Redefining autonomy in low-achieving high-school students: Collaborative learning in Taiwan-context classrooms

AbstractThe study endorses the idea of interdependence as a trait of autonomy, which dignifies low-achieving students’ autonomy developed in English-language classrooms. A modified autonomy scale, adapted from Nunan’s five levels of autonomy development, monitored low-achieving learners’ autonomy. This action research explores the pedagogical design of collaborative learning to improve low-achieving students’ autonomy. Twenty low-achieving students (out of 29) as target participants come from a vocational high school in Hualien County, Taiwan. The result via observation and group-focus interviews displayed that the quality of intra-group interactions, deciding whether target participants’ need was satisfied, influences target participants’ tendency to be autonomous. In this study, leader-assigned groups where target participants could access available ‘resources’ (leaders) without exposing themselves to teachers to complete their individual/collective goals could produce those interactions. This indicates their greater responsibility for their learning. This study could provide an inspiring perspective for practitioners to redefine autonomy in low-achieving students.Keywords: Learner autonomyinterdependencecollaborative learninglow-achieving studentsenglish learning Disclosure statementThe authors report there are no competing interests to declare.Data availability statementThe authors will make transcripts available upon request (please contact the corresponding author). To protect students’ anonymity, the authors will not make available video recordings or observation data.Additional informationFundingNo agency, grants, or funding supported this research.