LEARNER’S AUTONOMY: A CRITICAL STUDY AND RESEARCH PARADIGM FOR ELT CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT IN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO HIGHER EDUCATION

Abstract

Autonomy in learning has been viewed by many scholars in 21^st as an approach enabling to hold the power or right to regulate, control and govern own learning activities. The idea of autonomy is fundamental to liberal philosophies which see the central goal of self-improvement as the development of independent minds and hence the capacity for independent action. The Latter traces back its origin in ancient Greek philosophy in the idea of self-mastery and determination for both Plato and Aristotle in Nicomachean Ethics (1166a 17-19). However, this approach is still a debatable subject when a critic scholar comes to evaluate its application in ELT. Teachers in DRC still play dominant role; hence, learners’ autonomy toward decision-making and problem -solving is still ignored. The latter spend 11 years in ELT Class learning from secondary school to university but unable to communicate in English. The present paper has raised the question of how to improve English Language Teaching and learning curriculum from Teacher to Learner Self-directed learning toward communicative competence .To answer to this question, the study has applied qualitative research grounded classroom observation, focused groups interviews, and learners’ self-directed tasks based learning exercises, video-filming tasks performance and learning theories criticism. As a result, this pilot study has found that developing learning autonomy in English language teaching and learning not only improves significantly learner’s self-governance, but also self-improvement toward communicative language competence. Therefore, to promote language learning climate, teachers are recommended to provide variety of communicative language activities to promote independently learners own learning.

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