Learning Behaviors

要旨

Abstract This chapter is concerned with a university course that was designed to focus on self-directed learning, target-language development, and empowerment of learners to make informed decisions about their own learning. The results of the study showed that the learners were not ready to take full responsibility for their learning; nevertheless, learners referred explicitly to how the course improved their language skills, their language learning skills, and their understanding of available resources, while an analysis of their learning journals indicated a vast improvement in ability to select and undertake goal-appropriate language learning activities. The chapter outlines the context, syllabus, and course implementation of an elective, self-directed language learning course for first-year Japanese university students. Change in language learning behavior that occurred as students implemented their individual learning plans (ILPs) outside the classroom was observed during document analysis of the learning journals of members of one class. The results suggest that even when these learners had an understanding of the principles discussed in class and used this knowledge to design an ILP, there were initially challenges breaking language learning habits that had been successful in high school but that were insufficient for achieving individual language learning goals.

主題