Extensive_Reading

System, Vol. 23, No, 2, pp. 235-243, 1995 ~ Pergamon 0346-251X(95)00011-9 Elsevier Science Ltd Printed in Great Britain 0346-251X/95 $9.50 + 0.00 BREAKING WITH CHINESE CULTURAL TRADITIONS: LEARNER AUTONOMY IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING JUDYHO*andDAVIDCROOKALLt *City University of Hong Kong, "'Universit~de Technologie de Compikgne and IUFM de Picardie Basic thinking regarding certain aspects of learner autonomy is presented as well as certain cultural traits (such as the Chinese concern with face) which may be an obstacle to the promotion of autonomy, especially in the more traditional organization of some classrooms. The use of large-scale simulation can, however, transform the ordinary classroom into a learning environment that powerfully promotes learner autonomy. A concrete example of how this actually happened is discussed in detail, as are the cultural traits that both hinder and encourage autonomy in such a setting. The conclusion is that it is through concrete actions of taking responsibility that autonomy is learned. THE PATH TO AUTONOMY The pursuit of learning after the completion of a formal course is now generally recognized as a legitimate need and goal in the field of education. "[B]ecause of the complexity and rapidity of change in our highly technological societies", it is important to help our learners "to develop the attitude that learning is a life-long process and to acquire the skills of self-directed learning" (Knowles, 1976: p. 23, cited in Wenden, 1987: p. 9). However, due to the highly complex nature of language and language learning (Dickinson and Carver, 1980), encouraging autonomy in language learners often proves to be a doubly difficult objective. In aiming for such an objective, it is useful to ask the following questions. What is learner autonomy' What kinds of obstacles might be encountered by a teacher in promoting autonomy in a traditional classroom setting' How might these obstacles be overcome' Specifically, how might the classroom be transformed into a learning environment that facilitates the promotion of autonomy' In this paper we will, first, provide a glimpse of some of the basic thinking regarding certain aspects of autonomy. Next, we will consider how certain aspects of a learner' s cultural background may impede the promotion of autonomy. Finally, we will give an account of how a simulation can transform the traditional classroom into a learning environment that is able to deal with the constraints to the promotion of autonomy presented by culture. ASPECTS OF LEARNER AUTONOMY Learner autonomy is generally recognized as an important "pedagogical goal" (Wenden, 1987), a philosophy of learning" (Henner-Stanchina and Riley, 1978: p. 75), "an unavoidable 235 236 JUDY HO and DAVID CROOKALL methodological option" (Narcy, 1994) and as representing "the upper limit of self-directed learning measured on a notional scale from fully directed to fully autonomous learning" (Dickinson, 1978). As the terms goal, philosophy, method and notion would suggest, autonomy is not easily defined in a concrete and tangible manner. Nevertheless certain kinds of knowledge, skills and attitudes can be said to characterize and/or lead towards autonomous learning. First among these is self-knowledge--knowing what one needs to learn and why. This knowledge provides the basis for the exercise of the following skills, considered key to self-directed or autonomous learning (see Dickinson, 1987; Holec, 1981, 1989): (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) Choosing instructional materials; Setting learning objectives and prioritizing them; Determining when and how long to work on each objective; Assessing progress and achievements; Evaluating the learning programme. Learners also need skills to manage their time and to cope with stress and other negative affective factors that may interfere with learning. They also require some basic knowledge about the learning process and the nature of language (see Crookall, 1983; Ellis and Sinclair, 1989; Wenden, 1991). Finally, learners should learn to be self-motivated and self-disciplined. The extent to which a learner will acquire the above skills and knowledge depends on a host of factors. One of these is the learner's and the teacher's views of and actions in regard to their relationship and roles. Fernandes et al. (1990: p. 101) express it clearly: In their everyday lives adults are required t o . . . make choices and decisions regarding their lives, accept responsibility and learn to do things for themselves. However, language learners in the classroom often tend to revert to the traditional role of pupil, who expects to be told what to do . . . . As a result, some learners have become teacher-dependent and often feel that it is the teacher alone who is responsible for any learning and progress that takes place. Therefore, it is generally agreed that for learners to become autonomous, they must redefine their views about teacher-learner roles. However, the burden of the responsibility for such a redefinition should not be assigned solely to learners. The teacher also has a role to play in helping learners realize that they, too, must take on responsibility for their learning. One way in which this can be done is for the teacher to create an environment in which responsibility is shared. While selected and structured by the teacher, such an environment can allow learners to exercise increasing responsibility through decision making that is either done independently of others or in a situation where they choose to be part of a group and, therefore, to be dependent upon it for their learning. As Dickinson (1978: p. 