A
Study on the Relationship between
Learner Autonomy and Academic Grades
Akira
Nakamura, Chiba University of
Commerce;
Yoichiro Sagara, Chiba University of Commerce
Objective
The present study investigates the
relationship between learner autonomy and English language proficiency
of
Japanese students from one university. Specifically, the following one
objective was addressed: How does the level of autonomy influence the
relationship between English proficiency, cognitive strategy use, and
self- efficacy?
Participants
The participants were 454 freshman
aged
between 18 and 20 years (363 male and 89 female), whose majors are
commerce,
economics, or management in a private university.
Measures
The questionnaire was composed of three
scales: self-efficacy, cognitive strategy use, and learner autonomy.
Question
items of self-efficacy and cognitive strategy use were from Motivation
Strategies for Learning Questionnaire [MSLQ] which was originally made
by
Pintrich and De Groot (1990) and Mori (2004) translated it into
Japanese. We
used some items out of Mori’s translation. As for learner autonomy, we
used
some of the revised version of Sakai et al. (2008). English proficiency
was
measured by Mochizuki Test, which is frequently used in Japan to
measure
students’ vocabulary size.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Analysis of each scale
The scale of cognitive
strategy use seemed to
contain some aspects. Therefore, in order to analyze the construction
of this scale,
factor analysis with the promax rotation was applied. Three factors
were
extracted with reference to scree plot in addition to Kaisere’s
criteria
(eigenvalue > 1 ).
The three items loading on
Factor 1 seem to
involve the usage of the knowledge the students already had, hence this
factor
was labeled “application of the knowledge”. Factor 2 consisted of five
items
which reflected repeated practice, and this factor was named
“rehearsal”.
Factor 3 revealed an underlying theme of metacognitive strategies, so
this
factor was labeled “metacognitive strategy.” Subscale scores were
computed for
each of the three factors by summing the items in the scale. Internal
consistencies of each scale were assessed by Cronbach’s coefficient
alpha. The
obtained coefficients were satisfactory, so the reliabilities of these
scales
were confirmed.
Relationship between self-efficacy, cognitive
strategy use, learner autonomy, and English proficiency
Self-efficacy correlated positively with
cognitive strategy use, and learner autonomy. On the other hand, the
correlations between English proficiency and the other scales were weak
(
r(454)= -.054 〜
.181 ).
These results indicated that use of cognitive strategy was related with
high
self-efficacy, but not with English proficiency.
Comparison between High autonomy group and Low
autonomy group
For the purpose of making categories,
the subjects were ranked into five categories according to their degree
of
learner autonomy. Each group consisted of almost the same number of
subjects.
The relationships among the English proficiency, cognitive strategy
use, and
self-efficacy were analyzed in the highest level of learner autonomy (
AH
– group, Autonomy score >=31, n = 70, Table 2) and the lowest ( AL
– group, learner autonomy score <= 21 , n = 111, Table 1),
respectively. In both groups, self-efficacy was not correlated with
English
proficiency significantly. As for cognitive strategy use, application
of the
knowledge did not correlate with English proficiency and self-efficacy.
Rehearsal
was correlated with self-efficacy, though not with English proficiency.
These
results suggested that frequent use of rehearsal strategy was related
with high
self-efficacy, however it did not always lead to good English
performance. The
difference between the AL – group and the AH – group was observed
in the results of metacognitive strategy. In both groups, metacognitive
strategy was positively correlated with self-efficacy. On the other
hand,
metacognitive strategy was positively correlated with the English
proficiency
in the AH – group, though not in the AL – group. This means that
the students with low learner autonomy: the use of metacognitive
strategy does
not always link with high performance, the students with high autonomy:
the use
of metacognitive strategy lead to good English performance.
Many Japanese students try to repeat and
do rehearsal when they study English subjects. However, the obtained
results
suggest that the rehearsal strategy has a strong relationship with
self-efficacy, but does not contribute to students’ performance.
Similar
phenomena are seen as to metacognitive strategy, but only in group with
low
learner autonomy. When students with high learner autonomy make efforts
in
using metacognitive strategy, they succeed. In conclusion, students
with poor
performance in English as a foreign language should improve learner
autonomy as
well as acquire metacognitive strategies.
Table 1. Relationships among
self-efficacy, cognitive strategy use and the English performance in AL
–
group
|
Self -
efficacy |
Application |
Rehearsal |
Metacognitive
|
English
performance |
.13 |
.09 |
-.06 |
.15 |
Self –
efficacy |
|
.18 |
.28** |
.51*** |
*p<.05 **p<.01 ***p<.001
Table 2. Relationships
among
self-efficacy, cognitive strategy use and the English performance in AH
–
group
|
Self -
efficacy |
Application |
Rehearsal |
Metacognitive
|
English
performance |
.13 |
.09 |
-.01 |
.26* |
Self –
efficacy |
|
.16 |
.37** |
.59*** |
*p<.05 **p<.01 ***p<.001
REFERENCES
Mori, Y. (2004)
“Relationship between Self-Efficacy and Learning Strategies of English
in
College Students.” Japan Society for Educational Technology, 28, 45-48.
Pintrich, P.,R., & De
Groot, E.V. (1990) “Motivational and Self-Regulated Learning Components
of
Classroom Academic Performance.” Journal of Education Psychology, 82(1), 33-40.
Sakai, S., Chu, M.,
Takagi, A., & Lee, S. (2008) “Teachers’ Roles in Developing Learner
Autonomy in the East Asian Region.” THE JOURNAL OF ASIA TEFL, 5(1), 93-117.