چکیده:
This descriptive study looked into Persian learners’ autonomy and its ties with in-class group dynamics. The participants were undergraduate learners and M.A. students together with their teachers. Data were collected، using a questionnaire، on the participants’ beliefs about autonomy، their autonomous behaviors، and their perceptions of group norms and group cohesiveness. Corresponding teachers، however، provided data just on their learners’ group norms and cohesiveness. Data were analyzed using a Wilcoxon Signed Ranks test، a Man-Whitney U test، the Kendall’s-tau b correlation coefficient and a Kruskal-Wallis test. Results revealed that the participants’ autonomous beliefs were not much realized in their behaviors. However، the participants and their instructors had similar ideas about how cohesive their classes were. It was also found that the length of time the participants spent in the academic setting positively correlated with their autonomous behaviors and their group cohesiveness. Overall، the results suggested that a more serious approach to training both democratic L2 teachers and autonomous L2 learners should be taken in the Iranian context of education.
خلاصه ماشینی:
Data were collected, using a questionnaire, on the participants' beliefs about autonomy, their autonomous behaviors, and their perceptions of group norms and group cohesiveness.
Considering the paucity of data on the abovementioned issues in case of Persian language learners, the present study sought to explore their perceptions of group dynamics and personal autonomy, as they make progress to higher levels of L2 knowledge in order to detect possible relations/differences between the two.
Considering the importance of learner autonomy and group dynamics in the teaching/learning environment and the paucity of data on how these are realized and practiced in the Persian context, the following research questions were formulated and addressed in this study.
Besides, for making comparisons, the data were also collected from the participants' teachers regarding the perceptions they had of their students' autonomy and group dynamics.
Regarding the second research question, a Man-Whitney U test was run to see if there was any statistically significant difference between the participants' and their teachers' perceptions of learner group dynamics.
g. , Jean & Simard, 2011; Ruescha, Bown, & Deweya, 2012), the lack of which may potentially be the source of perceptual mismatches (Gabilon, 2012; Horwitz, 1988; Kumaravadivelu, 2006; McCargar, 1993) and result in learner dissatisfaction and resistance such as unwillingness to participate in classroom activities (Bloom, 2007; Canagarajah, 1993; Hawkey, 2006; Mantle-Bromley, 1995; Peacock, 1998, 2001).
This study adds to the body of literature by casting light on the importance of group dynamics and learner autonomy in L2 learning environments and verifies that such variables deserve more attention in language classrooms.