CHALLENGES IN LEARNING: ROLE OF REFLECTIVE THINKING IN

FOSTERING LEARNER AUTONOMY

MAIMOONA TAHSIN SAYEED

RESEARCH SCHOLAR (Ph. D)

CENTRE FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE STUDIES

UNIVERSITY OF HYDERABAD

Email: maimoona2u@yahoo.co.in

Cell: +91-9247 437 998

ABSTRACT

The Central Board of Secondary Education has made many changes in the past few years
with regard to curriculum and assessment techniques at the high school level. However, the
objective of the Board with regard to the students remains the same – that of making them
independent learners. Having worked at the high school level for four years, I felt that there
were constant changes in the textbooks, with exercises designed behind the lessons to make
students proficient in the use of English language. Yet, I observed, that these exercises do not
give much scope for reflective thinking or developing problem solving skills especially when
the assignments given involve collecting matter from the internet. Students easily copy and
paste without reflecting on what they have gathered, which indicates that when we design
projects / activities to enhance independent learning, it should not make them dependent on
any readymade materials. As long as recourse to the net is available, reflective thinking does
not take place.

The purpose of this research paper was to explore whether learner-autonomy-focused

instruction can lead to reflective thinking among high school students. To this end, the
research also investigated if proper projects designed around the lessons, would help in
addressing issues generally not addressed in a traditional classroom teaching-learning
situation. This paper focuses on the reasons why high school students generally fail to
achieve the objectives set by the Board and how reflective thinking plays an important role in
making learners take charge of their learning and become more autonomous.

KEY WORDS: Reflective thinking, learner autonomy, learning strategies

1. LEARNER AUTONOMY AND ITS IMPLICATIONS

Learner autonomy can be described as ‘the ability to take charge of one’s learning’ (Holec
1981: 3) According to Benson and Voller, the term ‘autonomy’ has come to be used in five
different ways:

 for situations in which learners study entirely on their own

 for a set of skills which can be learned and applied in self-directed learning

 for an inborn capacity which is suppressed by institutional education

 for the exercise of learners' responsibility for their own learning

 for the right of learners to determine the direction of their own learning

In becoming actively involved in the process of learning, the learner may set his or her own
objectives of learning a language. By working independently of the teacher both inside and
outside the classroom, and in selecting and using the strategies best suited to the occasion, he
or she may realize a sense of autonomy.

However, learner autonomy should not be mistaken for self-instruction. In fact, it refers to a
student’s ability to set appropriate learning goals and take charge of his or her own learning.
Autonomous learners are dependent upon teachers to create and maintain learning
environments that support the development of learner autonomy.
According to Benson, Gardner and Miller, “it is generally agreed that teachers play a key role
in helping learners to learn autonomously” (Benson 2001, Gardner and Miller 1999). The
relationship between the learner and class teacher is central to the fostering of autonomy.
Therefore training of teachers in how to implement learner training in their classrooms is
important. To this effect there should be proper training, workshops, conferences for teachers
which will in turn help teachers understand how to act as facilitators in the classroom. While
managing a large class, teachers can adopt different strategies that foster learner autonomy:
They can encourage competitions among students, by dividing a class into different teams
which establishes a fun and competitive atmosphere for students. Active students can be
given more responsibilities, such as encouraging and motivating their slow group members
They can encourage the learners to identify their individual goals but pursue them through
collaborative works in small groups They can also encourage learners to keep a written
record of their learning- plans of lessons, projects, lists of useful vocabulary . According to
Wenden (1998), a good way of collecting information on how students go about a learning
task and helping them become aware of their own strategies is to assign a task and have them
report what they are thinking while they are performing it. This self-report is introspective, as
learners are asked to think about their learning. In this case, 'the [introspective] self-report is
a verbalization of one's stream of consciousness' (Wenden, 1998). It could be argued that
self-reports can be a means of raising awareness of learners' strategies and the need for
constant evaluation of techniques, goals, and outcomes. As Wenden (1998) observes,
'without awareness [learners] will remain trapped in their old patterns of beliefs and
behaviors and never be fully autonomous'. In this regard, one of the principal aims of
education is to change the learners' beliefs about themselves by showing them that their
putative failures or shortcomings can be ascribed to a lack of effective strategies rather than
to a lack of potential. According to Wenden,‘a learner can realize [his] potential
interactively--through the guidance of supportive persons such as parents, teachers, and
peers' (Wenden, 1998).