12) points out "free choice may in fact be a choice to relinquish (the learner's) autonomy over a particular stretch for a particular purpose". AUTONOMY AND CULTURE While personal autonomy appears to be a universally desirable and beneficial objective, it is important to remember that learner autonomy is exercised within the context of specific cultures. BREAKING WITH CHINESE TRADITIONS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING 237 Therefore, in choosing the skills and kinds of knowledge to develop and in selecting the procedures or methods that are to be used to help learners develop skills for autonomy, the culturallyconstructed nature of the classroom setting needs to be taken into account. We must also consider how certain cultural traits might either facilitate or inhibit the acquisition of these skills and knowledge and, thus, restrain or assist the development of autonomy. In societies influenced by Chinese culture, one such trait is social relations in the classroom. Both teachers' and leamers' views of classroom roles are deeply rooted in the Chinese tradition of seeing oneself as a part of a "relational hierarchy" (Chang and Holt, 1994: p. 105). Indeed, the importance of "social relations" and "hierarchy" in Chinese culture has been observed by a number of scholars (see, e.g. Hsu, 1985; Chu, 1985; Hwang 1987). This hierarchy of human relations sets the general context within which we must understand Chinese students' respect for authority and their view of the teacher as the authority figure. Scollon and Scollon (1994a: p. 21) make insightful observation about fundamental differences in the way Asians and westerners perceive authority. The Asian focuses on the care, nurture and benevolence (or their absence) of the person in authority while the westerner tends to focus on the restriction, limitation and dependence of the person over which the authority is exercised. The writers go on to suggest that according to the Asian notion of authority, the teacher is expected to exercise authority, that is, to look after or nurture her students and take charge. Closely related to Chinese respect for authority is the Chinese pre-occupation with face. The multiple meanings and importance of face to the Chinese have been discussed in many cross-cultural studies (see, e.g. Ho, 1976; Hwang, 1987; Scollon and Scollon, 1994b; Chang and Holt, 1994). In particular, Chang and Holt (1994: p. 115) have made the point that in communicating with another person, one must "protect the other's self-image and feelings, he or she is not confronted directly." This point explains, at least in part, why many Chinese students will not challenge their teacher's position on a given point (or even indeed authority in general). Chinese students have a great respect for and wish to maintain their teacher' s mien-tzu (face). With similar concern for mien-tzu, the teacher is also reluctant to admit any inadequacies on his/her part. It is very difficult for a Chinese teacher to say "I am sorry. I don't know. Let's work out a solution together." Being autonomous often requires that students work independently of the teacher and this may entail shared decision making, as well as presenting opinions that differ from those of the teacher. It is, thus, easy to see why Chinese students would not find autonomy very comfortable, emotionally or indeed intellectually. One might even draw the conclusion that it is impossible for Chinese students to learn to exercise responsibility for their learning in the classroom. This does not necessarily have to be the case, however, as we will show. SIMULATION: CHANGING THE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT In seeking to create learning environments that will facilitate and enhance the development of learner autonomy teachers need to take into account the obstacles that may impede its development. This includes the barriers that are put up by cultural values and the norms for appropriate classroom 238 JUDY HO and DAVID CROOKALL behaviour that reflect these values. One methodology that can facilitate the creation of such an environment is simulation/gaming (well known to System readers). In fact, simulations and games are used routinely by countless language teachers the world over. However, they are underused as a direct means of providing learner training (for examples of such use, see Ellis and Sinclair, 1989; Fernandes et al., 1990). Here we describe how a large-scale simulation was used to provide learner training in a classroom setting without coming into conflict with cultural values that appear to be diametrically opposed to autonomy. Specifically, one of the main objectives of this learning experience was to provide learners with an opportunity to exercise responsibility for their learning. Participants and tasks Twenty-one students enrolled in the first year of the BA in English for Professional Communication at the City University of Hong Kong participated in a large-scale, world-wide, computer-mediated simulation, called Project IDEALS (supported by a major grant from FIPSE, USA). They were one of 27 student teams located in a variety of countries around the world that participated in the simulation. Communication (both asynchronous and real-time) among teams was made possible via the Internet and specialized interactive software. (For more information on the project, see Crookall and Landis, 1992.) Each team of students was assigned the role of a particular nation-the class of students we focus on here was assigned the role of a poor landlocked country called Mountainia, which was very keen on gaining access to the sea. The participants' overall goal was to negotiate with the other