Group dynamics as stimuli to motivate and sustain the autonomy of the learners in English: An experimental design of an ELT module to challenge the challenges: motivation, learner autonomy, and their sustenance

Abstract

This study endeavours to investigate the precision and potential of group dynamics to motivate and to establish learner autonomy in adult L2 learners, undertaken in 2010 among 491 undergraduate students of the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Moratuwa. The emerging field of interest of scholars on group psychology, motivation: the major psychological influence of learners and learner autonomy which encompasses the establishment of self determined strategies and measures of individual learning provide the base of the theoretical foundation of the study. Having kept that triplet of theories in the spinal, the researcher develops a module for undergraduates and the experiment (Slumber Lost Group Approach) undertakes for a term of study. The responses of a sample of students who happened to undergo the module are used to analyse the competence of the module while the analysis is done keeping the qualitative significance of data. Tuckman‟s stages of group development (1965), Gardner (1985) and others‟ motivational theory on L2 context and Oxford‟s model for understanding learner autonomy (2003) are used to interpret findings, keeping the ethical obligation of the research. The study investigates the potential precision of group dynamics for motivating and sustaining learner autonomy with evidence and concludes proving the impending significance of Slumber Lost group approach for learner motivation. Further, the study reveals the changing role of material input and instruction (teacher) in the prospective milieu of small group teaching. The study is expected to be a cornerstone for further research on the potential of a positive approach to innovative methodologies for ELT.