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Issues in Educational Research, 2018, Vol 28(3), 613-634.
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Relationship between teacher stories and encouragement of learner autonomy

Esra Harmandaoğlu Baz
İstanbul Medeniyet University, Turkey

Cem Balçıkanlı & Paşa Tevfik Cephe
Gazi University, Turkey

This study aims to find whether there is a relationship between the stories of English language teachers as learners, and their attempts to encourage learner autonomy. A qualitative design was chosen in order to reveal any relationships, with data collected through semi-structured interviews with five teachers of English language, two experienced and three novice teachers, in 2014-2015 spring term. Interview questions were directed towards language learning histories, including learning experiences prior to and during their pre-service teacher education. Furthermore, a checklist form was employed to understand the role of teachers in promoting learner autonomy. The researchers analysed the data by rereading and identifying recurring codes, using interpretative data analysis. The findings show a relationship between English language teacher stories as learners and their attempts to encourage learner autonomy. They mostly relate their attempts to their previous learning experiences as language learners. Despite their willingness to foster autonomy, they mention hindrances such as personalities of the teachers, institutional factors, the academic level of the students, readiness for autonomy, and lack of motivation. Their attempts to encourage learner autonomy seem restricted, as English language teachers in this study claim that they were not given sufficient opportunities to experience autonomy in their own language learning. On the basis of the findings, one could suggest that future language teachers should be given opportunities to experience learner autonomy during their teacher education and language learning process so that they can more readily encourage learner autonomy in their classes.
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Authors: Dr Esra Harmandaoğlu Baz (corresponding author) is a research assistant in the Department of English Language Teaching at İstanbul Medeniyet University, Katal, İstanbul, Turkey. She has been an associate editor of the Journal of Language Learning and Teaching (http://www.jltl.org) since 2016. Her research interests are technology integration into language learning and teacher education, web technologies in language learning and teacher education, and intercultural competence.
Email: esraharmandaoglu@gmail.com

Dr Cem Balçıkanlı works as associate professor in the ELT Department at Gazi University in Turkey. He has been the editor in chief of the Journal of Language Learning and Teaching (http://www.jltl.org) since 2011. His professional interests include learner/teacher autonomy, the role of technology in language learning/teaching, and second language teacher education.
Email: balcikanli@gazi.edu.tr

Dr Paşa Tevfik Cephe is a member of the teaching staff in the Department of English Language teaching at Gazi University. He received his PhD from the same university. He is particularly interested in teacher training and development and teaching language skills. He has presented papers at several conferences and has published in EFL Journals. He is also an editor of the Journal of Language Learning and Teaching (http://www.jltl.org).
Email: pcephe@gazi.edu.tr

Please cite as: Harmandaoğlu Baz, E., Balçıkanlı, C. & Cephe, P. T. (2018). Relationship between teacher stories and encouragement of learner autonomy. Issues in Educational Research, 28(3), 613-634. http://www.iier.org.au/iier28/harmandaoglu-baz.pdf


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