Enhancing EFL Students’ Autonomous Learning of English Conversation During COVID-19 Via Language-in-talk Log Assignments

This one-group pre- and post-test quasi-experimental study endeavored to investigate whether learner autonomy was developed with implementing language-in-talk log assignments as a monitored self-study task in a university English conversation course (890-020 English Conversation). Eighty-eight Thai second-year undergraduate accounting majors at Prince of Songkla University (PSU), Hat Yai, Thailand took part in the study. The participants completed 10 language-in-talk log assignments over 10 weeks. A pre- and post-questionnaire was administered before and after the intervention to examine the effect of the log assignments in developing participants' learner autonomy. The reflective log was also used to gather participants' perceptions of using the log assignments in a conversation course. The results showed that the language-in-talk log assignments aided in enhancing the students' learner autonomy to set learning goals, select appropriate learning materials, take responsibility, and evaluate their learning. Seeking social assistance, however, did not have a significant difference in mean scores, and participants expressed dissatisfaction over not being able to interact with their peers as in classroom learning. The findings further highlighted the significance of teachers' presence in scaffolding learners to achieve full autonomy. Overall, the results from this research supported the use of the log assignment as a potential pedagogical tool to enable learners to be responsible for their own learning in a language course.