Language learner agency

Why and how it matters

Xuesong (Andy) Gao
School of Education University of New South Wales
xuesong.gao@unsw.edu.au
 Language learner agency
Outline

Learner agency as a pedagogical focus

What is learner agency

Language teachers’ practices and reflections

The ecology of learner agency

Promoting learner agency

Concluding messages

#ELTOC2021
 Learner agency as a pedagogical
focus

English language educators are committed to:

Helping language learners Maximizing their potential and

to make a difference in becoming lifelong learners
their lives

#ELTOC2021
 Learner agency as a pedagogical
focus

Language learners and teachers need to respond:

Challenges and Negotiate complex

opportunities within and contextual process to
beyond the classroom create enabling conditions

#ELTOC2021
 Learner agency as a pedagogical
focus

The development of agentic language learners as an educational goal

Learners are subjects Learners need to believe that they can

who can act rather make a difference to their learning
than objects who are (Sarah Mercer)
acted upon
(Andy Gao)

#ELTOC2021
 Learner agency as a pedagogical
focus

Language teachers as enablers

Language teachers who promote

learner agency recognize that they do
not only teach language, they also teach
learners (Diane Larsen-Freeman)

#ELTOC2021
 What is learner agency?

Agency: feeling of ownership and sense of control over learning

#ELTOC2021 Image credit: Learner Agency Position Paper / OUP

 What is learner agency?

Agency: feeling of ownership and sense of control over learning

Take
Have a initiative Seize and create
growth opportunities
mindset
Agentic language
learners Take risks
Can adapt and
persevere Confident and
resilient

#ELTOC2021
 What is learner agency?

Agency and its related but distinct concepts:

Learner autonomy, self-directed learning, self-efficacy, self-regulated learning, self-
access and self-learning

#ELTOC2021
 What is learner agency?

Agency and its related but distinct concepts:

Learner autonomy, self-directed learning, self-efficacy, self-regulated learning, self-
access and self-learning

Agency is the root and these concepts are all expressions of

agency

#ELTOC2021
 What is learner agency?

Agency and its related but distinct concepts:

Learner autonomy, self-directed learning, self-efficacy, self-regulated learning, self-
access and self-learning

Agency is the root and these concepts are all expressions of

agency

Agency vs. Autonomy: Multidimensional (intrapersonal and

environmental aspects) vs. individual

#ELTOC2021
 What is learner agency?

Agency and its related but distinct concepts:

Learner autonomy, self-directed learning, self-efficacy, self-regulated learning, self-
access and self-learning

Agency is the root and these concepts are all expressions of

agency
Agency vs. Autonomy: Multidimensional (intrapersonal and
environmental aspects) vs. individual
Agency relates to a socially connected learner

#ELTOC2021
 What is learner agency?

Agency and its related but distinct concepts:

Learner autonomy, self-directed learning, self-efficacy, self-regulated learning, self-
access and self-learning

Agency is the root and these concepts are all expressions of

agency
Agency vs. Autonomy: Multidimensional (intrapersonal and
environmental aspects) vs. individual
Agency relates to a socially connected learner

Agency is invited and nurtured in relations with other

#ELTOC2021
 What is learner agency?

Important considerations in developing learner agency

#ELTOC2021 Image credit: Learner Agency Position Paper / OUP

 What is learner agency?

Important considerations in developing learner agency

• Curriculum
• Lesson objectives
Context: • Course content
a critical role • the roles of teachers and learners
• Activities, feedback and
assessment

#ELTOC2021
 What is learner agency?

Important considerations in developing learner agency

• Other pedagogical activities:

maintaining classroom
Language teachers interaction, engaging language
learners

• Characteristics
Language learners • Prior experiences etc.

#ELTOC2021
 Language teachers’ practices and
reflections

Teaching practices with high learner agency

Invite students to set learning goals

Students generate learning content
Learning-centred teaching
Teaching responds to emerging learning situations
Principled use of a language other than English
#ELTOC2021
 Language teachers’ practices and
reflections
Teaching practices with high learner agency

Invite students to set learning goals

Students generate learning content
Learning-centred teaching
Teaching responds to emerging learning situations
Principled use of a language other than English
#ELTOC2021
 Language teachers’ practices and
reflections

Teaching practices with high learner agency

Invite students to set learning goals

Students generate learning content
Learning-centred teaching
Teaching responds to emerging learning situations
Principled use of a language other than English
#ELTOC2021
 Language teachers’ practices and
reflections

Teaching practices with high learner agency

Invite students to set learning goals

Students generate learning content
Learning-centred teaching
Teaching responds to emerging learning situations
Principled use of a language other than English
#ELTOC2021
 Language teachers’ practices and
reflections
Teaching practices with high learner agency

Invite students to set learning goals

Students generate learning content
Learning-centred teaching
Teaching responds to emerging learning situations
Principled use of a language other than English
#ELTOC2021
 Language teachers’ practices and
reflections
Teaching practices with high learner agency

