ENABLING AND INHIBITING FACTORS FOR TEACHER FACILITATION OF SELFDIRECTED LEARNING IN FORMAL FOREIGN LANGUAGE EDUCATION
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Date
2022-08
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[Bloomington, Ind.] : Indiana University
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Abstract
Self-directed learning (SDL) has been correlated with an array of positive constructs from enhanced academic performance to greater life satisfaction. However, there is limited literature on SDL facilitation in formal educational settings, in general, and formal foreign language education (FLED) settings, in particular. The purpose of this study was thus, to shed more light on SDL facilitation in formal FLED settings, and specifically on the factors that enable or inhibit its facilitation in such settings. A qualitative research design was used to examine the purposeful case study of the Hebrew Department at the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center (DLIFLC). Nine out of eleven teachers from the department were interviewed and an array of instructional materials were collected and analyzed. The guiding questions of the study were how Hebrew teachers in the formal FLED context of DLIFLC facilitate SDL, and what contextual factors these teachers perceive as enabling or inhibiting their ability to facilitate SDL at DLIFLC. In answering these questions, the study validated and extended foundational notions of SDL theory including (1) the applicability of SDL to formal educational settings, (2) the possibility of facilitating SDL in constrained educational contexts, (3) the notion that SDL, and SDL facilitation, take place through and within social interaction and interrelations, (4) the notion of teacher autonomy as a precondition for learner autonomy, and (5) the discordancy between standardized assessments and SDL facilitation. Furthermore, the study has put forward three important operational frameworks for conceptualizing SDL in FLED, for examining SDL facilitation in formal FLED settings, and for assessing enabling and inhibiting factors for teacher facilitation of SDL in such settings. Thus, the study can help guide FLED practitioners aiming to facilitate SDL in their programs and help advance our understanding of SDL facilitation in formal FLED settings.
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Thesis (Ph.D.) - Indiana University, Department of Instructional Systems Technology, 2022
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Self-directed learning (SDL) / Learner Autonomy (LA) / Foreign Language Education (FLED)
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Doctoral Dissertation