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The effect of collaborative activities on tertiary-level EFL students’ learner autonomy in the Turkish context

  • Demet Turan-Ozturk ORCID logo and Cagri Ozkose-Biyik ORCID logo EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: June 5, 2023
Language Learning in Higher Education
From the journal Language Learning in Higher Education Volume 13 Issue 1

Abstract

This quasi-experimental study investigates the effects of collaborative activities on tertiary-level EFL students’ learner autonomy in Turkey. To achieve this aim, both quantitative and qualitative data were collected with the help of a learner autonomy questionnaire, index cards filled out by the students, the instructor’s journal, and an interview with the instructor of the experimental group. Two groups of 40 students in total from the preparatory program of a central Anatolian university were appointed as experimental and control groups. The results of the quantitative data analysis revealed that, after the implementation of collaborative activities in three consecutive weeks, there was a statistically significant difference between the groups in terms of their autonomy level; the students in the experimental group scored higher than those in the control group, which implies that they showed more autonomous skills in areas such as motivation, curiosity to learn, risk-taking, problem solving and decision making skills to improve learning. The results of the qualitative data analysis revealed that collaborative activities employed in this study (e.g., problem-solving activity, role-play, games) allowed participants to learn from each other, and gain a sense of responsibility. The overall results suggested that collaborative learning practices could be implemented to help EFL students increase their learner autonomy level. Additionally, curriculum and assessment methods of educational institutions might be revised to include more collaborative activities.

Keywords: collaborative learning; EFL; learner autonomy; quasi-experimental study; tertiary-level
Corresponding author: Cagri Ozkose-Biyik, Yasar University, Izmir, Türkiye, E-mail:

Appendix A: The learner autonomy questionnaire

Part 1 Personal Information

  1. Age:_____

  2. Gender: Female □ Male □

  3. Department: Agricultural Genetics Eng. □ Electrical-Electronics Eng. □ Mechanical Eng. □

Part 2 I strongly agree I agree I’m not sure I disagree I strongly disagree
1. I think I have the ability to learn English well.
2. I make good use of my free time when studying English.
3. I preview before classes.
4. I can finish my assignments in time.
5. I keep a record of my studies such as by keeping a diary, writing reviews, etc.
6. I test myself with sample exam questions I choose.
7. I reward myself such as going shopping, playing, etc. when I make progress.
8. I attend out-of-class activities to practice and learn the language.
9. During the class, I try to catch opportunities to take part in activities such as pair/group discussion, role-play, etc.
10. I know my strengths and weaknesses when studying English.
11. I choose books and exercises which fit my needs: neither too difficult nor too easy.

Part 3

  1. I study English:

    1. since my parents want it

    2. due to curiosity

    3. since I want to get a good job

    4. since I am interested in English culture such as film, sports, music, etc.

    5. C and D

  2. I think the learner-teacher relationship is that of the:

    1. receiver and giver

    2. raw material and maker

    3. customer and shopkeeper

    4. partners

    5. explorer and director

  3. I think my success or failure when studying English is mainly due to:

    1. luck or fate

    2. English studying environment

    3. studying facilities (aids)

    4. teachers

    5. myself

  4. Whether students should design the teaching plan together with teachers or not, my opinion is:

    1. strongly agree

    2. agree

    3. neutral

    4. oppose

    5. strongly oppose

  5. When the teacher asks questions for us to answer, I would mostly prefer to:

    1. wait for others’ answers

    2. think and be ready to answer

    3. look up books, dictionaries

    4. clarify questions with teachers

    5. join a pair/group discussion

  6. When I come across a word I don’t know, I mainly:

    1. let it go

    2. ask others

    3. guess the meaning

    4. B and E

    5. look it up in the dictionary

  7. If I make mistakes while studying, I usually prefer:

    1. not doing anything

    2. asking my teachers

    3. asking my classmates

    4. asking others

    5. looking at books or dictionaries

  8. When I am asked to use technologies that I haven’t used before (e. g., online discussion boards),

    1. I try to learn new skills

    2. I learn them by looking at what others are doing

    3. I feel anxious

    4. I put them off or try to avoid

    5. I resist using them

  9. I think the best way while studying English is:

    1. taking notes

    2. mechanical memory

    3. doing exercises of grammar, translation, words, etc.

