On researching learner autonomy in writing
Hi everyone
Our colleague Djalal Tebib has sent the following discussion prompts:
- How can we effectively assess learner autonomy in writing?
- Can a students-directed wall magazine* be a pragmatic method for fostering learner autonomy?
*A wall magazine involves self-assessment, creativity, responsibility, time management, editing, proofreading, peer review and so on. In addition, it is affordable and it can be done anywhere unlike technology-based approaches which many universities can not afford.
Does anyone have experience with researching learner autonomy in writing?
All comments welcome!
ana
That's very interesting. However, it does not, as I see it, measure our learners' autonomy but rather their writing proficiency.
Best,
Djalal
The more proficient in a particular skill the more autonomous a student can feel; so I think both categories are not pedagogically divorced. Although I undertood your criterion that they are not identical, I think they can be related one to the other.
Thank you very much for helping me meditate on this issue.
You are most welcome, Humberto.
Yes, you are right. They seem to be related in some ways. For example, proofreading or editing are, I think, important steps in the writing process that only an autonomous learner go through them each time s/he writes.
Autonomous writers like to learn how close they are to the target language. Comparing is a strategy teachers can encourage and if it proves valid learners will asume it autonomously. I have several students who have asked me for the BAWE corpus and how to work with it to compare what they do with the native samples.
Writing is a process the learner has to follow as you mentioned above. The approach I suggest is to assess their writing in different moments of the process; but collecting all the class written language samples will allow the teacher to compare his students' works with other corpora of academic writing; for example, the BAWE corpus, just to mention one.
The result of this cross-corpora comparison brings about which pedagogical solution you will give to your instruction on writing at that very moment.