Building upon self-determination theory, this study sought to ascertain the reach of teacher autonomy support beyond its well-documented impact on student autonomy and engagement to include student competence and relatedness, as well as to parse apart specific teacher behaviors that comprise autonomy support (i.e., respect, choice, relevance, coercion) and their unique influences on the multiple motivational outcomes, surrounding the transition to middle school. These questions were examined using information from 224 fifth graders, 339 sixth graders, and 345 seventh graders attending elementary and middle schools in a predominantly Caucasian working and middle class school district. Regression analyses, predicting change in student motivation over time, revealed that students' experiences of their teachers' autonomy support in the fall predicted changes in student competence, relatedness, and engagement from fall to spring. Although teacher autonomy support was positively connected to student autonomy in correlational analyses, it did not predict changes in student autonomy from fall to spring. Unique effect analyses regressing each of these motivational outcomes on all four components of teacher autonomy-support revealed that respect, relevance, and coercion were unique predictors of each outcome concurrently, but that choice only made a unique contribution to autonomy and relatedness. Developmental patterns extracted from multiple regression analyses in all three grade samples indicate that respect is most predictive of fifth grade student motivation, respect and coercion are most salient for sixth grade motivation, and respect, coercion and relevance together are most central to seventh grade students. MANOVA analyses of mean levels showed the expected patterns of differences, namely: compared to fifth graders, sixth graders reported lower levels of teacher autonomy support (and every component) and seventh graders showed even lower levels still. Further, students reported lower levels of all four motivational outcomes with the same pattern as autonomy support differences. MANCOVA analyses examined whether grade differences in teacher autonomy support could account for this pattern of grade differences in motivational outcomes. When analyses controlled for levels of teacher autonomy support, mean levels of relatedness were no longer significantly different across grades. Although still significant, MANCOVA analyses for autonomy, competence, and engagement showed much smaller F-values when teacher autonomy-support was entered into the model. Together, these findings illustrate that teacher autonomy support does predict student competence and relatedness, in addition to autonomy and engagement. Additionally, it highlights the importance of several components of teacher autonomy support, especially for middle school students. Finally, it points to the need for further investigation on how teacher autonomy support, as an organizational construct and as separated by its components, impacts key motivational outcomes for students in different grades surrounding the middle school transition. Implications for researchers and educational practitioners are discussed.

ABSTRACT A STUDY ON LEARNERS&amp / #8217 / READINESS FOR AUTONOMOUS LEARNING OF ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE KO&Ccedil / AK, Ayfer MSc, Department of Educational Sciences Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Fersun Payko&ccedil / September 2003, 115 pages The purpose of this study is to investigate whether, or not, students attending English Language Preparatory School at BaSkent University are ready to be involved in autonomous language learning. This study also argues that before any interventions aiming at fostering autonomy are implemented, it is necessary to explore learners&amp / #8217 / readiness for autonomous learning in four different areas. These areas are as follows: (a) Learners&amp / #8217 / motivation level in learning English, (b) Learners&amp / #8217 / use of metacognitive strategies in learning English, (c) Learners&amp / #8217 / responsibility perception of their own and their teachers&amp / #8217 / in learning English and (d) Learners&amp / #8217 / practice of English in the outside class activities. The questionnaire used in the study was administered to 186 students attending Preparatory School of BaSkent University. The data analysis was carried out through quantitative (frequencies, means, standard deviations, t-test and one-way ANOVA) analysis techniques. The results of the study indicated that majority of the students had high motivation. Another result revealed that the students tended to use some metacognitive strategies like self-monitoring and self-evaluation. The third result showed that the learners considered the teacher as more responsible for most of the tasks during their own learning process. Fourthly, majority of the students tended to be spending quite little time for out-of-class activities to improve their English. The fifth result displayed that females and elementary learners had higher motivation in learning English, but a significant difference was not in the motivation level concerning the learners&amp / #8217 / major field. The sixth result pointed out that females used more metacognitive strategies in learning English / however, proficiency level and major field of the learners were not found to be significant factors in the use of metacognitive strategies. The seventh result revealed that responsibility perceptions did not show a significant difference regarding the respondents&amp / #8217 / gender, proficiency level and major field. Finally, the present study indicated that intermediate level language learners tended to do more out-of-class activities in learning English. On the other hand, the frequency of respondents&amp / #8217 / conducting out-of-class activities in learning English did not show a significant difference concerning the subjects&amp / #8217 / gender and major field. Key words: Learner Autonomy, Learner Responsibility, Self-regulated learner.

