teachers’ beliefs in the necessity and feasibility of fostering learner autonomy in efl learning writing at phuoc kien high school

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY NGUYEN THI PHUC TRINH TEACHERS’ BELIEFS IN THE NECESSITY AND FEASIBILITY OF FOSTERING LEARNER AUTONOMY IN EFL LEARNING WRITING AT PHUOC KIEN HIGH SCHOOL MASTER OF ARTS IN TESOL HO CHI MINH CITY, 2019 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY NGUYEN THI PHUC TRINH TEACHERS’ BELIEFS IN THE NECESSITY AND FEASIBILITY OF FOSTERING LEARNER AUTONOMY IN EFL LEARNING WRITING AT PHUOC KIEN HIGH SCHOOL Major: Teaching English to speakers of other language Major code: 60140111 MASTER OF ARTS IN TESOL Supervisor: LE THI THANH THU, Ed.D Ho Chi Minh City, 2019 i STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I certify that this thesis entitled “Teachers’ Beliefs in the Necessity and Feasibility of Fostering Learner Autonomy in EFL Writing Learning at Phuoc Kien High School” is my own work Except where reference is made in the text of the thesis, this thesis does not contain material published elsewhere or extracted in whole or in part from a thesis by which I have qualified for or been awarded another degree or diploma No other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the main text of the thesis This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any other tertiary institution Ho Chi Minh City, 2019 NGUYEN THI PHUC TRINH ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This Master of Arts in TESOL thesis is the result of a fruitful collaboration of all the people who have kindly contributed with enormous commitment and enthusiasm in my research Without the help of those who supported me at all times and in all possible ways, it would not have been feasible for me to complete my M.A thesis First of all, I am deeply indebted to my supervisor, Le Thi Thanh Thu Ed.D., whose compassion; encouragement and guidance throughout the research have helped in the completion of this thesis I have truly learned from the excellence of her skills and from her wide experience in research; no words are adequate to describe the extent of my gratitude I am also sincerely grateful to all lecturers of the Open University in Ho Chi Minh City for providing me with invaluable sources of intellectual knowledge during my study there This knowledge was very useful when I conducted this research I would like to thank my TESOL friend, namely M.A Truong Minh Hoa, who shared his constructive opinions and comments on my thesis I owe a great debt of gratitude to the anonymous participants who contributed data to this thesis Without them the data collection for this study could not properly been carried out Last but not least, I would like to express my particular gratitude to my beloved family for their understanding, encouragement, and spiritual support over time and distance iii ABSTRACT As proven by research, high school students usually rely on their teachers in their writing learning; consequently, this passive involvement hinders their writing performance Thus, it is necessary to develop learner autonomy in writing learning In another line, language students’ low writing performance could be partly due to the effect of the teachers’ beliefs about writing and its teaching The study was conducted to explore the teachers’ beliefs about the necessity and feasibility of developing learner autonomy in writing learning among Phuoc Kien high school students Six EFL teachers at Phuoc Kien high school reflected their beliefs via the semistructured interview with nine questions Firstly, the results showed that all the teachers fully recognized the necessity of building up learner autonomy in writing learning highly appreciated potential values of fostering learner autonomy in writing learning Secondly, the findings also pointed out that only a half of the teachers positively viewed that fostering learner autonomy in writing skill at Phuoc Kien high school was feasible to some extent, while the other half was skeptical about its feasibility In specific, the teachers elucidated the advantages and barriers in fostering learner autonomy in EFL writing learning based on three aspects of teachers’ roles, learners’ responsibilities and schooling environment Based on the findings, some implications were made for the teachers and the further study in the realm of fostering learner autonomy in writing development iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP……………………………………………… i ACKNOWLEDGMENTS……………………………………………………… ii ABSTRACT ……………………………………………………………………… iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ………………………………………………………… iv LIST OF FIGURES ……………………………………………………………… viii LIST OF TABLES ……………………………………………………………… ix LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS …………………………………………………… x Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION …………………………………………………… 1.1 Background to the study …………………………………………………… 1.2 Problem statement …………………………………………………………… 1.3 Research questions …………………………………………………………… 1.4 Significance of the study …………………………………………………… 1.5 Thesis outline ………………………………………………………………… Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW …………………………………………… 2.1 Teachers’ beliefs ……………………………………………………………… 2.1.1 Definition of teachers’ beliefs …………………………………………… 2.1.2 Categories of