Writing autonomy: Insights from class observations in an EFL academic context.

Córdoba

Simposio; X SIGET ? Simposio Internacional de Estudios sobre Géneros Textuales: Géneros textuales/ discursivos, prácticas de lenguaje y voces del sur en diálogo; 2019

Facultad de Lenguas, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba

The development of learner autonomy is widely considered as an important aim in the field of education in general as well as of academic literacy in particular (Benson, 2012; Oxford, 2017). There is a growing body of research on autonomy and self-regulation in learning that informs second and foreign language pedagogical practices. However, studies that focus on the development of learner autonomy in different cultural and academic contexts and at different levels of instruction are necessary and valuable as they may contribute to inform the social and cultural dimension of autonomy.In view of this need, a research project specifically focused on English as a Foreign Language (EFL) academic writing was designed. The project aims at exploring different dimensions of academic writing autonomy within a specific context: EFL undergraduate courses of studies (teaching, translation and research tracks). The data gathering techniques involved classroom observation, semi-structures interviews with students and teachers, as well as structured questionnaires for students. The aim of this paper is to communicate some preliminary results of such research project, more specifically, the analysis of 13 classroom observations of essay writing lessons with a focus on teacher and student participation regarding different aspects of learning autonomy.The preliminary results indicate that teachers usually initiate most of the activities carried out in the writing class and that these activities are usually complemented by tasks that students do outside the classroom, in an independent or semi-guided way. Finally, the role and significance of autonomy in these classroom practices is analysed and pedagogical and research implications discussed.