What influences EFL students to learn beyond the classroom? Exploring students’ learning behaviors and their usage of resources
Abstract:
In educational research, there is an increasing interest in students’ learning beyond classroom. Students’ out-of-class learning is linked to improved class performance and constitutes an important part of learner development. This study investigated EFL undergraduates’ learning behaviors and what influences them to learn beyond the classroom. Data were collected via email interviews with the participants and for analysis of their learning activities. Content analysis of email interviews revealed students’ motivations to use learning resources for their out-of-class learning. The analysis of learning behaviors, using six categories based on a learner autonomy model, was applied to generate each participant’s autonomy scores. Non-parametric Spearman rho testing on those scores and the students’ resourcesusage scores suggested a very strong positive relationship between students’ autonomous learning behaviors and resources usage. The results also imply that social learning plays an important, but under-acknowledged role in self-access language learning. Based on these findings, it is recommended that students be encouraged to learn beyond the classroom through pedagogical activities that link classroom learning to learning-center resources. Factors of students’ out-of-class learning have implications for learning and teaching and education in general.
Keywords:
learning behaviors, out-of-class learning, self-access resources
pages:
561-564
Year:
2019
Published in:
2nd Eurasian Conference on Educational Innovation 2019
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