PROMOTING RUSSIAN

LANGUAGE LEARNER
AUTONOMY THROUGH
TECHNOLOGY
Edie Furniss
Monterey Institute of International Studies

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

What is autonomy?

Why is autonomy important?

What is the teachers role in promoting autonomy?

What is the link between autonomy and

technology?

How can teachers use technology to foster

autonomy in their students?

WHAT IS AUTONOMY?

the ability to take charge of ones own learning

Holec, H. (1981). Autonomy in foreign language learning. Oxford: Pergamon.

autonomy is a capacity for detachment, critical

reflection, decision-making, and independent
action
Little, D. (1991). Learner autonomy: Definitions, issues and problems. Dublin: Authentik.

where learners are given specific opportunities to

get actively involved in their own learning
Dam, L. (2003). Developing learner autonomy: The teachers responsibility. In D. Little,
J. Ridley & E. Ushioda (Eds.), Learner autonomy in the foreign language classroom:
Teacher, learner, curriculum and assessment (pp.135-146). Dublin: Authentik.

WHAT IS AUTONOMY?

Two features of autonomous classrooms:

conscious involvement in ones own learning
active engagement in ones own learning
Dam, L. (2003). Developing learner autonomy: The teachers responsibility. In D. Little,
J. Ridley & E. Ushioda (Eds.), Learner autonomy in the foreign language classroom:
Teacher, learner, curriculum and assessment (pp.135-146). Dublin: Authentik.

WHY IS AUTONOMY IMPORTANT?

removing the barriers between

learning and the rest of living

Little, D. (1991). Learner autonomy: Definitions, issues and problems. Dublin: Authentik.

WHAT IS THE TEACHERS ROLE IN

PROMOTING AUTONOMY?

to understand her learners - only learners can

know what materials from whatever source are
genuinely relevant to them (Little, 1991, p. 49) and

listen to learner goals and needs

Little, D. (1991). Learner autonomy: Definitions, issues and problems. Dublin: Authentik.

to facilitate students learning by encouraging them

to use a variety of material and methods and
explaining how to go about doing so
Healey, D. (2007). Theory and research: Autonomy and language learning. In J. Egbert &
E. Hanson-Smith (Eds.), CALL environments: Research, practice, and critical issues (pp.
377-388). Alexandria, VA: TESOL.

WHAT IS THE TEACHERS ROLE IN

PROMOTING AUTONOMY?

to model authentic use of technology, transferring

knowledge about learning from the domain of the
classroom to the personal domain of the individual
learner
Crabbe, D. (1993). Fostering autonomy from within the classroom: The teachers
responsibility. System, 21(4), 443-452.

to have an attitude geared towards promoting

autonomy in her learners

WHAT IS THE TEACHERS ROLE IN

PROMOTING AUTONOMY?

to give students choice in what and how they learn

to facilitate collaboration in learning

to encourage reflection on the learning process

WHAT IS THE LINK BETWEEN

AUTONOMY AND TECHNOLOGY?

CALL applications provide substantial input

through many forms of media and encourage
exploratory learning (Benson, 2001, p. 139) in an
atmosphere in which learners have a greater
degree of control
Benson, P. (2001). Teaching and researching autonomy in language learning. Harlow,
England: Pearson Education Limited.

The Internet is an excellent source of authentic

materials and is becoming more and more
available to language learners

HOW CAN TEACHERS USE

TECHNOLOGY TO FOSTER AUTONOMY
IN THEIR STUDENTS?

Luke, C. L. (2006). Fostering learner autonomy in a technology-enhanced,

inquiry-based foreign language classroom. Foreign Language Annals, 39(1),
71-86.

students conducted research online

filled out summary sheets of the Web sites they visited
selected phrases and sentences from the sites, explaining
the grammar points they contained
summarized the sites using vocabulary and grammar
structures from class
artifacts of their research: PowerPoint presentations,
Word documents, travel brochures, posters, interviews
with native speakers, DVD excerpts, and authentic
materials.

HOW CAN TEACHERS USE

TECHNOLOGY TO FOSTER AUTONOMY
IN THEIR STUDENTS?

Robin, R. (2007).
Commentary: Learner-based listening and technological authenticity.
Language Learning & Technology, 11(1), 109-115.

technology available to independent language learners

online tools used by native speakers
repeated audio delivery (DVR, iPods)
slowed audio text delivery (simplified news sites, Audacity)
accompanying texts (commercial news sites)
captioned video (SRT scripts, VLC player)
translation bots (Google's Language Tools, Alta Vista's
Babelfish)
voice chat (Skype)
recommended that teachers prepare their students strategically
and technologically to direct their learning process in a way that
is compatible with their own learning styles and goals.

HOW CAN TEACHERS USE

TECHNOLOGY TO FOSTER AUTONOMY
IN THEIR STUDENTS?

Garza, T. (2000). Getting from Gorbachev to grunge: Constructing

ethnographic portraits to introduce contemporary Russian culture. In O.
Kagan & B. Rifkin (Eds.), The learning and teaching of Slavic languages and
cultures (pp. 61-80). Bloomington, IN: Slavica.

surveyed Russians about their daily lives, hobbies, interests, and

attitudes toward such topics as politics, religion, and relationships
explored the culture behind the Russians responses,
investigating films, musical groups, and other cultural artifacts
engaged with the culture in a personally significant way
The most important consideration for language teachers
planning to add the teaching of culture to the basic curriculum is
the construction of an appropriate context in which learners can
discover and explore cultural phenomena in the target
language.

HOW CAN TEACHERS USE

TECHNOLOGY TO FOSTER AUTONOMY
IN THEIR STUDENTS?

Cotterall, S. (2008). Autonomy and good language learners. In C. Griffiths

(Ed.), Lessons from a good language learners (pp. 110-120). Cambridge, UK:
Cambridge University Press.

good language learners and autonomy

language advising
learning logs, journals, or portfolios
collaborative project work

all of these activities can be supported with technology, through

asynchronous and synchronous collaboration programs, blogs, and
other online tools

HOW CAN TEACHERS USE

TECHNOLOGY TO FOSTER AUTONOMY
IN THEIR STUDENTS?

raising learner awareness of the wealth of Internet

resources that both language learners and native
speakers utilize
typing
online

texts
dictionaries, corpora, and other language references
comics
blogs, newspapers
textbooks and supplements
self-study sites (Russian Language Mentor, Russnet,
G.L.O.S.S.)
online radio, TV, music videos, podcasts

KEYBR.COM

LAST.FM

FAR FROM MOSCOW

MODERN RUSSIAN MUSIC @ SRAS

KARAOKE.RU

YOUTUBE

CONCLUSION
Autonomy is more than sitting in a lab with material, more
than being motivated to learn, more than having company in
one's studies, and more than having choices in terms of
topics. Autonomy can be seen as knowing one's goals for
learning, preferred ways to learn, and ways to feel
motivated, and then creating a learning community that
allows one to achieve these goalsin many ways, being able
to make adult decisions about learning.
Healey, D. (2007). Theory and research: Autonomy and language learning. In J. Egbert &
E. Hanson-Smith (Eds.), CALL environments: Research, practice, and critical issues
(pp. 377-388). Alexandria, VA: TESOL.