country-teams the text of an international treaty on how the world's ocean resources should be managed. To do this, the team had to carry out a series of tasks, such as preparing a two-page policy statement, a 10-page position paper and various drafts of the treaty. This particular simulation was run in February 1993 and lasted for seven weeks, with several weeks preparation and follow-up work. Simulations and autonomy We describe below how participation in the simulation provided learners with an opportunity to take responsibility for their learning (i.e. make decisions about their learning, plan, evaluate, monitor and assess). We show how such a methodology can be used to create a learning environment that contributes to the development of autonomy and why it can be considered an important method for learner training. (1) Deciding to engage in the simulation. Making choices about what one wants to learn or even whether one wants to learn at all is one of the first decisions required of autonomous learners (see, e.g. Logan, 1973; Dickinson, 1978, 1987; Allwright, 1988). Therefore, a learning environment or methodology which intends to help students develop the skills and attitudes that sustain autonomous learning must provide students with an opportunity to make such decisions. In the present case, this meant that the students themselves should be committed to or choose to get involved in the simulation. To ensure this commitment, the teacher gave students information about the project, the benefits and potential problems. Terms of the learning contract such as the use of English in all activities, both inside and outside classrooms, were also presented. The students were then asked to decide whether or not they would participate in the simulation. Thus, right from the start, students BREAKING WITH CHINESE TRADITIONS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING 239 made an important decision about their own learning and accepted the responsibilities that such a decision would entail. Moreover, to make this decision, it was necessary for them to become aware of their learning needs, interests and abilities--the kind of self-knowledge mentioned earlier. (2) Taking responsibility for the simulation tasks. As ministers of Mountainia, participants (i.e. the students) were expected to work out an international treaty on how the world's ocean resources should be managed. To do so, they were required to take responsibility for the following tasks: (a) Organizing their country. Students had to organize themselves in fundamental ways. They had to take ownership of their country by deciding on their form of government--a democracy, with ministries and a Prime Minister. They then decided on ministry membership, elected a Prime Minister and ministers and allocated other individual specialist responsibilities. All this was accomplished after lengthy debates on what ministries would be the most important and relevant for the type of country they represented. These actions provided further opportunities to take on responsibility and, therefore, to promote autonomy. (b) Policy making and goal setting. Once learners had set up their own sovereign (i.e. autonomous!) country, they had to establish policy--they had to make their country work. Ministers and specialists worked in collaboration with the elected Prime Minister in setting goals for the country team and in drawing up the terms of the policy statement and position paper. This constituted a steep learning curve in terms of taking responsibility and exercising autonomy, but it was to pay off as the simulation progressed and the team quickly began to face real-world tasks and to communicate with other countries. Participants' responsibilities as ministers inevitably involved responsibilities as learners. (c) Weekly meetings to discuss the affairs of state. As ministers, students held formal meetings every week to discuss the business of the state. In these meetings, information was presented, matters discussed, priorities set and decisions made. Learners had to decide what to include in their discussions, how and when to conduct their meetings and what course of action to take. Participants spent much time outside class in preparing such meetings. All of this was achieved in a real-life situation, which was preset by the simulation. In other words, the simulation enabled all these decision-making and responsibility-taking processes to take place in a natural manner. (3) Taking responsibility for the learning and use of skills necessary to the simulation task. In the context of fulfilling their responsibilities as ministers of state, simulation participants (i.e. the students) were also provided with an opportunity to self-direct their learning of the following skills: (a) Conflict resolution skills. Working in groups not only means completing a series of given tasks in time; it also requires that group members work through conflict situations and accommodate different opinions. In the case of Mountainia, students learned how to deal with differences of opinion and personal clashes. In other words, besides providing learners with an opportunity to make decisions to organize and manage their country, the simulation required that learners learn, autonomously, the skills for resolving conflicts amongst themselves. When asked how they solved problems involving opinion differences or emotional conflicts among group members, most learners said they would negotiate and come to a compromise (76%), recognize the existence of conflicts and talk about them honestly with their group members (76%) and state their views and vote (43%). In addition, the majority of respondents felt that, by