Learner Autonomy of Pre-Service Teachers and Its Associations with Academic Motivation and Self-Efficacy

Purpose: Learner autonomy enables an individual to learn how to cope with novelties without seeking help from others. Considering the rapid changes and transformations of the 21st century, it has become essential for teachers to possess this characteristic. Thus, their level of learner autonomy should be determined. The purpose of this two-phased study was to adapt the Autonomous Learning Scale into Turkish and to investigate academic motivation and self-efficacy as predictors of autonomous learning. Methodology: In the first phase of the study, the Autonomous Learning Scale was adapted into Turkish with the participation of 335 pre-service teachers. In the second phase, a survey method was used to investigate the autonomous learning of 776 pre-service teachers in terms of a number of demographic variables, along with academic self-efficacy and academic motivation. Findings: For the first phase, the confirmatory factor analysis showed that the Autonomous Learning Scale was a valid and reliable tool to be used with Turkish samples. For the second phase, regression analysis revealed that academic self-efficacy and academic motivation were significant predictors of autonomous learning among pre-service teachers. Additionally, their autonomous learning significantly differed in terms of department, high school type and gender. Furthermore, the GPAs of the pre-service teachers were significantly correlated with their autonomous learning levels. Significance: The Turkish version of the Autonomous Learning Scale is presented to researchers. The relationships between autonomous learning and self-efficacy along with motivation have been asserted in a number of studies. The present study not only confirmed the correlations among these variables, but also revealed the predictive power of these variables on autonomous learning. Therefore, teacher educators and policy makers may gain insights from these findings.