teachers’ beliefs …………………………………………… 2.1.2.1 Beliefs in learners………………………………………………… 2.1.2.2 Beliefs in self ……………………………………………………… 2.1.2.3 Beliefs in teaching and learning …………………………………… 2.1.3 Sources of teachers’ beliefs ……………………………………………… 2.2 The definition of learner autonomy ………………………………………… 10 2.3 Characteristics of an autonomous learner ………………………………… 12 2.4 Necessity of fostering learner autonomy …………………………………… 13 2.5 Feasibility of fostering learner autonomy …………………………………… 14 2.5.1 Teachers’ roles …………………………………………………………… 14 v 2.5.2 Students’ responsibilities ………………………………………………… 16 2.5.3 Schooling environment …………………………………………………… 17 2.5.4 Approaches to fostering learner autonomy ……………………………… 18 2.5.4.1 Curriculum-based approach ……………………………………… 18 2.5.4.2 Technology-based approach ……………………………………… 19 2.5.4.3 Learner-based approach …………………………………………… 19 2.6 Teaching and learning writing within learner autonomy development … 20 2.6.1 Natures and levels of writing …………………………………………… 20 2.6.1.1 Natures of writing ………………………………………………………… 20 2.6.1.2 Levels of writing …………………………………………………………… 20 2.6.2 Approaches to teaching writing ………………………………………… 21 2.6.2.1 Product approach ………………………………………………………… 21 2.6.2.2 Process approach ………………………………………………………… 21 2.6.2.3 Genre-based approach …………………………………………………… 22 2.6.3 Peer feedback in writing ………………………………………………… 22 2.6.4 Portfolio ………………………………………………………………… 23 2.6.5 Self-regulated learning …………………………………………………… 23 2.7 Previous studies ……………………………………………………………… 25 2.8 Research gaps ………………………………………………………………… 27 2.9 Chapter summary …………………………………………………………… 28 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY ……………………………………………… 29 3.1 Overall research approach …………………………………………………… 29 3.1.1 Research design ………………………………………………………… 29 3.1.2 Research procedures ……………………………………………………… 29 3.1.3 The sample ……………………………………………………………… 30 3.2 Research setting and participants …………………………………………… 30 3.2.1 Research setting ………………………………………………………… 30 3.2.1.1 Context ……………………………………………………………………… 30 vi 3.2.1.2 Materials …………………………………………………………………… 31 3.2.1.3 Writing section …………………………………………………………… 32 3.2.2 Research participants …………………………………………………… 33 3.3 Description of the interview ………………………………………………… 35 3.3.1 Rationale to interview ………………………………………………… 35 3.3.2 Description of the interview …………………………………………… 35 3.4 Interviewing procedure ……………………………………………………… 37 3.5 Data analysis ………………………………………………………………… 38 3.6 Validity and reliability ……………………………………………………… 39 3.7 Summary ……………………………………………………………………… 40 CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSIONS ……………………… 41 4.1 Research question ………………………………………………………… 41 4.1.1 The teachers’ overall understandings of learner autonomy ……………… 41 4.1.2 The teachers’ perceptions of an ideal autonomous learner ……………… 44 4.1.3 The teachers’ beliefs on the necessity of fostering learner autonomy in writing learning …………………………………………………………… 49 4.1.4 The teachers’ beliefs on benefits of promoting learner autonomy in writing learning …………………………………………………………… 52 4.2 Research question ………………………………………………………… 54 4.2.1 The teachers’ beliefs on the feasibility extent of fostering learner autonomy in EFL writing learning ……………………………………… 55 4.2.2 The teachers’ beliefs on the advantages in fostering learner autonomy in writing learning ………………………………………………………… 58 4.2.3 The teachers’ perceptions of the barriers in fostering learner autonomy in EFL writing learning …………………………………………………… 62 4.2.4 Teachers’ perspectives on the teacher roles adapted to foster learner autonomy in writing learning …………………………………………… 4.2.5 Teachers’ perspectives on the activities implemented to foster learner 68 vii autonomy in writing learning …………………………………………… 72 4.3 Chapter summary …………………………………………………………… 76 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ……………… 77 5.1 Conclusions …………………………………………………………………… 77 5.2 Recommendations …………………………………………………………… 79 5.3 Limitations …………………………………………………………………… 81 5.4 Suggestions for further study ………………………………………………… 81 REFERENCES …………………………………………………………………… 82 APPENDICES……………………………………………………………………… 92 APPENDIX A.1: INTERVIEW PROTOCOLS (ENGLISH VERSION) …… 93 APPENDIX A.2: INTERVIEW PROTOCOLS (VIETNAMESE VERSION)… 94 APPENDIX B.1: TRANSCRIPT (Interviewer-F1) …………………………………… 95 APPENDIX B.2: TRANSCRIPT (Interviewer-F2) …………………………………… 98 APPENDIX B.3: TRANSCRIPT (Interviewer-F3) ………………………………… 101 APPENDIX B.4: TRANSCRIPT (Interviewer-F4) …………………………… 104 APPENDIX B.5: TRANSCRIPT (Interviewer-M5) ………………………… 108 APPENDIX B.6: TRANSCRIPT (Interviewer-F6) ………………………………… 112 100 Interviewer-Question 8: What roles you think teachers should fulfill to foster their students’ autonomous learning of writing skill successfully? F2: Learner autonomy is not in-born attribute but is developed by the teacher I would like to say that to foster learner autonomy in writing ability development, teachers‟ role is consequently important Teachers should guide and orient their students Sometimes, teachers not need to guide, the students can do, and at that time they are autonomous If teachers guide totally, it does not reflect autonomy Understandably, it would have been the same as giving them fish rather than teaching them how to catch In short, high school teachers need to impart knowledge and instruct them how to write moderately and