participating in the project, they 240 JUDY HO and DAVID CROOKALL had also learned how to understand their classmates (62%) and deal with conflicts in a group (57%). When reflecting on the development of their inter-personal relationships, the majority of participants (76%) thought that the project had brought them closer to their classmates. Again, as in the case of the skills required to organize and manage their country, the conflict-resolution skills were acquired through the exercise of responsibility and on an autonomous basis. (b) Language skills for professional communication. The range of language tasks was wide and included all four skills. Students read writings of different genres: the background readings included academic articles, legal documents and journalistic reports. Learners also dealt with nearly 1750 simulation communications (e.g. editorials, arguments and proposals) of varied lengths that arrived electronically from many other teams and from the Project Director. Several thousand other messages were exchanged during live, real-time teleconferences. From these various sources of written input, learners developed skimming and scanning skills essential to sorting out relevant information for their group; they learned to summarize significant points and prepare for meetings. Soon after decisions were reached in their meetings, Mountainians wrote the necessary and appropriate diplomatic messages to send out to other countries. (c) Time management and contingency planning. The ability to manage one's time and to work out contingency plans are skills that are strong indicators of autonomy. The simulation provided opportunities to exercise these skills as well. The Project Director set very tight schedules, with specific documents due by certain dates. Students could not wait for the teacher to tell them what to do since tutorials were held only twice a week. Students learned to be responsible not only for themselves, but also for their own group (their own country), and ultimately for other teams. In a post-activity questionnaire when learners were asked whether participation in the simulation had any influence on their management styles and learning approaches, the majority pointed out that they had learned how to deal with matters that cropped up suddenly (62%) and how to work under pressures and meet deadlines (57%). In sum, here we see how a simulation can provide an authentic context for language learning and for promoting learner autonomy. Moreover, in the present case, language tasks were integrated into and became continuous with students' learning how to manage their learning. Participants thus became responsible for both their own country and their own learning. Simulation, culture and autonomy How does a simulation contribute to the development of autonomy in students from a cultural background that is almost diametrically opposed to autonomy' Here we will consider two characteristics of the simulation that made it possible for learners to overcome certain cultural constraints to the exercise of autonomy. First, simulations are unpredictable. There was no way in which the Project Director, let alone the local facilitators, could predict what course the negotiations would take or what their outcome might be. Moreover, it was also observed that when faced with an influx of rapid messages from the telecommunications network, students had to exercise their own discretion and learn to negotiate with other participants as fully responsible state officials. Thus, the precarious nature of the simulation erodes the sense of security to which Chinese students traditionally cling, by relying on the all-nurturing, all-benevolent, all-knowing teacher. Second, simulations require problem sharing among learners and between learners and teachers. An example was the technical break-downs which occurred in the course of the simulation. Nothing BREAKING WITH CHINESE TRADITIONS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING 241 that either the students or their teacher could do would remedy the situation--the teacher allowed herself to be seen as helpless as the students themselves. In a sense, the technical failures tore apart the mien-tzu (face) of the teacher. It allowed the teacher to admit that she did not know how to solve the problem, and by declaring herself to be in the same situation as the participants, initiated a change in the teacher-student relationship. Moreoever, because this occurred within the relatively less threatening context of the simulation, it was easier (than in more threatening, traditional classrooms) for both the teacher and learners to redefine the role of the teacher. By explicitly taking on the role of "counsellor, lecturer and adviser" (Rogers, 1969: p. 165, cited in Dickinson, 1978: p. 22) and "helper" (Henner-Stanchina and Riley, 1978: p. 75) in the context of the simulation, the teacher was able, relatively easily, to initiate a new type of relationship with her learners. This was then carried over into non-simulation situations. In a word, simulation helps to "declassroom" the classroom (Sharrock and Watson, 1985; Watson and Sharrock, 1990). Moving a step further, we should note that, whereas some aspects of Chinese culture appear to be impediments to autonomy, it also appears to be the case that other aspects of Chinese culture may actually contribute to the development of autonomy, given the right situation--in this case, the simulation. In other words, it seems that a simulation provides a context that both counters the negative and enhances the positive aspects of Chinese culture. Thus, although certain cultural traits may make autonomy difficult to achieve, other cultural