Teachers Perceptions about Developing English Language Learner Autonomy

Developing learner autonomy (LA) has been the teachers' focus in addressing the problems of second language pedagogy (Oxford 2003; Benson 2007; Little 1995) for a long time. The research, however, shows that the traditional pedagogical culture does not favor this idea, especially in the Asian context (Borg and Al-Busaidi 2012). The teachers' beliefs, moreover, may affect their classroom practices for the development of English language learner autonomy. In keeping with this view, we have gathered the data from 64 university teachers of Pakistan through a survey-based questionnaire to find out if teachers' positive beliefs about learner autonomy result in the rejection of teacher-centered authoritarian classroom practices or if the teachers give attention to those teaching practices that help in the development of learner autonomy, although this study cannot ascertain if learner autonomy is linked to the development of English language skills.