Autonomy-Based Listening: Vietnamese University Students’ Perceptions of Self-Access Web-Based Listening Practices

Abstract

Self-access language learning (SALL) can promote autonomy among language learners. It is a practical means for creating comfortable, personalized environments in which learners can take a more active part in making decisions and choices in their language learning trajectories. In the domain of second language (L2) listening, self-access work can fulfill the individual needs of learners whose listening processes are supposed to be respected. However, in countries where English is taught as a foreign language (EFL), this is not always the case due to traditional teacher-led large-sized listening classrooms and test-oriented curricula. Therefore, the present study was designed to investigate Vietnamese students’ perceptions of a self-access listening platform (SALP) which was built to facilitate L2 beginners to get familiar with the fast delivery of speech and to involve their personal interpretations of the input into the comprehension process. The study also aimed to examine whether this self-access approach can cultivate autonomous listening. Qualitative data were gathered through interviews with 15 non-English major university students whose disciplines were business management, marketing, communication, and public relations. They completed a six-week listening course on this online listening platform. The major findings indicate that students had positive listening experiences with the SALP regarding time flexibility and practicality. Despite students’ full awareness of the potential benefits of the SALP, a few of them still showed resistance to the self-access listening approach as a substitution for traditional classroom-based listening. The results reported here shed new light on the possibilities of implementing autonomy-based listening in a virtual self-access environment in L2 listening pedagogy.