ESL Practitioners’ Autonomy: A Comparative Study of School, College and University Instructors in Pakistan.

Abstract

Teacher’s autonomy is an aspect of the pedagogical process which highly affects a teacher’s performance not only at school and college but also at university level. Teachers being in direct contact with their pupils know them better than administration. Hence, they are in better position to take decisions about the student related matters as course contents, medium of assessment etc. Teachers deal with many challenges as learners of different abilities and administration of their institution. With a focus on ESL instructors, this study intends to reveal the practices related to teachers’ autonomy support, their workplace environment and their classroom practices related to language learners to shed light on the challenges faced by them in this process. In this research, three experienced teachers working at the school, college and university were interviewed. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to find out the extent to which the teachers have autonomy in terms of pedagogical matters and in terms of their relationship with administrative bodies. They were also asked the extent to which they help their learners become autonomous. Thus the aim of the present study is to find out that at what level; primary, secondary or tertiary ESL practitioners have more autonomy. This factor is in need to be investigated to provide a better insight into the prevailing situation of academic discourse community in Pakistan. Hence, understanding the present situation may provide a direction for proposing applicable suggestions because the teachers’ autonomy is one of the important factors affecting the learning of language learners.