thoroughly Interviewer-Question 9: In your opinion, what approaches should be implemented to foster learner autonomy in your writing class? F2: We can apply portfolios during the whole academic year to promote student involvement in assessment, responsibility for self-assessment and for their own learning progress In order to benefit from the portfolios in this aspect, the teacher, at the beginning of the semester, asked their learners to keep portfolios in which the learners would put their writing assignments Thus, the portfolios enable the learners to keep their learning progress since they have the opportunity to assess themselves 101 APPENDIX B.3 TRANSCRIPT (Interviewer-F3) Interviewer-Question 1: According to your understanding, what does “learner autonomy” generally mean? F3: According to my perspectives, learner autonomy is adhered to students‟ being able to learn on their own, independently of their teachers and it is showed not only inside classroom but also outside like at home In that case, teachers only play the role of a rapport Interviewer-Question 2: What are the characteristics of an ideal autonomous learner under your viewpoints? F3: They are ready to study and have interest in their learning in the classroom and at home without being reminded by teachers and parents Interviewer-Question 3: In learning writing skill, is it necessary for high school students to learn autonomously? Why (not)? F3: It is undeniable that the hardest skill in English learning is writing which require high school students‟ competency to receipt the information, process it, and at least, produce it Seriously, learning writing is inadequate if only relying on sixteen forty-five-minute-periods of learning in the classroom Writing is about the long processes, which require more time, more effort, as well as more guidance Hence, the teacher needs to sensitively guide these students how to write freely, get students to become more active and independent in their learning process 102 Interviewer-Question 4: What are benefits of promoting learner autonomy in writing learning? F3: When students become active and strategic writers under the help from the teachers, they are able to control their writing progress, autonomously know how to tackle any writing topics Consequently, they are able to write effectively as much as possible Interviewer-Question 5: Is it possible to foster learner autonomy in your writing class? Why (not)? F3: Fostering my students to become active and independent writing learners may be feasible to some extent in my writing class Indeed, I can reduce my prominent role in writing class and increase autonomy, activeness and dependence of my high school students On the other hand, my students must have positive learning attitudes towards writing skill and seek their appropriate learning strategies, as well as more with writing tasks at home Interviewer-Question 6: What are advantages in fostering their high school students’ autonomous learning capacity of writing skill? F3: I find out that challenges outweigh advantages; however, I will name two main strong points First, students nowadays get much exposed to technological devices and consequently the opportunities for them to learn writing skill autonomously considerably increase and of course I have to suggest them how to learn with the ICT such as the ways to seek referential materials, establish an online group to work together with their classmates Second, in my class, some students have good writing ability although there still are many weaker students on this skill I can change the class configurations like having good students to work in group of the weaker students and the writing results will be equal to all members 103 Interviewer-Question 7: What are difficulties and challenges in fostering your students’ autonomy in EFL writing learning? F3: My high school students‟ low motivation and need and interest, too scanty language and background knowledge, and their laziness are examples of challenges I can encounter with when building up their learning autonomous of writing skill in reality As for myself, I lack much time to facilitate this thing In fact, I need considerable quantity of time to design writing activities, search extra out-of-class writing activities and tasks for them to further practice, notice their self-study to support and evaluate Actually, they make me much stressful Interviewer-Question 8: What roles you think teachers should fulfill to foster their students’ autonomous learning of writing skill effectively? F3: I think that high school teachers should play a facilitator in their students‟ writing learning This active role can limit rigidly knowledge imparting and passively information receiving between teachers and learners A facilitator guides students how to write a writing paper from collecting ideas to drafting, revising errors and producing final draft From that, these students are gradually able to manage their writing process independently Interviewer-Question 9: In your opinion, what approaches should be implemented to foster learner autonomy in your writing class? F3: To foster the high school students‟ independent learning of writing skill, teachers can take advantage of the ICT in which students can work collaboratively online to complete their given writing assignments by