*Corresponding author: Mister Gidion Maru , Jl. Kampus Maesa Unima, Tondano, Minahasa, North Sulawesi, Indoneisa
95618. Email address: mrgidionmar@unima.ac.id
https://dx.doi.org/10.30595/lks.v15i2.10668 , © 2021 Leksika. All rights reserved.
Teachers’ Perspectives of Autonomous Behavior in Language Learning: A
Survey among English Teachers
Mister Gidion Maru*, Chris Caesar Pikirang, Ceisy Nita Wuntu
Manado State University, Tondano, Indonesia
ABSTRACT
The outbreak of the covid-19 pandemic affected the learning practices in Indonesian schools. The practice of the online learning
suggested the practice of learning autonomous behavior. This study investigates teachers’ perspective toward autonomous
learning in the context of English language learning in the current pandemic era. This study constitutes quantitative study.
For attaining the purpose of the study, a questionnaire had been constructed, it was about the learning autonomy behavior
which were adapted from Nabila (2019) in which suggested 15 items of open-ended questions in of each sub dimension, item
1-3 for awareness, item 4-7 for self-effort, item 8-12 for self-esteem, then item 13-15 for the use of technology. The given scale
is ranging from 1=Never, 2=Rarely, 3=Sometimes, 4=Often, 5=Always. The participants were fifteen English teachers belong
to English teacher council group (Musyarawah Guru Mata Pelajaran-MGMP). They were selected purposely as they are
practicing the online learning and having experience. They were easy to reach and access through online communication. The
factors Age, teaching time period and their educational background were collected as the data to be considered. the collected
data was analyzed using the SPSS tool to find the mean score as the main interpretation. The results exhibited that teachers’
perception is overall negative. The findings suggested that only five aspects of the total fifteen given questions showing
relatively positive perceptions indicated by achieving scores ranging from being average to highly moderate. Teachers
identified few positives factors namely learners devoted time to study and practice their English, took notes and summarized
on their own after learning, made use the school library in studying English, identified their errors in English and fixed them
on their own, and watched English learning content on the internet to study and practice English. Yet, these are not sufficient
to mark the presence and practice of the autonomous language learning among EFL learners in the current covid-19 pandemic
situation. Some other main indicators of autonomous learning such as decision making and goal setting, consistent time
organization, self-realization to study, self-formation of learning group, self -assessment of strengths and weaknesses, self-
responsibility, self- evaluation, self-effort and search for online educational are viewed to be not generally carried out by
learners.
Keywords: learning autonomy, teachers’ perception, language learning
Article History: Recieved 12 Jul 2021, Final revision 9 Sep 2021, Published 9 Sep 2021
Introduction
Teaching and learning process in the midst of
COVID-19 has shifted from school to home
schooling. Teaching and learning process in the
current situation makes the learning autonomy
required to be applied among the learners because
since of the pandemic outbreak on March 2020 the
teaching learning process allotted time is decreased
significantly until this time; thus, it is very important
for learners to act autonomously (Ningsih, 2019).
Either, Indonesian’ curriculum 13 is assumed
promoting learning autonomy in which learning
process is weighed on learners’ active participation
as the replacement of traditional method
(Ramadhiyah & Lengkanawati, 2019). Teachers’
perception toward this notion is becoming vital as
they are the main actor for learners during and of
class (Ningsih, 2019). Briefly, either the successful or
the unsuccessful of LA implementation depend on
how they perceive and approach this notion.