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Publication

Learner autonomy in the acquisition of advanced academic literacy

Book - Dissertation

Subtitle:a self-efficacy approach to strategy-based instruction
The role of learner autonomy does not feature explicitly in approaches to advanced academic literacy instruction. Throughout their educational programme, however, learners are required to autonomously advance their literacy. Both a thorough understanding of what academic literacy entails and the ability and willingness to manage their learning, i.e., from analysing their learning needs to monitoring the learning process and critically evaluating its outcome, are prerequisites for fulfilling this expectation. Given the weight that has been attributed to learner autonomy, it has been generally recognised that learners need support to (learn to) take responsibility for their learning. Not only is it essential that learners learn how to manage their learning process (i.e., they have to develop self-regulative competence), they should also feel competent and confident that they can successfully do so (i.e., the motivational aspect of learner autonomy). One powerful approach to support the development of learner autonomy is strategy-based instruction, in which learning strategies and content teaching are integrated. Strategy training has been shown to positively affect learners’ selfregulative competence as well as their writing ability. It seems, however, that the effect of strategy training on learners’ self-efficacy beliefs has not been examined thoroughly, which is why this study explored how university language students’ self-efficacy beliefs evolve throughout an academic literacy course. To this end, a strategy-based training package, systematically introducing metacognitive and social strategies, was designed. The trained strategies were: analysing learning needs and setting goals, planning the learning process, seeking social support, monitoring the learning process and evaluating learning process and outcome. The package was embedded in a second-year academic literacy course of which the objectives were (1) to improve the participants’ discourse knowledge and ability to write an academic text, and (2) to enhance their self-efficacy beliefs regarding the trained learning strategies. In two consecutive years, the effectiveness of the training package, in terms of raising students’ self-efficacy beliefs, was examined (2016-2017: n = 55 and 2017- 2018: n = 62). x At the beginning and end of each course, data were gathered about the participants’ self-beliefs as writers of academic texts and about their selfefficacy beliefs concerning metacognitive and social learning strategies. Comparative analyses revealed that, overall, the training fulfilled its two objectives. The course had a significant positive effect (1) on the respondents’ self-beliefs about themselves as writers, (2) on their ability to write an academic text and (3) on their self-efficacy beliefs about learning strategies relating to needs analysis, help-seeking and evaluation. The analyses also uncovered some challenges for strategy-based academic literacy instruction. First, strategy training should include learning activities that give students impetus to consciously pay attention to the learning process and not only to the outcome. In other words, students should get the opportunity to plan, manage and monitor their learning process for them to feel more efficacious. Second, the results testified to a need for additional awareness raising concerning time management, since many respondents attributed shortcomings in their planning to external factors, thus failing to recognise their own share in time management. This study has attested to the potential of strategy-based instruction to improve language students’ self-efficacy beliefs concerning the use of learning strategies. When the findings are considered in light of earlier research, it can be concluded that strategy-based instruction is an effective autonomy-supportive approach provided that its design caters to the participants’ preparedness for selfregulation. Keywords: learner autonomy, self-regulation, strategy-based instruction, selfefficacy
Number of pages: 374
Publication year:2019
Keywords:Doctoral thesis
Accessibility:Open