An Investigation Into EFL Learner Autonomy in a Secondary School in Debrecen

Abstract

The current paper presents an investigation into the EFL teacher’s and learners’ beliefs and practices concerning learner autonomy. The investigation was conducted in Debrecen, as a mirror research of Szőcs Krisztina’s 2016 study in the southern part of Hungary. Since Szőcs examined a secondary school that specialised in economics, a school with a similar profile — Debreceni Egyetem Balásházy János Gyakorló Középiskolája és Kollégiuma — was selected as the setting of the given research. The participants included 4 EFL teachers and 32 of their 9th grader students, who were selected to match the research design of Szőcs. The given research is significant because it allows us insight into the EFL teachers’ and learners’ beliefs, which can strongly influence the outcome of the teaching-learning process. The paper concludes by emphasizing that although both teachers and learners exhibit an overwhelmingly positive attitude towards learner autonomy — for various reasons, which are elaborated in the paper — it still does not manifest itself in actual practices. These findings are in accordance with the results of Szőcs (2016).