The Role of Textbooks for Promoting Autonomy in English Learning

ABSTRACT The present study investigates the role of textbooks for promoting learner autonomy in teaching English as a foreign language, drawing on the content analysis of three textbooks and interviews to six teachers who used them. The textbooks include activities that can potentially promote learner autonomy, although in a reduced number and mostly focused on processes of language learning/ use rather than on didactic processes and the learner’s self. The teachers acknowledge the importance of textbooks but also their limitations for promoting autonomy, use complementary learner-centred strategies, and point out the prevalence of teaching cultures that constrain this approach. An exploratory reflection-action framework for promoting autonomy emerges from the study as regards the textbook (assumptions and activities) and the teacher (conceptions, premises, strategies, and constraints.摘要：本研究以英语作为外语的教学教材为研究对象，结合内容分析法与对六位使用该类教材的教师的访谈，探讨教材在推动学习者自主性（learner autonomy）方面的作用。尽管相关活动的数量有限，且大多聚焦于语言学习/使用的过程，而非教学法过程与学习者自身，但这三本教材均包含了可潜在推动学习者自主性的教学活动。受访教师均认可教材的重要性，同时也指出其在推动自主性方面存在局限；他们会辅以以学习者为中心的教学策略，并指出制约此类教学方法的教学文化普遍存在。本研究最终提出了一套针对教材（假设前提与教学活动）与教师（教学理念、预设前提、教学策略及制约因素）的、用于推动学习者自主性的探索性反思-行动框架。