Teacher and Peer Supports on EFL Learners’ Autonomy

The role of teacher and peer autonomy support place great importance on boosting learners' autonomy. Meanwhile, the first agent enables students to gain the feeling of acceptance and confidence, the second one supports them to deal with challenging tasks. This current research was carried out to dip into such social agents on learners’ autonomy with three main objectives. The purpose of this study is to dip into such social agents on learners’ autonomy with three main objectives. Firstly, the role of teacher autonomy support was examined. Secondly, the role of peer autonomy support was also investigated. Lastly, the role from which side more important in enhancing EFL learners' autonomy was analyzed. A survey through distributing a questionnaire was used to collect data of 58 adolescent participants from three classes, whose age ranges from 12 to 15 years old and whose English level is intermediate in a language center in Binh Tan District, Ho Chi Minh City.

The findings revealed that both social supports played a significant role in promoting EFL learners' autonomy. However, teacher autonomy support appeared to be more important than the other. Such roles were deeply acknowledged, as teachers, we can provide students with necessary supports by applying different teaching practices or supplying suitable materials. Cultural aspects and psychological development stages need to be taken into teachers’ consideration to understand students’ behaviours in the classroom. Moreover, the role of peer is also vital to promote learners’ autonomy, which partly makes mixed ability groups become a suitable way in the class discussion.