Investigating EFL students’ self-directed learning: Evidence from a state university during Covid-19 pandemic

Self-Directed Learning (SDL) occupies a strong position in language education in many countries. Yet, little evidence has been given on this approach among English majors in the setting of Vietnam. The current cross-sectional study, therefore, is an effort to fill up the gap by exploring students’ levels of self-directedness in learning and their correlation with academic performance at a state university. The study employed the Self-Rating Scale of Self-Directed Learning (SRSSDL) with five domains consisting of 60 items developed by Williamson (2007) to get responses from 90 English-majored students of 04 cohorts. The data were then analyzed through SPSS, using Independent-sample T-test and One-way ANOVA. Results of the study evidenced that (1) Investigated students were found to be at moderate and high levels of SDL, (2) No difference in SDL scores was found between male and female students, (3) No considerable difference in SDL scores was found among students of different academic years in the same program, (4) There was a direct correlation between students’ SDL level and their academic performance. Based on the findings, recommendations are well elaborated as references for teachers who are considering leveraging their students’ self-directedness in learning. The study hopefully contributes to the existing literature on self-directed learning in language education.