1.1 AUTONOMOUS LEARNING AND CHALLENGES FACED BY STUDENTS

In a typical English language classroom in India we find the relationship between teachers
and students being skewed. It is usually characterized by teachers’ dominance and control in
classroom and learners’ passive acceptance of whatever teachers say and do for them. Most
students are used to the teacher-centered teaching pattern, and they still tend to consider their
teachers as the main source of learning. As such they become dependent on teachers and
have little incentive to undertake learning inside and outside the classroom. In addition, their
English self-study ability is not satisfactory and generally low. They also seem to lack the
awareness of independent study. Thus, it is necessary to help students develop the abilities to
learn autonomously. As a matter of fact, the problem seems to stem from the traditional
teaching methods and teaching modes. Examination oriented classes also make students
passive. They not only limit students’ self-analysis and problem-solving ability, but also
hinder the development of their personality. Achieving learner autonomy thus becomes a
problem both for the students and teachers. However, one area where students can be made
to reflect on their learning is through exercises designed after a lesson. By designing suitable
activities, students could be motivated and their level of understanding enhanced. Reflective
thinking among high school students, can be developed and students can be made aware of
their roles. Students need to be made aware of their responsibility in language learning and
this awareness could help them become more reflective learners. An experiment conducted
as part of my research showed that students used metacognitive strategies while working on
exercises designed to make them autonomous and this gave an important insight into
promoting better language learning.

2. METACOGNITIVE STRATEGIES IN LEARNING

Metacognitive strategies refer to methods used in helping students understand the way they
learn; in other words, it means processes designed for students to ‘think’ about their
‘thinking’. Teachers who use metacognitive strategies can have a positive impact on students
who have problems in learning by helping them to develop an appropriate plan for learning
information, which can be memorized and eventually these processes can become a routine.
As students become aware of how they learn, they will use these processes to efficiently
acquire new information, and consequently, become more of an independent thinker. A
metacognitive approach focuses not only on what to learn but also on how to utilize
knowledge. Composed of "knowledge of cognition" and "regulation of cognition" (Schraw,
2001, p. 3), meta cognition is an ability to consciously monitor one’s cognition and to
effectively use knowledge (Gourgey, 2001). Specifically, knowledge of cognition includes
"declarative knowledge (knowledge about one's cognitive ability), procedural knowledge
(knowledge about how to undertake a task), and conditional knowledge (ability to apply
cognition according to the situation)" (Schraw, 2001, p. 5). Regulation of cognition includes
"planning (the selection of appropriate strategies and the allocation of resources that affect
performance), monitoring (one's on-line awareness of comprehension and task performance),
and evaluating (appraising the products and efficiency of one's learning)" (Schraw, 2001, p.
5). Thus, metacognitive skills are essential components for a student to be an autonomous,
self-regulated learner. Some of the strategies which involve metacognitive thinking are
thinking aloud for reading comprehension, employing organizational tools such as checklists
and rubrics for problem solving and logical thinking. Connected with metacognitive
strategies is reflective thinking.

2. REFLECTIVE THINKING

Reflective thinking involves stepping back and observing one’s thinking. When learners use
metacognitive strategies they are basically employing this reflective process. Reflective
thinking is an important part of inquiry based learning. It is a form of active learning that
starts by posing questions, problems or scenarios—rather than simply presenting established
facts or portraying a smooth path to knowledge. The process is often assisted by a facilitator.
Inquirers will identify and research issues and questions to develop their knowledge or
solutions. Inquiry-based learning includes problem-based learning, and is generally used in
small scale investigations and projects, as well as research. Inquiry-based instruction is
principally very closely related to the development and practice of thinking skills. Specific
learning processes that students engage in during inquiry-learning include:

 Creating questions of their own

 Obtaining supporting evidence to answer the question(s)
 Explaining the evidence collected
 Connecting the explanation to the knowledge obtained from the investigative process
 Creating an argument and justification for the explanation
Inquiry learning involves developing questions, making observations, doing research to find
out what information is already recorded, developing methods for experiments, developing
instruments for data collection, collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data, outlining possible
explanations and creating predictions for future study.