discussing, giving peer feedback, gathering ideas, etc Besides, teachers can actively notice and assist punctually 104 APPENDIX B.4 TRANSCRIPT (Interviewer-F4) Interviewer-Question 1: According to your understanding, what does “learner autonomy” generally mean? F4: This term has appeared in our educational field recent years as a new pedagogical trend I think that learner autonomy talks about learners‟ independent thoughts and behaviors in their own learning This term does not totally mean learner will learn alone but this person needs to cooperate with his friends or even with his teachers Learner autonomy, according to my assumption, is not simply an in-born characteristic but more than that, it is a daily developmental process and effort Interviewer-Question 2: What are the characteristics of an ideal autonomous learner under your viewpoints? F4: According to my discovery and personal opinion, an ideal autonomy learner is a kind of person who is always active and ready to learn independently without waiting for teachers‟ instructions For example, he must all homework actively even in the case his teacher does not assign it Besides, this is a person knowing how to work collaboratively with his classmates 105 Interviewer-Question 3: In learning writing, is it necessary for high school students to learn autonomously? Why (not) F4: The fact shows that almost all the high school students are incapable of producing a writing paragraph accurately and coherently In addition, although writing, according to me, is an extremely necessary language skill, especially when these students enter tertiary institutions immersing a plenty of academic writing tasks and assignments, it receives its little attention by the students It is necessary for them to actively manage their writing learning at home like selecting a familiar topic, planning ideas on it and drafting or even revising on their own Until the students develop their strong autonomy, they can actively complete any writing topics Interviewer-Question 4: What are benefits of promoting learner autonomy in writing learning? F4: Developing learner autonomy can enhance writing ability since the students at that time can plan ideas, organize, and monitor writing steps smoothly Interviewer-Question 5: Is it possible to foster learner autonomy in your writing class? Why (not)? F4: For my view, I consider that no matter what schooling systems are, learner autonomy can be somehow possible at writing class In other words, it can be in my class provided that my students have to find writing skill important by themselves and they need to be more hardworking in preparing writing lessons, practicing further writing topics outside class 106 Interviewer-Question 6: What are advantages in fostering their high school students’ autonomous learning capacity of writing skill? F4: Let me see First, students have a plenty of learning strategies for them to keep learning writing skill autonomously, providing that they must identify the most appropriate strategies to their own pace, interest and need Second, I feel that many of my high school students are smart and agile If teachers encourage them positively, it is certain that they can learn writing better Interviewer-Question 7: What are difficulties and challenges in fostering your students’ autonomy in EFL writing learning? F4: My barriers I face derive from different sources such as students, curriculum, instructional materials, and even myself To specify my conclusion, I will describe them First, most of high school students are those who are not as decisive and motivated as university students They are really slack, and indifferent to their writing improvement To add on this point, this student group‟ vocabulary and grammar sources and social knowledge really challenge both teacher‟s and students‟ effort to get teaching and learning writing more active and independent For the curriculum and teaching materials, high school teachers including me are always responsible for accomplishing ELT curriculum demand and rely primarily on the textbooks compiled by the Vietnamese MOET Furthermore, English teachers at high school context are basically stuck in schooling duties excluding personal factors Thus, it is sure that not many teachers intentionally think about it excluding spending time on it Commonly, fostering learner autonomy in writing skill at the high school context is not at all easy 107 Interviewer-Question 8: What roles you think teachers should fulfill to foster their students’ autonomous learning of writing skill effectively? F4: I consider that high school teachers should perform a flexible role set such as a guide, a facilitator, a tutor but the knowledge provider is more important and impossible to be absent To stress this point, we cannot throw them into the river and ask them to swim without teaching how to swim By anyway, high school teachers should instruct students how to write and manage the writing process rather than providing language input primarily Interviewer-Question 9: In your opinion, what approaches should be implemented to foster learner autonomy in your writing class? F4: According to my viewpoint, the best approach to foster high school students‟ autonomous EFL writing learning is that we should guide these students writing steps from brainstorming ideas, drafting