Turkish Tertiary Level Voluntary Intensive English Program Students’ Perceptions of Autonomy and Autonomous Activities in EFL Classes

Abstract

Language learner autonomy is an important concept that can change the English as a Foreign Language (EFL henceforth) world as giving learners control and responsibility for their language learning process. This study takes place in the EFL environment in a voluntary intensive English program at a state university in Turkey. In this program, there is an ongoing problem of drop-outs and failures each year, so the study was conducted to see if this phenomenon can be explained via autonomy. An explanatory sequential mixed-method study design was used. Autonomy Perception Scale was used to gather quantitative data, which was analyzed by means of IBM SPSS 22.0, and structured interview forms were utilized to collect qualitative data whose content was analyzed. Findings demonstrated that these students were not efficiently autonomous, there was no significant difference between genders, and many activities were conducted by adequately autonomous learners to promote learner autonomy levels in this program. Results were discussed and future implications were made.

Keywords

• autonomy
• language learner autonomy
• autonomous activities
• English preparation program

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