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 本研究通过对三本英语作为外语教学教材的内容分析（content analysis），以及对六位使用该教材的教师的访谈，探讨了教材在英语作为外语教学中对提升学习者自主性（learner autonomy）的作用。研究发现，上述教材中虽包含可潜在提升学习者自主性的活动，但此类活动数量偏少，且大多聚焦于语言学习/使用的过程，而非教学过程（didactic processes）与学习者自身。受访教师既认可教材的重要价值，也指出了其在促进学习者自主性方面存在的局限性；他们会辅以以学习者为中心的教学策略，同时指出束缚此类教学方法的教学文化仍普遍存在。本研究据此提出了一套面向教材（含其预设理念与活动设计）与教师（含其教学观念、前提假设、教学策略及制约因素）的探索性反思-行动框架，以助力学习者自主性的提升。