In defence of student autonomy

Andrew Arlidge, China and New Zealand

[ Editorial note: Andrew Arlidge is here reacting to Tulay Duman's letter in HLT July 05, which has already provoked a response from Sharon Hartle in HLT, September 05. Simon Marshall mentions the central role of student autonomy in his piece in the this issue: Short Article 1 : Some central principles of humanistic education. If what Andrew says about China interests you, then have a look at Dr Quing Gu's article about Chinese students running the gauntlet of British Universities: Major Article 1.]

I would like to reply to Tulay Duman's letter in the July 2005 issue of Humanising Language Teaching. For a start I'm happy to agree with many of Tulay Duman's criticisms of cultural imperialism. I, like many other people, am increasingly distressed and frustrated by the arrogant attitudes of some "western " countries. What I can't see, however, is how the idea of "learner autonomy" is opposed to any particular culture, is a form of "cultural imperialism", or even serves as a vehicle for "cultural imperialism". Perhaps my idea of "learner autonomy" is wrong!

I've never been to Turkey and I can't discuss the situation there, so anything I write in no way implies anything about Turkey. I can talk about China though, as I've spent most of the last 6 years studying and teaching here. According to the Chinese people I know, China is also "a warm, social culture in which people depend on each other and on their family" I would agree with that on a qualified basis! However, my experience is that Chinese education is largely lacking in "learner autonomy", and that this lack of autonomy is not conducive of learning.

What's the definition of "learner autonomy", anyway? Does it really preclude working with other people in warm supportive relationships or helping and being helped?

Surely "learner autonomy" starts with being motivated to learn? Isn't it having an attitude of taking responsibility for my own learning, a willingness to go and find things out for myself and ultimately to reflect on what I've done and am doing? Isn't it also an attitude of not blindly accepting everything somebody says just because that person happens to be called a teacher?

If this definition of "learner autonomy" is valid then surely it could sometimes mean going off by myself and working in seclusion, at other times it could mean working with others, often helping them or receiving their help. In fact, some of my most rewarding "autonomous learning" experiences have been with others, and have involved seeing them and myself bloom. Most of the useful things I've learned have been with some initial guidance from a "teacher" followed by my own application, either alone or in a group.

I'll talk about my own experiences, as that's all I have! I hope that's ok! I started learning Chinese about six years ago ( at the age of 35 ), after studying formally for four years ( two of those in China ) I could speak pretty fluently, read and write the language. It's not easy learning a language from scratch, especially as an adult! I'm not particularly clever or gifted, and the only way I was able to learn was by being an autonomous learner. However, here in China, I have students who have studied English for 6-10 years, with both foreign and Chinese teachers, who can barely formulate a simple English sentence and whose method of dealing with any form of text is a word-for-word translation from the teacher. Ask them to deal with some kind of authentic text in an authentic way, and they freeze! Many students don't even own dictionaries! Why? Lack of learner autonomy!

As an EFL teacher in China, the big problem I face on a daily basis is the lack of learner autonomy. I hope I can be forgiven for generalising, but this has been the case so far ( with some notable exceptions ) at all the places I've taught at in China. The whole system here is one of anti-autonomy and is kept in place by socially enforced conformity and passivity.

In a typical class the students come into the class in dribs and drabs, eat their breakfast, text their friends and generally zone out. Most of the students are not really interested in anything: they have no passion that I've discovered yet. The same students who are so social and warm with their friends and teachers out of class are incapable of working in groups to do the most simple of tasks. They come to class expecting to somehow passively sit and absorb something from the teacher. After classes they do the minimum possible, often not even completing simple homework tasks.
When these same students don't actually learn anything, they blame their teachers! What's more they expect, and are given high marks just so the schools can save face!

The students who do actually make progress- by which I mean they can actually hold some sort of conversation in English and show an improvement in fluency and listening comprehension over time - are consistently those who exhibit what I would define as autonomous behaviour: they participate actively in class, they are willing to work in pairs and groups, they complete homework tasks, they spend time out of class reading and listening by themselves, they ask questions and try to find answers from different sources etc. interestingly enough, I've also observed that the same students are often more open-minded and are much less likely to exhibit racist attitudes and behaviour.

I just can't get past the fact that to learn anything, especially a second/foreign language, one needs at least a certain degree of autonomy! Is telling other people this fact imperialistic? Is trying to help somebody be more autonomous imperialistic?

I became involved in my present work because my own country is a nation of immigrants, with the last 30years bringing people from all over the world to our shores. I live in the hope that my learning can help bridge some of the gaps between different languages and cultures, making for a more pleasant and harmonious world. Although I love my country and my cultural heritage, I have no desire to force anything on other people. I do, however, often tell my students that they ought to take more responsibility for their own learning ( ironically echoing my very traditional Chinese teacher back home in New Zealand ). If I'm guilty of cultural imperialism, I apologise.

Yours sincerely

Andrew Arlidge

Yunnan

China