A Study on English Majors'' Attitudes toward Self-Directed Learning at a Technological University

• Main Authors: Tsan-Jui Cheng, 鄭贊瑞
• Other Authors: Mei-Ling Lee
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2008
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/2kgm5m

碩士 === 國立高雄第一科技大學 === 應用英語所 === 96 === With the advancement of technology, more and more educators have begun to recognize that the education students receive in school can no longer be the ultimate for them to survive and excel in today’s world (Gibbons, 2002; Ho & Crookall, 1995; Knowles, 1975; Wenden, 1986). For this reason, self-directed learning (SDL), an effective approach to develop learners’ ability to take charge of their own learning, has become one of the widely discussed issues in the field of education. This study, inspired by the ever challenging educational context, thus sets out to investigate Taiwanese college English majors’ attitudes toward self-directed learning. By so doing, it is hoped to provide educators, especially Taiwanese EFL teachers, a general understanding of what college students think of SDL as a learning alternative in the classroom, and in particular, what they would need to pay attention to should they hope to help students cultivate such self-directed learning abilities. To this end, three research questions were formulated and systematically tackled in the present study: (1) What are the attitudes that college English majors hold toward SDL? (2) What are the expectations that college English majors have toward their Taiwanese EFL teachers with regard to SDL? (3) Do college English majors possess the study skills essential for learning in a self-directed language classroom? To answer the above questions, a three-part questionnaire and an in-depth interview were used to collect relevant data for analysis. A total of 101 college English majors from a technological university in southern Taiwan participated in the questionnaire survey and eight of them joined the in-depth interview. The major findings are summarized as follows. First, Taiwanese college English majors hold a strongly positive attitude toward SDL. Among the participants, 87.2% reported they like the idea of SDL. Besides, if circumstances allow, 91% of them would like to know more about what SDL is, and 94.9% would be willing to have some training to become self-directed learners. Second, college English majors picked SUPPORTIVE, KNOWLEDGEABLE, and FRIENDLY as the top three adjectives they would use to describe a typical Taiwanese EFL teacher in their minds. However, in the interview, the student interviewees further pointed out that though Taiwanese EFL teachers are generally supportive and friendly, they often tend to become overly caring and protective of their students even at university level. Such characteristics might hinder students’ long-term development of independent learning abilities and their practice of SDL in the classroom. Finally, it was found that at the present stage Taiwanese English majors do not possess sufficient study skills for SDL. About 50% to 60% of them reported with a moderate or low capacity for most of the SDL skills, including the ability to question, inquire, and problem solve; the ability to assess performance using data; the ability to make a firm commitment to working on goals; and, the ability to maintain continuous self-motivation. What is more, 59% of the college English majors responded that they are not ready at all for directing their own learning. On the basis of the above findings, pedagogical implications are addressed from the following four facets. First, Taiwanese EFL teachers might consider incorporating SDL as a component of their classroom teaching due to the highly positive attitude held by English majors. Second, teacher education on SDL would be indispensable if Taiwanese EFL teachers would like to implement the classroom-based SDL pedagogy. Third, Taiwanese EFL teachers should consider adopting a gradual approach when teaching SDL to learners of Confucian heritage. Lastly, to build confidence in SDL, Taiwanese college English majors would need to receive further training to enhance their independent study skills.