Exploring Language Teachers’ Cognition of Learner Autonomy in Turkish Tertiary EFL (English as a Foreign Language) Context

Oct 15, 2026

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Study investigating language teachers’ beliefs about learner autonomy across different educational contexts in Turkey within a university setting. Using an explanatory mixed-methods design, the research gathered data through a questionnaire survey and narrative inquiry, analyzing quantitative and qualitative results with SPSS Version 23 and content analysis. Findings show teachers viewed learner autonomy from multiple perspectives, while gender and academic status did not affect cognition; teaching context showed only a small distinction, with implications for learner-autonomy teaching and teacher education.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages20

Reading Time50 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Background

Exploring Language Teachers’ Cognition of Learner Autonomy in Turkish Tertiary EFL (English as a Foreign Language) Context Sevgi Erel Erciyes University, Turkey Hasan Bedir Cukurova University, Turkey Abstract: This study explored language teachers’ beliefs on learner autonomy in different educational contexts at a university setting in Turkey adopting an explanatory mixed methods design. Teacher cognition has been investigated extensively all over the world. Yet, teacher cognition on learner autonomy has received less attention. Regarding teachers’ voices as essential to understand how they perceive learner autonomy, the study was structured in two phasesquestionnaire survey and narrative inquiry. SPSS Version 23 and content analysis were utilized to analyse the quantitative and qualitative data emanated from the research. The findings revealed that while teachers considered learner autonomy from different perspectives, their gender and academic status did not indicate a difference in their cognition of learner autonomy. However, their teaching context displayed a small distinction, which should be investigated in the following studies. The study yielded several implications for the consideration of learner autonomy in teaching and teacher education. Introduction In the new century, one of the paradigms that has attracted attention is cognitive studies in language teaching and learning. As a (public activity) including classroom actions, interactions, and behaviours and a (private mental work) in terms of planning, evaluating, reacting, and deciding, teaching is a cognitive activity in a social context (Burns, Freeman,& Edwards, 2015, p.587) . The term teacher cognition attributes to teachers’ beliefs, thought, attitude and knowledge (Burns et al., 2015) . Teachers are under the influence of their mental lives; therefore, their knowledge and beliefs about language teaching and learning have a crucial role in determining their teaching behaviour. Hence, teacher cognition as a dynamic process, a complex subject and a broad field is central to understand what knowledge teachers use, how they acquire it, and how they use it. Apparently, to understand teaching, it is essential to understand teacher cognition (Borg, 2006) . Consequently, the investigation of language teachers’ cognition has aroused a great deal of interest in language teaching with a diversity of topics in relation to various aspect of teaching (Burns & Richards, 2009; Kubanyiova & Feryok, 2015; Munoz & Ramirez, 2015; Phipps & Borg, 2009) in different contexts from primary to tertiary education (Borg & Al-Busaidi, 2012; Martha, Gustine, & Muslim, 2021; Nguyen, 2014) By the same token, teachers’ cognition of learner autonomy (LA) has been a widespread concern among researchers. LA, first framed by Holec (1981) as an ability to take charge of one’s own directed learning and to control the learning process (as cited in Palfreyman, 2003), entails (learner’s full involvement in planning, monitoring and evaluating his or her learning) by means of reflection and analysis (Little, 2004, p.105) . The worldwide popularity of LA in language education has aroused a considerable interest in studies from different perspectives such as the relationship between in-service teachers’perceptions and educational practices of LA (Dwee & Anthony, 2017), language learners’perceptions of LA (Balçıkanlı, 2010), the effect of teacher gender on their views about LA (Çakıcı, 2017), and the influence of teacher experience on teacher perception of LA (Ahmadianzadeh, Seifoori, & Hadidi Tamjid, 2020) . However, few have dealt with TC on LA at different teaching contexts (Andrews, 1999) . Considering LA as a cultural construct (Schemenk, 2005) and a context dependent issue, it also needs to be searched in its cultural, educational, and institutional context (Borg & Alshumaimeri, 2019; Nasri, Vahid Dastjerdy, Eslami Rasekh, & Amirian, 2017) . Moreover, Borg (2006) repo

FAQs

What is the main focus of the study?

The study examines language teachers’ cognition of learner autonomy in Turkish tertiary EFL contexts.

How were the data collected and analyzed?

The research used an explanatory mixed-methods design with a questionnaire survey and narrative inquiry; quantitative and qualitative data were analyzed using SPSS Version 23 and content analysis.

Which teacher-related factors affected cognition of learner autonomy?

Gender and academic status did not show differences in teachers’ cognition, while teaching context produced a small distinction that warrants further investigation.

Oct 15, 2026

Upload by Kurz