to finalizing the writing composition Until they familiarize this writing process, they can take control of their writing behaviors actively and quickly 108 APPENDIX B.5 TRANSCRIPT (Interviewer-M5) Interviewer-Question 1: According to your understanding, what does “learner autonomy” generally mean? M5: Learner autonomy can be a positive learning attitude in which learners have to take their responsibility for their own learning such as setting up learning goals, making efforts, experiencing and accomplishing all learning activities by themselves Interviewer-Question 2: What are the characteristics of an ideal autonomous learner under your viewpoints? M5: From my previous knowledge and experience, I can postulate that an ideal autonomous learner is a person who first believes in his or her own learning capacity and in the good outcome of efforts and constant struggling with learning difficulties and problems Secondly, this is a person of actively and creatively taking their responsibility for clarifying learning goal, pursuing it, selecting learning resources and approaches, and even evaluating his deed In general, he or she must be a strategic learner in all circumstances Interviewer-Question 3: In writing skill, is it necessary for high school students to learn autonomously? Why (not)? M5: Indeed, learners need to learn more actively and autonomously outside the classroom so as to be a possibly good writer, handling any given writing topics Writing is a vital language skill to any English learners What they have been taught at school is only a basis of language forms, writing genres Thus, they must take up time to practice and control their writing process fluently 109 Interviewer-Question 4: What are benefits of promoting learner autonomy in writing learning? F5: Through development of learner autonomy, the students can learn and practice writing skills actively In fact, until they learn writing autonomously, they can cope with different writing topics and requirements in hand Interviewer-Question 5: Is it possible to foster learner autonomy in your writing class? Why (not)? M5: I think that it is uneasy to boost my students‟ writing autonomous learning It stems from many factual things such as teachers, learners, curriculum, materials, etc By anyway, it should be necessarily important to help them become more creative and active in learning writing, not only at school but also at home Thus, in reality, I usually adapt and supplement writing tasks under the same topic for my students to write after class And, it is actually challenging task Interviewer-Question 6: What are advantages in fostering their high school students’ autonomous learning capacity of writing skill? M5: The first advantage is that I have a strong desire to change the writing class atmosphere since I become an English teacher here I want my students to write English confidently no matter how it is good or not According to my viewpoint, until they are more confident and motivated, they can be better in writing performance The second advantage is that I can take advantage of information technology to modify my existing teaching approaches and make my students participate more in writing activities inside classroom 110 Interviewer-Question 7: What are difficulties and challenges in fostering your students’ autonomy in EFL writing learning? M5: I find out a lot of difficulties when doing this domain A list of them includes high school students‟ laziness and unwillingness to learn and practice and expend time for writing skill on their own By straight words, they seem to be much reliant on their teachers but lack of their own motivation and activeness In another line, time allocation for each writing period in particular and for the whole curriculum in common is actually too short Simply, covering all writing tasks in the textbooks takes up the allocated time So, I and possibly other teachers can be in pressure to support my students to enhance their self-study capacity as teachers cannot be absent in this issue By anyway, as a novice teacher and being concerned about this thing, I expect that high school students should gradually improve their independence of writing learning Interviewer-Question 8: What roles you think teachers should fulfill to foster their students’ autonomous learning of writing skill effectively? M5: Inferring from the training program at my university, I believe that flexibility in roles will manifest students‟ learning writing at any school level Therefore, the role of a knowledge transmitter and of a facilitator should be flexibly combined In specific, language teachers foremost build up writing knowledge to their high school students, but then must give chances for them develop their writing skill by themselves I favor and believe in the proverb “A picture worths a thousand words An ounce of image is worth a pound of performance” In other words, instead of directly providing knowledge of grammar and structures for writing solely, teachers need to encourage their students writing more and more 111 Interviewer-Question 9: In your opinion, what approaches should be implemented to foster learner autonomy in your writing class? M5: I assume that high school teachers can use portfolios as an effective the best way to help their students to control, assess and regulate their own