Learner autonomy as well as aspects surrounding it have been a quite
popular research topic since the Covid-19 pandemic occurred. Some of these aspects were autonomy readiness, effect of autonomy on language proficiency, as well as perception toward learner autonomy. Like the other aspects, teachers’ and students’ perception toward learner autonomy has been investigated quite frequently, with some studies focusing only on either the teachers’ or the students’ perception, and some other on both participant types. However, the majority of these studies investigated perception through the lens of either only knowledge or beliefs, especially in the Indonesian tertiary education context. The present study therefore set out to investigate teachers’ and students’ perception toward learner
autonomy, with their perception examined through both beliefs and knowledge combined with their practices of autonomy for confirmation, as well as the similarities and differences in terms of perception between the two participant groups in the Indonesian tertiary education context. University teachers and students participating in this study filled out a questionnaire, and those willing were interviewed. Classroom sessions conducted by willing lecturers were also observed. The findings of the current study reveal the positive beliefs and knowledge of both the university teachers and students, implying that both participant groups not only possessed knowledge of learner autonomy, but also favored it. Moreover, the positive beliefs as well as knowledge were reflected through the teachers’ teaching practices which provided students with opportunities
to take charge of their own learning and collaborate with each other, and the students’ learning practices which also generally included autonomous learning practices. Though it was identified that the teachers and students had a generally similar positive perception toward learner autonomy, there were differences. Said differences include the differing view of the teachers and students on collaborative group tasks, the university teachers’ viewing freedom in choosing how learning is assessed more negatively than the students’, and the students’ acknowledging the identification of one’s own learning objectives more than the teachers’. The results of the current study also imply that in the Indonesian tertiary education context,
university teachers may intensify the assistance they provide the students with in their autonomous learning, universities could increase their focus on not only building, but also maintaining facilities essential for students’ self-access environment, as well as the possibility of university teachers increasing their management on students’ collaborative group tasks in order to boost students’ participation and contribution to the group they are assigned to so that their learning results may be improved. |