner autonomy is important in order to help their learners develop their learning autonomy in the classroom. The purpose of this research was to know what was the English Language Lecturers’ Perception about Learner Autonomy. The descriptive quantitative research has the English lecturers of IAIN Bukittinggi as subject of the research. There were 11 English lecturers that used as the sample in this research. The instrumentation in this research was questionnaire. In analyzing the data, the researcher used the percentage formula. The research findings showed that most of the English lecturers were “unsure”. Data analysis was proven that there were 69 (34.84%) the total responses from the English lecturers that stated “unsure (U)” in the questionnaires about learner autonomy. In conclusion, most of the English lecturers were “unsure” about the learner autonomy. Keywords: Perception, English Language Lecturers, Learner Autonomy (LA) Article History: Received 1st December 2021 Accepted 30th December 2021 Published 30th December 2021 INTRODUCTION Learner autonomy (LA) is the ability of the learners or students in arranging, developing and handling their own learning activity. It is also known as autonomous learning that refers to the ability of the learners to take charge of their own learning by making themselves capable of making their own decision in determining learning objectives, defining the contents and his progress, selecting methods and techniques, monitoring the procedures of acquisition, and evaluating what has been acquired. Since English language learners in Indonesia are EFL learners, autonomy is a potential capacity which needs to be developed in learners themselves. There are many definitions about learner autonomy delivered by some experts. According to (Brikena, Xhaferri, & et.al, 2015)mention that learner autonomy means the ability to take charge of one's own learning. Autonomy is essentially a matter of the learner's psychological relation to the process and content of learning. It is a situation in which the learner is totally responsible for all the decisions concerned with his [or her] learning and the implementation of those decisions. Then, autonomy is a recognition of the rights of learners *Corresponding Author: Tesa Yoshika Puteri, e-mail: Authors’Contribution: a-Study design; b-Data collection; c-Statistical analysis; d-Manuscript preparation; eFunds collection. © 2021 The Author.This article is licensed CC BY SA 4.0. visit Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Journal of English Langaugeand Education 6(2) 2021 276 Copyright (c) 2021 Tesa Yoshika Puteri, Loli Safitri English Language Lecturers’ Perception About Learner Autonomy within educational systems.1 In conclusion, learner autonomy is the ability of the learners to take control of themselves. Learner autonomy means the effort of the students in understanding fully about their action in learning activity. Barnard and Li define learner autonomy as the ability of a learner to determine learning goals, manipulate learning actions, and show a positive attitude toward learning activities in order to work independently, self-regulate learning, and assess one’s own learning results (Kjisik & et.al, 2009).2 So, the students with autonomous learning will be able to take care about their own’s learning, even without the help from the teacher. Nowadays, strategies used to deliver knowledge in English language teaching and learning are focused on the new form which enables learners to direct their own learning. “Autonomous learning” has become a term extensively used in education, and its core concept, and has a meaning the ability to take charge of one’s own learning. This implies that learners can work on their own pace and know what, when, why, how and where to learn. Learners have the power and right to learn for themselves. The autonomous learning capacity is a willingness to assume learning responsibility. The ability of autonomous learner includes both the knowledge and skills for carrying out whatever choices the learners see appropriate for their learning. It means, the students who have learning autonomy have full responsibility for their learning process. There are some researches related to this research. First, the research from Ahmadzadeh and Zabardast (2014) (Shalaleh, 2014)with the title “Learner Autonomy in Practice”. The results of the study show students tendency to well-planned combination of communicative and non-communicative activities that will enhance both effective teaching and learning at different fields. It should be noted that the findings should feed into classroom practice, and provide guidance for materials and syllabus revision and a pedagogical framework for developing learners’ autonomy. The method of this research is a survey research by given the questionnaire to the participants.3 The second research is (all, 2013)entitled “The Correlation Between Learner Autonomy and English Proficiency of Indonesian EFL College Learners”. This study showed that learner autonomy and English proficiency as defined in the study had a strong, positive, and significant correlation. Given the results of the study, some suggestions can be put forward. First, it is suggested that English teachers encourage and cultivate their students’ positive attitude toward autonomous learning, foster the development of their students’ autonomy in the teaching learning process, and above all, change their mindset to favor learner autonomy. The data of this research were collected from documents and by administering two questionnaires. Multiple linear regression analysis conducted revealed that learner autonomy and English proficiency as defined in the study had a significant, strong, positive relationship(Myartawan et all, 2013). The third was the research from (Fidyati, 2021) with the title “Learning Autonomy and Its Significance for Indonesian EFL Learners”. The findings of this paper showed that autonomous learning is a good model for Indonesian EFL learners and should be considered as a premier strategy to enhance their English proficiency. The method of this study is the literature review.4 The last was the research from (Guo, 2007) with the title “Autonomous English Learning among Postgraduate EFL Learners in China: A Study of Attitudes and Behaviors”. The findings revealed that postgraduate students generally held strongly positive attitudes towards AEL but exhibited only moderate frequency of autonomous learning behaviors outside of class. The research method is descriptive research by (...truncated)