“SITTING BESIDE HERSELF AND IN CONVERSATION WITH HERSELF”
LEARNER – COUNSELLOR DIALOGUES ON SELF-EVALUATION

The starting point for this action-research oriented study was the need to understand and critically interpret different theoretical constructions about learner autonomy, learner beliefs and self-evaluation. Moreover, there was a need to construct knowledge about the reality of a certain learning culture, the ALMS (autonomous learning module) programme at Helsinki University Language Centre. The aim was to improve the programme by feeding in the deepening theoretical and practical understanding of the teacher-researcher into the practices of the team-based English course.

Socio-cultural approaches to second-language-acquisition research provided the framework for the analysis and interpretation of the extensive data collected during three action-research cycles. In particular, a dialogic interpretation of the research process, the language-learning environment, process and interaction, including students’ self-evaluation, was developed. A multi-method approach was used in the analysis of the thematic interviews, the discourse of the counselling sessions, the questionnaires, and counsellor e-mails. A cyclic dialogic and discursive reading technique was developed for highlighting the topics and themes related to the research issues, self-evaluation and learner beliefs, and the interindividual aspects of the interaction between learners and counsellors. Learner biographies of three ALMS learners were produced as part of and on the basis of the analysis to give a voice to the students participating in the programme.

The importance of language learners’ histories for their construction of self-evaluation, which is a new learning responsibility for most students, seemed to evolve. Counselling and counselling discourse as negotiation and dialogue about an individual learner’s process are emphasised. Different approaches to reflection and self-evaluation in terms of verbal and written discourse should be respected by counsellors to avoid unnecessary friction building up in the counselling situations. This means that self-evaluation is to be seen not as pre-formed and pre-defined replies and comments, but as jointly constructed understanding. In particular, learners’ multi-layered everyday knowledge of language should be seen as an important element in developing a working knowledge for self-evaluation. The use of authentic questions in counselling is argued for. Self-evaluation as a cyclic process in which new information is fed into the learner’s learning programme seems to offer a way of helping him or her see its relevance. The role of certain learning documents, such as the log, is to be seen as parts of a whole, not as separate entities standing alone. The practical implications for the programme are related to developing further the reflective approach to learning-to-learn adopted in the programme.

Keywords:

autonomy, beliefs, counselling, dialogue, everyday knowledge of language, foreign-language learning, learner biography, self-evaluation