چکیده:
Autonomous learning and social activity have excessively been the focus of
interest in second language acquisition over the past decades. The present
study aimed to explore how activity theory--as a branch of sociocultural
theory focusing on social context--can promote Iranian EFL learners’
autonomy. To this end, fifty-six EFL students studying English translation at
Islamic Azad University, Tehran Central Branch, participated in the study.
The participants were assigned to two groups, one experimental group and
one control group. At the beginning of the semester, both groups took a
language proficiency test to ensure their homogeneity. They also completed
an autonomy questionnaire as the pretest and posttest. The instruction in both
groups was based on a five-step process of developing the academic writing
skill, including prewriting, organizing, writing the first draft, revising and
editing, and writing a new draft. However, only the experimental group
received the instruction through an e-learning platform designed based on
the six elements of activity theory--subjects, objects, mediating artifacts,
rules, community, and division of labor--suitable for EFL writing
classrooms. The results revealed that integrating activity theory to e-learning
had a decisive role in enhancing the students’ learner autonomy. It is hoped
that the findings raise both teachers and students’ awareness of implementing
activity theory as a social learning framework to foster autonomous learning
in EFL contexts.
خلاصه ماشینی:
However, only the experimental group received the instruction through an e-learning platform designed based on the six elements of activity theory--subjects, objects, mediating artifacts, rules, community, and division of labor--suitable for EFL writing classrooms.
Consequently, this study tried to investigate the effect of activity theory, which is an extension of sociocultural theory focusing on social context, on promoting Iranian EFL learners’ autonomy using e-learning, as a major mediating artifact.
78) Although sociocultural AT is not new in SLA studies (Barabadi & Razmjoo, 2015; Blin, 2004; Nazari, Farnia, Ghonsooly, & Jafarigohar, 2019; Parks, 2000), the relation between activity theory and learner autonomy has hardly been the focus of research.
However, in the experimental group, although the same instruction and processes were used, the difference was that the writing process instruction was given through an e-learning platform designed based on the six elements of activity theory (subjects, objects, mediating artifacts, rules, community, and division of labor) suitable for EFL writing classrooms.
Still another justification for the development of learner autonomy can be attributed to the significant role of the mediating components of the language learning activity system (i.
The same results were found in other studies investigating either the effect of activity theory or e-learning on autonomy development of second or foreign language learners (Arikan & Bakla, 2011; Hafner & Miller, 2011; Jarvis, 2012; Meri, 2012; Milton, 1997; Rahimi & Askari Bigdeli, 2013; Rahimi, Ebrahimi, & Eskandari, 2013; Rahman, 2013).
The results revealed that integrating activity theory into e-learning had a significant role in enhancing the students’ learner autonomy.