View Content #22219
| Contentid | 22219 |
|---|---|
| Content Type | 3 |
| Title | Autonomy: Getting Past "Oh-no!" |
| Body | by Christopher Daradics, CASLS Language Technician A fun mnemonic can be won by playing some word games with the letters that make up the word autonomy. By emphasising the letters O and N O in the middle of the word (like this, autO-NOmy) we can pull out of the phrase “Oh no!” as in, “Oh no! Why is this student misbehaving and distracting everyone from my brilliant lesson?” Disruptive behaviour, is autonomous behaviour, students acting according to their own will are practicing AutO-NOmy.
This is why I think of autO-NOmy as the dark side of autonomy.
Institutional learning environments, such as classrooms, are designed to constrain autO-NOmy. Fixed schedules, well trained educators, thoughtfully composed course materials, and familiar routines ground learners in the comfortable rhythms of deeply structured and stable learning environments. This is a good thing, but one of the possible pitfalls of highly structured learning environments is that students might be so impressed by apparent order of things that they end up forgetting to think for themselves, forgetting that occasionally life requires bold, decisive, and inspired action.
As language educators we have the good fortune of sharing a world beyond our structured schools, communities and even beyond our country’s borders. Our platform as language educators begs the following questions of our students: “Where will you go? Who will you talk to? What do you seek? What will you accomplish?” Our students' answers to these questions, hopefully, bring us into Oh my! territory, the bright side of autonomy. From squarely within our domain as language educators we have the distinct privilege of introducing students to their birthright, to their autonO-MY and to the possibility of striking out beyond the familiar, beyond home, beyond school, into unknown territory.
But how do students cross over from autO-NOmy to autonO-MY? Research indicates that what I have described as “Oh-my!” autonomous learning becomes more likely when learners experience 1) dynamic environments where the structure of their engagement is increasingly shaped by their own needs and interests; 2) an essential shift occurs in their perception of the locus of control in their life from external to internal; 3) a shift towards a posture of approach and curiosity towards the world and towards new experiences; and 4) an increase in capacity for ever more sophisticated self-reflection. Each of these is unpacked below with some suggestions for implementation in the classroom.
1. Dynamic, personalised, and customisable structure (Cotterall and Murray, 2009)
Nurture students to become better at considering and planning for their own growth by allowing them the freedom to increasingly explore and develop their own interests and set their own goals.
Consider providing “structured autonomy” through:
2. Locus of Control (Aveni, 2005)
The more control students feel over the outcome of their action, the more capable they will be of making productive choices. In other words, having clarity between causes and effects is positively motivating. When students are able to sort out the relationship between their actions and the effects of their actions, they feel more empowered to take corrective action.
Consider supporting the internalisation of control through:
3. Learner’s openness to the world (Aveni, 2005)
The more control students feel like they have over their experience the more likely they are to push into new experiences in the world with a posture of approach (as opposed to withdraw from the world when the events of their lives feel out of their control).
Consider inspiring greater openness by:
4. Capacity and habits of self reflection (Cotterall and Murray, 2009)
The practice of considering and planning for their own growth through self reflection is the key to developing student autonO-MY.
Consider increasing self-reflection by:
References
Aveni, V. A. P. (2005). Study Abroad and Second Language Use: Constructing the Self. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Cotterall, S., & Murray, G. (2009). Enhancing metacognitive knowledge: Structure, affordances and self. System, 37(1), 34-45.
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| Source | CASLS Topic of the Week |
| Inputdate | 2016-12-01 11:13:03 |
| Lastmodifieddate | 2016-12-19 03:42:51 |
| Expdate | Not set |
| Publishdate | 2016-12-19 02:15:02 |
| Displaydate | 2016-12-19 00:00:00 |
| Active | 1 |
| Emailed | 1 |
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