Perceptions of ESL Teachers about Learners’ Autonomy: A Comparative Study of Public and Private Schools

Learner’s autonomy, ESL learners, Comparative analysis, Teacher’s perception, Institutes

Abstract

Learners’ autonomy is the independence of an individual while exposing to a new language or learning content. English as a second language (ESL) learners need to be autonomous in their ways of learning to feel relaxed and comfortable. The present study aims at exploring the perception of teachers of Private and Public Schools in Pakistan about the autonomy of ESL learners. The study posed a research objective; to explore the perception of teachers about ESL learners’ autonomy at Private and Public Schools in Pakistan and to compare the perception of private and public sector teachers about learners’ autonomy in order to carry out the research and the theoretical foundation of the study lays in the Grounding theory of Glaser and Strauss (1967). The findings of the study suggest that ESL learners are not autonomous in their learning at Private and Public schools in Pakistan because they are bound to certain rules and regulations of the institutes where they learn which needs to be reduced. It also concludes that some of Private schools give somehow autonomy to their teachers to help students in becoming autonomous in ESL learning.