The present study was conducted at Dumlupinar University, Department of Foreign Languages Preparatory Classes to investigate the relationship between degrees of learner autonomy, use of strategies for coping with speaking problems and success in speaking class of the participants. To determine the degree of correlation among degree of learner autonomy, use of strategies for coping with speaking problems and success in speaking class, 102 participants were distributed a questionnaire. The questionnaire asked the participants to self report the strategies they use when they have problems during speaking English and also to report their degree of learner autonomy as an English language learner by choosing one of the items on the questionnaire. Following the completion of the questionnaire the quantitative data analysis method was performed via SPSS (Statistical Package of Social Sciences) 13.0 by conducting ANOVA and MANOVA tests and some descriptive statistics. v As a result, the results of the study revealed that learners with low speaking grades are worse than learners with high speaking grades during the use of strategies for coping with speaking problems on the whole. Similarly, learners with low speaking grades also reported themselves as less autonomous when compared to high proficiency learners of English, although the difference is not significant between the group of learners in average speaking grade level and high grade level.

This study investigated perceptions of EFL learners towards the benefits and the challenges of keeping a portfolio. The study also examined the students

The purpose of this comparative case study was to explore English language teachers&rsquo / beliefs, assumptions and knowledge about learner-centeredness and the European Language Portfolio (ELP) and to see how they implement their understanding of learner-centeredness in their classrooms. The study was conducted at one public and one private primary school in Istanbul. Focus group interviews were held in each school with thirteen teachers of English and then individual interviews and observations were carried out with four volunteer teachers during the spring semester, 2004-2005. The four participant teachers were observed in their classrooms ten times along with before- and after-class observation reflections facilitated by the researcher. A follow up interview was conducted with each teacher at the end of the observations. In addition, these observations were accompanied by document analysis. Data from the interviews and before- and after-class reflections were inductively analyzed. For the analysis of observation data and documents, a learner-centered data analysis model was constructed by the researcher. The results of the data indicated that there were differences between public school teachers and private school teachers in the way they defined and implemented learner-centeredness. Lack of knowledge about the ELP was observed in both public and private school teachers. Results revealed that there is a need for in-service training programs that will cater for the needs of public school teachers if the aim is to implement learner-centeredness in schools.

This study looks deeper into the concept of formative assessment. Formative assessment is described by Black and Wiliam (Developing the Theory of Formative Assessment, 2009) as being a process using tools. The mindset of formative assessment can be difficult to grasp. Therefore, this study takes up the question if and how an understanding of the formative assessment mindset is reflected in the teaching practice of teachers in the English Language Acquisition classroom. Five lectures were observed of different teachers and groups of students, in an upper secondary school in Sweden. An additional questionnaire gave insight into the mindset of the participating teachers concerning the meaning of the term formative assessment as well as their teaching practice. The definitions the teachers gave varied in complexity and this was also reflected in their teaching. Only one teacher embedded the process of formative assessment with all the 5 key strategies of formative assessment in her lecture. By comparing classroom practice and the understanding of the teachers of what formative assessment entails, I found that the more inclusive of the 5 key strategies the understanding of the teachers was, the more their teaching practice was formed by it. Furthermore, to be able to use the 5 key strategies of formative assessment needs skill and practice, and therefore training of teachers is necessary.

Thesis (M. Ed.) -- University of Limpopo, 2019 / The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of guided discovery instructional strategy on the grade 9 learners’ performance in chemical reactions. Secondly, to determine the effect of guided discovery instructional strategy on gender (boy and girl). The quantitative, descriptive and inferential research was conducted to determine if there were any differences between the performance of learners taught using Guided discovery and learners taught using direct instruction. Data collection was done using pre-test and post-test. Two groups of learners participated in the study. The experimental group (n = 40) was taught through Guided discovery. The second was Control Group (n = 35) taught through direct instruction. The findings reveal that guided discovery instructional strategy resulted in better performance of learners in science than direct instruction. Learners expressed an increased interest, motivation and self-efficacy after being exposed to guided discovery. Therefore, the study recommends that teachers need to move learners from dependent direct instruction to more independent learning through guided instruction. KEY TERMS Guided discovery learning, performance, learner

