Exploring learner autonomy in online English learning in the period of covid-19 at a college in Hai Phong city = Khám phá tính tự chủ trong việc học tiếng Anh trực tuyến của sinh viên một trường Cao đẳng tại thành phố Hải Phòng trong thời kỳ COVID 19

Abstract

The occurrence of COVID-19 has been thought to be a massive lab for the whole Vietnamese educational system to experiment with online learning, and at the same time, examine the strengths and weaknesses of the current system. The thesis aims at exploring learner autonomy in online English learning during the period of COVID-19 of the students at a college in Hai Phong. With the expectation to collect rich and thick data that combined both qualitative and quantitative information about the perceptions of college students and teachers about the students‘ learner autonomy, the research adopted exploratory research with the mixed method – triangulation design to approach the research questions. The two data collection instruments questionnaire and interview were employed with the participation of 183 students and 9 teachers. The study's findings showed that the students have strong motivation, moderate levels of learner autonomy, and moderate metacognitive skills. The outcome could be that they depend heavily on their professors for resources and direction since they lack confidence in their language proficiency. The data also revealed that learning online for COVID-19 improved substantially their digital skills, gave them a little bit more awareness about their learning strengths and weaknesses, and gave them a little bit more freedom. In addition, the data suggested that they had neutral opinions about the effects of online learning on their interactions with teachers or their learning strategies with the average score.