This study investigated EFL college students' autonomous learning of English as a foreign language. The main question of this study was: To what extent are EFL college students autonomous in their learning of English as a foreign language in terms of their: inclination towards teacher – centeredness, motivation level, metacognitive strategies, responsibility perceptions, and performing outclass activities? To answer this question, a 59- item questionnaire was designed and administered to 120 second year English major students at the Faculty of Education, Benha University. Students' autonomous language learning was investigated in terms of their inclination towards teacher – centeredness, their motivation level, their metacognitive strategies, their responsibility perceptions, and their outclass activities performances. The results revealed that although the students had high motivation and used some metacognitive strategies in learning English, they preferred the teacher – centered approach where the teacher is the responsible authority for most of the tasks during their own learning process. It was concluded that learner training should be seriously regarded in promoting autonomous language learning. Learner training helps learners how to learn, with a view to becoming independent and autonomous learners. Additionally, motivation is conditional to the promotion of learner autonomy. Some training programs can increase the motivation of learners. These programs aim to help students reduce their dependence on their teachers and take responsibility for their own learning, be able to control their own learning and attribute their success and failures to their own efforts rather than outside factors, develop abilities for goal- setting and planning and build feelings of self – confidence. Changes in curriculum to promote autonomous learning is another implication for practice. Autonomous learning is a new approach to foreign language learning and foreign language teaching. In this approach, the primary focus is on the learners' individual awareness of the learning process. Consequently, the curriculum designers will need to go over the course objectives and design tasks or materials in order to enhance autonomous learning. Suggestions for instruction and for further research are outlined. |
