A Experienced and Novice Teachers’ Beliefs Regarding Learner Autonomy vs. Their Classroom Practices

Learner autonomy has been described as the ultimate objective in many language teaching programs since the third quarter of the twentieth century and educators have highlighted the significant role of promoting learner autonomy in the process of language learning and teaching. However, only limited numbers of studies has been awarded to what leaner autonomy mean to teachers and how they practice regarding it. This study addressed the gap and investigated novice and experienced teachers‟ beliefs regarding learner autonomy and their classroom practice. 40 teachers participated in two groups who were grouped based on their teaching experiences as novice and experienced teachers. A questionnaire which was adapted from British Council (Borg & Al-Busaidi, 2010) was administered to elicit the teachers‟ beliefs regarding learner autonomy. Also, a checklist was used to observe the teachers‟ classroom performance. The independent samples analysis of the data revealed significant difference between novice and experienced teachers beliefs. The results also indicated that there exists no difference between experienced and novice teachers‟ classroom practice regarding learner autonomy. The findings of the present study may have some implications for teachers in promoting learner autonomy in their classes, in general, and involving learners in the process of teaching and learning, in particular.

Keywords:

learner autonomy , experienced teachers , novice teachers , teachers’ beliefs