EFL Young Learners’ Autonomous Behaviors and Mobile-Assisted Extensive Reading

• Main Authors: Hung, Yu-Han, 洪毓涵
• Other Authors: Lin, Chih-Cheng
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2017
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/26hpx8

碩士 === 國立臺灣師範大學 === 英語學系 === 105 === Learner autonomy at elementary school level is still an underrated research topic. The present study is intended to provide insight of young learners’ learner autonomy development and experience in a Mobile-Assisted Extensive Reading program (MAER) with qualitative approach. It aims to illustrate how young learners interact with the proposed program in order to provide insights for researchers and teachers into young learners’ autonomy promotion. A class of six-graders from a chosen elementary school in a remote area in Taiwan participated in this 10-week MAER program. The students had opportunities to read extensively on their tablets three times a week after their lunch time. They were encouraged to read out-of-class as well. To raise the students’ awareness of autonomous learning, learner development lessons were provided at the early weeks of the program. To capture the students’ development in learner autonomy, the students were asked to record their readings and fill in the reading journal. The other data sources include observations from several free reading sessions and transcriptions of interviews. By logging and analyzing all data, students’ autonomous behaviors and reading experience were categorized and triangulated across various sources. The results indicated that young language learners’ ER reading experience was influenced by their previous reading habits, reasons for learning English, and prior language learning experience. More importantly, the findings provide a better understanding of the nature of young language learner autonomy, which is related to their readiness of autonomous learning. In addition, the students demonstrated both positive and negative observable autonomous behaviors in the following aspects: book selection, goal setting, and learning strategies. Based on the findings, the study suggests teachers be aware of students’ initial readiness level and past learning experiences before implementing autonomous learning. The role of teacher as a facilitator and scaffold is equally important for students at this age. MAER programs and learner autonomy training lessons could provide a supportive environment for students’ autonomous behaviors. Future research might explore young language learners’ autonomy development for a longer period. Future study could be conducted at a different learning context, and investigate another learning outcome from ER, literacy development.