This two-article dissertation examined the impact of enhanced educational dialogue, in terms of periodic email feedback on course progress and an invitation to participate in a discussion board, on student achievement and course satisfaction in an introductory statistics course offered in an independent study setting. Participants in the study were students enrolled in the year-long online course. They were randomly assigned to different types and levels of educational dialogue and their completion status, final exam scores, average quiz scores, and course satisfaction ratings were compared after controlling for the following covariates of interest: age, gender, high school GPA, Math ACT, learner autonomy, attitude on the usefulness of statistics, and confidence in learning statistics. The different types and levels of educational dialogue used in this study were: email reminders only, discussion board only, email and discussion board, and no email or discussion board. Successful completion of introductory statistics courses in online learning environments can be predicted by student's attitude toward statistics and learner autonomy, in addition to the conventional measures of mathematics aptitude (ACT Math score) and effort as measured by High School GPA; however, there is a scarcity of psychometrically sound and brief measures of these constructs. The first article developed and validated the following scales as measures of attitude toward statistics and learner autonomy: perceived value of statistics (4 items), confidence in learning statistics (4 items), and learner autonomy (3 items). These abbreviated scales are shown to have content and discriminant validity. They can be used by statistics education researchers with confidence. The second article used MANCOVA and logistic regression to analyze the data collected from the randomized controlled experiment. The MANCOVA results show that students who have higher confidence in learning statistics have higher final exam scores and higher course satisfaction at the 5% level of significance. In addition, students assigned to the email group have the highest average quiz scores. Logistic regression results show that older students and those who have high confidence in learning statistics are more likely to complete the course. Overall, the completion rate for this study is significantly higher than the previous sections of the course. One of the implications of this study is that basic course progress feedback to students with minimal teacher-student interaction may have a beneficial impact on student achievement in online courses.

This study investigates teachers’ perceptions about the value of peer and self-assessment as tools for enhancing EFL writing in the context of upper-secondary education in Sweden. In addition, this study examines the relationship between teachers’ beliefs, knowledge of the methods, and their reported teaching practices. Based on teachers’ comments, this paper identifies the ways in which peer and self-assessment can be effectively implemented in EFL classrooms. A mixed-methods approach was used in the study. Three qualitative, semi-structured interviews were conducted. The interviews were complemented with a questionnaire survey in order to check the generality of the interview findings. Through a process of triangulation, the datasets obtained from the questionnaires and interviews were analysed and interpreted in light of theory and recent research on peer and self-assessment. Results show that these teaching and learning tools are appreciated by teachers as a way to enhance learning in relation to EFL writing. However, the investigation showed significant inconsistencies regarding teachers’ usage of the method. The results obtained showed that, in order for these practices to be effective, careful training is needed. Moreover, in order to provide proper training for their students, teachers themselves need to understand the value of the tools, and to be trained in how to effectively implement them. Therefore, the study concluded that information about peer and self-assessment should be included in teacher education and in-service training in Sweden.

This thesis offers a sociocritical (Collin, Guichon et Ntébutsé, 2015) and ergonomic (Bertin, 2015; Caws & Hamel, 2016; Rabardel, 1995) analysis of an online language learning activity using Twitter, in order to better understand the complex network of variables influencing the success or failure this digital platform in an educational context. Since the creation of Twitter in 2006, researchers in technology-mediated education have been re-purposing the platform for language learning in order to understand its impact on the learner experience (Hattem & Lomicka, 2016). Most studies investigate the benefits of using Twitter as a way to expose students to real-life social interaction (Reinhardt, 2019); they suggest that this social network motivates students (Albadi, 2016), providing the opportunity for language contextualisation (Antenos-Conforti, 2009), digital literacy development and learner autonomy (Leis, 2014). However, in doing so, many of these studies rely on a deterministic approach, assuming that Twitter has inherent educational potential that can be equally accessed by all students when it is asked of them (Collin et al.). Instead, this thesis deconstructs a network of factors and perceptions acting on a student’s ability and willingness to use Twitter to learn French. In particular, this thesis focuses on the participation and the experience of 10 first-year university French students that were invited to publish tweets and to interact with their peers on Twitter over a period of one semester (12 weeks). Drawing from direct observations, interviews and survey data, the results of my mixed-method case study indicate a possible correlation between learner beliefs, participation, and experience, thus highlighting the importance of designing digital learning activities around the diverse needs and perspectives of learners, rather than the expected outcomes that Twitter can offer. / Graduate