writing behaviors As far as I know, this tool helps students review their commonly incurred mistakes, self-evaluate their writing performance Overally, this makes high school students become more autonomous writers 112 APPENDIX B.6 TRANSCRIPT (Interviewer-F6) Interviewer-Question 1: According to your understanding, what does “learner autonomy” generally mean? F6: Based on my glance at this topic, I assume that learner autonomy is a development and exercise of such independent things during the students‟ learning as clarifying their learning goals, selecting specific learning actions, or even self-evaluating what to be done It means that learner autonomy is a synonym of self-study Interviewer-Question 2: What are the characteristics of an ideal autonomous learner under your viewpoints? F6: Basically, an ideal autonomous learner is one who is active and responsible not only for learning process and outcomes, but learning materials, learning ways, all of them Interviewer-Question 3: In learning writing skill, is it necessary for high school students to learn autonomously? Why (not)? F6: Writing is a difficult and complicated process since it summons several aspects such as language input, ideas, organization, etc If only doing some controlled writing exercises at school, the high school students certainly fail to become a good writer of at least a short paragraph So, these students should learn this productive skill autonomously in lieu of passively waiting to be taught by their teachers Interviewer-Question 4: What are benefits of promoting learner autonomy in writing learning? F6: Fostering learner autonomy may help students more independent in their writing learning through self-planning, self-controlling and self-evaluating their writing performance via different steps such as idea brainstorming, organization and revision, etc 113 Interviewer-Question 5: Is it possible to foster learner autonomy in your writing class? Why (not)? F6: From experience and reality, I think that getting my students more autonomous in their writing learning is very difficult and it faces a set of challenges Most especially, it takes too much time to train students to become autonomous learners Interviewer-Question 6: What are advantages in fostering their high school students’ autonomous learning capacity of writing skill? F6: I think that the biggest advantage is that high school students can exploit the Internet with different useful referential sources for their independent learning outside class Through ICT application, they can learn writing in many ways maximum, within themselves or with their friends, even learn with foreigners Besides, at high school context, writing skill only stops at one-paragraph level so that high school students can autonomously learn without being much apprehensive and this is a basic level for them to develop writing performance gradually Interviewer-Question 7: What are difficulties and challenges in fostering your students’ autonomy in EFL writing learning? F6: Advantages seem few but difficulties I confront in fostering learner autonomy in writing learning may be several To begin with, I personally lack time to seek and develop extra resources to scaffold students‟ learning outside classroom In writing class, I have to follow the prescribed ELT curriculum and textbooks Of course, it is undeniable that most of the writing tasks only are for consolidating the learnt vocabulary, grammar and text structures For my students, their attributes can hardly help them much increase learner autonomy of this difficult skill Almost all are lazy, ignorant, too low language proficiency and cognition levels I cannot keep track of their writing acts outside the class Interviewer-Question 8: What roles you think teachers should fulfill to foster their students’ autonomous learning of writing skill effectively? 114 F6: I totally believe that a flexible combination between a direct knowledge transmitter and an active facilitator enables high school students learn writing as more autonomously as possible However, the role of a knowledge transmitter should still be prioritized first Teachers have a responsibility to foster learner autonomy because self-study does not mean we let students alone, whatever they like but to prepare the students to be ready to develop their ability Interviewer-Question 9: In your opinion, what approaches should be implemented to foster learner autonomy in your writing class? F6: From my understandings, I suggest that high school teachers should apply the ICT for their writing teaching For examples, they can design creative writing tasks by the ICT, or they can use the ICT to facilitate group work among students like online feedback ... in EFL writing learning? R-Q.2: How the high school teachers at Phuoc Kien High School believe in the feasibility of fostering learner autonomy in EFL writing learning? 1.4 Significance of the. .. i STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I certify that this thesis entitled ? ?Teachers’ Beliefs in the Necessity and Feasibility of Fostering Learner Autonomy in EFL Writing Learning at Phuoc Kien High School? ??... of fostering learner autonomy in writing learning Secondly, the findings also pointed out that only a half of the teachers positively viewed that fostering learner autonomy in writing skill at