Open-ended activities
Students form learning communities
Teachers and learners explore answers together
Learner-driven feedback
Student teaches (reciprocal teaching)
Etc.
#ELTOC2021
 Language teachers’ practices and
reflections

Teaching practices with high learner agency

Open-ended activities
Students form learning communities
Teachers and learners explore answers together
Learner-driven feedback
Student teaches (reciprocal teaching)
Etc.
#ELTOC2021
 Language teachers’ practices and
reflections

Teaching practices with high learner agency

Open-ended activities
Students form learning communities
Teachers and learners explore answers together
Learner-driven feedback
Student teaches (reciprocal teaching)
Etc.
#ELTOC2021
 Language teachers’ practices and
reflections

Teaching practices with high learner agency

Open-ended activities
Students form learning communities
Teachers and learners explore answers together
Learner-driven feedback
Student teaches (reciprocal teaching)
Etc.
#ELTOC2021
 Language teachers’ practices and
reflections

Teaching practices with high learner agency

Open-ended activities
Students form learning communities
Teachers and learners explore answers together
Learner-driven feedback
Student teaches (reciprocal teaching)
Etc.
#ELTOC2021
 Language teachers’ practices and
reflections
Teaching practices with high learner agency

Encourage students to reflect on their learning progress

Motivate teachers to reflect on their teaching practices

#ELTOC2021
 The ecology of learner agency

Learner agency as situated phenomenon

#ELTOC2021 Image credit: Learner Agency Position Paper / OUP

 The ecology learner agency

Stakeholders

Policymakers

School
Students
Teaching leaders

Parents Teacher
educators

#ELTOC2021
 The ecology of learner agency

Beliefs and attitudes

• all learners have the ability to learn and
Growth mindset succeed

Mutually respectful • community building and agency

relationship development

Value outside school • synergize formal learning and informal

learning learning

Develop a set of common • build positive collective agency for learners

principles and teachers

#ELTOC2021
 The ecology of learner agency

Teaching materials

• as mediator between materials and learners

Teachers
• as active users of teaching materials
Learners • as creators of (digital) materials

Innovation • multimodal learning resources

• promote and facilitate learning by inquiry

Activities
#ELTOC2021
 The ecology of learner agency

Affordances: learning opportunities perceived by

language learners
Learner agency can be compared to chess. While a
chessboard provides a novice chess player exactly the
same physical opportunities as it does a grandmaster, a
novice will not initially perceive many of the possible
game moves. However, over time, the novice’s
awareness of possible moves will gradually improve.
(Paul Driver)

#ELTOC2021
 Promoting learner agency

Challenges for promoting learner agency

Cultural and social • cultures of learning
expectations

Teacher development

Individual differences of • age, experience, knowledge of English,

language learners attitudes, learner diversity

Contextual conditions and • physical conditions and material

resources resources, high-stakes tests
#ELTOC2021
 Promoting learner agency

Possible solutions

• Engaging students with popular

Cultural and social beliefs explicitly through discussion
expectations or in search for alternatives

• teacher-led inquiry groups, action

Teacher research, exploratory practice
development

#ELTOC2021
 Promoting learner agency

Possible solutions

• developing tailor made, appropriate

Individual differences practices for different students
of language learners

Contextual • divide a big class into smaller groups

• use technologies to promote interaction
conditions and
resources
#ELTOC2021
 Concluding messages

Learners with a sense of their own agency are more likely

to be engaged and invested in their language learning

Teachers play an essential role in facilitating the

development of learner agency by providing
opportunities for students to exercise and enhance their
agency
#ELTOC2021
 Concluding messages

Learners with a sense of their own agency are more likely

to be engaged and invested in their language learning

Teachers play an essential role in facilitating the

development of learner agency by providing
opportunities for students to exercise and enhance their
agency
#ELTOC2021
 Concluding messages

Agency does not reside solely in the learner but is

negotiated and supported by all stakeholders in an
ecology

Students who develop agency are prepared not only for

success as language learners but also for the challenges
and opportunities in life beyond the classroom, in the
present and the future
#ELTOC2021
 Concluding messages

Agency does not reside solely in the learner but is

negotiated and supported by all stakeholders in an
ecology

Students who develop agency are prepared not only for

success as language learners but also for the challenges
and opportunities in life beyond the classroom, in the
present and the future
#ELTOC2021
 Concluding messages

#ELTOC2021 Image credit: Learner Agency Position Paper / OUP

 Learner Agency:
Maximizing Learner Potential
Nurture independent learners with our upcoming position paper on
Learner Agency - available end of March 2021!
• Encourage a lifelong investment in learning.
• Nurture engaged, confident, and self-directed learners.
• Support independent learning, both remotely and in class.

Download all our

position papers at
www.oup.com/elt/expert

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