Dr. Maria Oh, Jeonju National University of Education

How some pre-service teachers experienced classroom-English learning with their autonomy advocate-teacher.

Presentation Outline:

This action report study aims to report how a group of Korean pre-service teachers experienced autonomy-based classroom-English learning and teaching at their English Teaching Methodology class in 2008. Two main data-collection sources were individual interviews and a class observation report. Two preliminary findings emerged: (1) Most pre-service teachers became more aware of the importance of autonomy to practice and use English in their daily lives; (2) Most pre-service teachers stated that they became more confident to practice and use classroom English while they took the English Teaching Methodology class.

Biography:

Maria Oh has been teaching English over twenty years mostly at colleges located in Korea. After finishing her PhD dissertation on learner autonomy theory and practice, her current research interests are how to integrate learner autonomy theory into English classes for Korean learners, how to integrate technology into English teaching/learning and how to relate teacher autonomy and learner autonomy at Korean English education settings.