Dewey (1933) suggests that reflective thinking is an active, persistent, and careful
consideration of a belief or supposed form of knowledge, of the grounds that support that
knowledge, and the further conclusions to which that knowledge leads. Learners are aware of
and control their learning by actively participating in reflective thinking – assessing what
they know, what they need to know, and how they bridge that gap – during learning
situations. Dewey believed that reflection could be really useful for making sense of
situations or events that we found puzzling or hard to explain. He suggested that reflection
for learning should include recalling the event and then posing questions to explore why
things turned out the way they did and what possible actions could have given a different
outcome.

3. THE APPLICATION OF REFLECTIVE TEACHING IN FOSTERING LEARNER

AUTONOMY

As a teacher who has worked with both CBSE and SSC curriculum over four years, a hands-
on experience has shown that while the boards encourage teachers to make students
autonomous in their learning, there are no clear guidelines as to how teachers should go
about it within the limitations they face. For instance, though the exercises behind each
lesson of class 9 CBSE English textbook aim at making students more proficient in English,
they were not as challenging as they should have been. They do not give much scope for
reflective thinking or developing problem solving skills especially when the assignments
given involve collecting matter from the internet. My research therefore was to explore how
the original objective of the board is not lost that is, achieving learner autonomy through
reflective thinking. To this end, I improvised on the exercises given and carried out an
experiment where, while one group of students was introduced to exercises that involved
reflective thinking, the other group was taught using the traditional method. The purpose of
the study was to see teachers’ perception of student autonomy before and after the input. In
addition, it would see student perception of autonomy and improvement in the metacognitive
awareness before and after the experiment.

4. EXPERIMENTAL PROJECT DESCRIPTION

The experiment was carried out on students of class 9 over a period of four months. There
were four sections involved where students of 2 sections were exposed to the traditional form
of teaching and the other two were introduced to exercises which involved reflective
thinking. The internal tests conducted between the experimental group and the control group
showed that there was no significant difference in the initial English proficiency between the
experimental group and the control group. During the two semesters, all the 4 classes used
the same course syllabus, textbooks, classroom activities, assignments, quizzes, and final
exam with the same instructor.

In the research, as to their perceptions about the course and their learning strategies in a
reflective teaching and autonomous learning environment, questionnaires were used to reveal
whether there was any difference between the two groups. To ensure that the questionnaires
were valid, I followed the classification proposed by O’Malley and Chamot (1990)—meta-
cognitive, cognitive and social/ affective strategies (quoted from Ellis, 1994). As to the
students’ performances, 2 tests were used and analyzed, aiming at revealing whether
autonomous learning with the assistance of reflective learning could make any difference in
improving learners’ language proficiency. SPSS and SAS software were used to do the
analysis of variance. Regular interviews with different students from experimental group
were used as another approach. Students were asked to give their feedback about the
classroom session.

4.1 MAJOR FINDINGS OF THE PROJECT

At the end of four months, it was seen that students who were exposed to exercises which
encouraged reflective thinking performed better than their counterparts in terms of attaining
learner autonomy and use of metacognitive strategies to understand the concepts that were
being explained. On an average, the frequency of the experimental group students’
employing learning strategies was higher than that of the control group. For instance, the
students in experimental group were more motivated as they had more opportunities to
practice autonomous learning. I also found that maximizing autonomous learning through
reflective learning can bring very significant efficacy to promote students’ performance. The
insights gathered from this study showed that when activities are not limited to the class
room, and students are involved in carrying them out, the teacher gets an idea whether it is
clear to the students enabling them to respond enthusiastically. As such this was not a closed-
end research, but an explorative one with suggestions for teachers to enhance reflective
thinking in the learners and it can open avenues for further research in this area.

5. CONCLUSION

The aim of this research was to see whether reflective thinking plays an important role in
making learners autonomous and to see if designing effective exercises leads to this goal. It
was seen that many changes in the syllabus over the years were not completely successful in
achieving this goal, in-spite of the objectives being clear. The lacuna was observed in the
implementation of the changes. An intervention programme over the course of four months
showed how this gap could be filled. Reflective teaching undoubtedly proved to be useful in
improving students’ autonomous learning enthusiasm and making teachers enhance their
teaching practice.

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