Date of Award
9-20-2010
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education (EdD)
Department
Educational Leadership
First Advisor
T. Barrett
Abstract
The intent of the qualitative research was to investigate if students experience self-directedness when taking foreign language classes at the college level. The research was based on learners' perspectives of the phenomenon both verifying the use of self-directedness among learners and understanding the paradigms of self-direction. Guided by scholarly research, the construct elements for the research were a) Characteristics of Instruction, b) Characteristic of Learner, and c) Self-Directedness. Four groups of students were identified in the study. Individual students' interview responses revealed that their perceived needs varied according to their degree seeking and career goals. Interview data combined with scores in the Self-Directed Learning Readiness Scale - SDLRS (Guglielmino, 1977) survey concluded, though, that the higher the interest students had in foreign language studies, the higher the score in the SDLRS survey was. The higher the score in the Self-Directed Leaning Readiness Scale survey, the more students experienced self-direction when learning a foreign language.
Recommended Citation
Moreira, Sueid Fauaze, "Self-Directedness in Foreign Language Learners: A Phenomenological Study of College Students and Foreign Language Instructors" (2010). Theses and Dissertations. 243.
https://research.ualr.edu/etd/243