    4. classifying, grouping or comparing

    5. group discussion

  10. I usually use materials selected:

    1. only by teachers

    2. mostly by teachers

    3. by teachers and by myself

    4. mostly by myself

    5. only by myself

Appendix B: A sample index card

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Received: 2021-11-21
Accepted: 2022-11-10
Published Online: 2023-06-05
Published in Print: 2023-05-25

© 2023 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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  1. Frontmatter
  2. Introduction
  3. The fascinating world of language teaching and learning varieties
  4. Research Articles
  5. Aspiring multilinguals or contented bilinguals? University students negotiating their multilingual and professional identities
  6. The (im)possibility of breaking the cycle of rippling circularities affecting Australian language education programs: a Queensland example
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  8. Enhance sustainability and environmental protection awareness: agency in Chinese informal video learning
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  10. Seeing innovation from different prisms: university students’ and instructors’ perspectives on flipping the Spanish language classroom
  11. Investigating syntactic complexity and language-related error patterns in EFL students’ writing: corpus-based and epistemic network analyses
  12. Using Google Docs for guided Academic Writing assessments: students’ perspectives
  13. Digital storytelling as practice-based participatory pedagogy for English for specific purposes
  14. Is individual competition in translator training compatible with collaborative learning? The case of the MTIE Translation Award
  15. Tackling the elephant in the language classroom: introducing machine translation literacy in a Swiss language centre
  16. Institutionalised autonomisation of language learning in a French language centre
  17. The story of becoming an autonomous learner: a case study of a student’s learning management
  18. The effect of collaborative activities on tertiary-level EFL students’ learner autonomy in the Turkish context
  19. Learner autonomy and English achievement in Chinese EFL undergraduates: the mediating role of ambiguity tolerance and foreign language classroom anxiety
  20. Activity Reports
  21. Lehre am Sprachenzentrum der UZH und der ETH Zürich: Positionspapier
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https://doi.org/10.1515/cercles-2023-2008
Keywords for this article
collaborative learning; EFL; learner autonomy; quasi-experimental study; tertiary-level

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Introduction
  3. The fascinating world of language teaching and learning varieties
  4. Research Articles
  5. Aspiring multilinguals or contented bilinguals? University students negotiating their multilingual and professional identities
  6. The (im)possibility of breaking the cycle of rippling circularities affecting Australian language education programs: a Queensland example
  7. Lernen mit LMOOCs im universitären Deutschunterricht: Entscheidungshilfen für Deutschlehrende
  8. Enhance sustainability and environmental protection awareness: agency in Chinese informal video learning
  9. Gamification and learning Spanish as a modern language: student perceptions in the university context
  10. Seeing innovation from different prisms: university students’ and instructors’ perspectives on flipping the Spanish language classroom
  11. Investigating syntactic complexity and language-related error patterns in EFL students’ writing: corpus-based and epistemic network analyses
  12. Using Google Docs for guided Academic Writing assessments: students’ perspectives
  13. Digital storytelling as practice-based participatory pedagogy for English for specific purposes
  14. Is individual competition in translator training compatible with collaborative learning? The case of the MTIE Translation Award
  15. Tackling the elephant in the language classroom: introducing machine translation literacy in a Swiss language centre
  16. Institutionalised autonomisation of language learning in a French language centre
  17. The story of becoming an autonomous learner: a case study of a student’s learning management
  18. The effect of collaborative activities on tertiary-level EFL students’ learner autonomy in the Turkish context
  19. Learner autonomy and English achievement in Chinese EFL undergraduates: the mediating role of ambiguity tolerance and foreign language classroom anxiety
  20. Activity Reports
  21. Lehre am Sprachenzentrum der UZH und der ETH Zürich: Positionspapier
  22. Communication course for future engineers – effective data presentation and its interpretation during LSP courses
  23. Dialogic co-creation in English language teaching and learning: a personal experience
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