Waits actually facilitate its attainment under certain circumstances. We now look at two autonomy-enhancing traits in the context of the simulation. (1) Achievement orientation. Although Chinese children have been frustrated in their "active or exploratory demands" from infancy (Ho, 1986: p. 4), they are, nevertheless, under pressure to achieve educationally (Ho, 1986; Wu, 1994). Both these needs can be satisfied more easily and happily if students are given learning tasks which do not require a fixed examination to assess their comparative success or failure, thus thwarting their exploratory inclinations. In addition, such tasks should provide ample opportunities for them to set concrete goals to assess to what extent they have been achieved by their own standards. A simulated negotiation, such as in project IDEALS, is an example of such a type of task. By taking part in a project like IDEALS, students can, on the one hand, be active and exploratory and yet on the other, satisfy their culturally-imposed need to be achievers. In the present case, the members of Mountainia did achieve two of the most important objectives that they had set for themselves in their initial position paper--gain access to the sea and fight againist pollution with other countries. Thus, the cultural emphasis on achievement contributed to the carrying out of actions and the accomplishments of tasks, which together moved the learners towards autonomy. From another point of view it may be said that such achievement-motivated actions and tasks actually constituted acts of autonomy. This cultural trait probably would have played a far less prominent role in promoting autonomy in an ordinary (non-simulation) classroom. (2) Inside-outside. Another aspect of Chinese culture which facilitates the promotion of autonomy through simulations is the "inside and outside relationships" (Scollon and Scollon, 1994b: pp. 16--18). According to Tajfel (1984: p. 699) in such a situation: [w]hen social groups differ in status and power, strategies aiming to maintain a satisfactorysocial identity and to achieve positive distinctiveness from other relevant groups on certain relevant dimensions of comparison do undoubtedly continue to play an important role in collective behaviour. 242 JUDY HO and DAVID CROOKALL In other words, the fact that students have to work as members of a team puts them in an inside relationship (an ingroup) in which they can bond and express their opinions freely. On the other hand, other teams with whom they have to negotiate are put into an outside relationship (the outgroup). Such a sense of group identity has an intrinsic motivational power. It engages learners in their learning tasks and motivates them to utilize all their resources in defending the interests of the ingroup. That is, the power of ingroup cohesion on members' motivation to enhance their self-image cannot be underestimated. Such motivation impels participants to take responsibility for their sovereign country, to make autonomous decisions and act upon them with a force and conviction that would not be conceivable in an ordinary classroom. This deep involvement, a key to autonomous learning, is poignantly expressed by a student in her reflections on taking part in Project IDEALS. It was very exciting to be people of one of 27 countries in the world. We enjoyed to be Mountainians. We did our best to keep "national information" in extremely secret. We would feel worry and angry when our favour was harassed by other countries. We would feel happy if we were successful to grasp our interest. Although we would finish the "Project Ideals" in approaching days, we still could not forget we were once the people of peaceful and nature-loving country, Mountainia. CONCLUSION Through Project IDEALS, our students took part in an important and memorable experience. They were keenly aware of dealing with people from other cultures; they became critical thinkers; they learned to argue intelligently and to write effectively; they worked collaboratively with others and they made informed decisions. Not least of all, underlying these more practical pursuits, they rose to the challenge and opportunity of taking greater responsibility for their own learning. In addition, they shared in each other's learning; thus while they became autonomous from the teacher, they maintained the important social and collaborative aspect of the learning enterprise. We have also shown how, despite cultural constraints, the simulation project enabled them to develop certain knowledge, skills and attitudes which are characteristic of learner autonomy. What general lessons can be drawn from this experience' We offer the following. Autonomy cannot be conferred by a teacher, at least not directly. Taking responsibility can only be encouraged, sometimes necessitated, by learner participation in a personally-meaningful, real-world context, such as a simulation. In the end, while it is the role of teachers to engineer situations in which autonomy can be exercised, it is the learner who must actually do the exercising--perhaps with some initial reassurance from the teacher. Indeed, learning to take responsibility is very much like learning to do other things. Only the learner can learn--not the teacher. Moreover, the learner can only learn by doing. In other words, only by taking steps towards autonomy and exercising that autonomy will the learner be and become autonomous. Acknowledgement--The authors are extremely grateful to Anita Wenden for her tremendous help in writing this article. REFERENCES ALLWRIGHT, D. (1988) Autonomy and individualization in whole class instruction. 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