| While majority of previous studies on second language acquisition tended to overlook social contexts surrounding autonomy, or merely focus on autonomy in classroom, this dissertation investigated the ways in which Japanese high school students negotiated autonomy, the capacity to take control of one's learning (Benson, 1997), in learning English as a foreign language learning (EFL) with social contexts. The Main informants were three Japanese high school students in the Tokyo metropolitan area: Two males and one female. Taking advantage of being their EFL tutor for about two months, I collected data from multiple resources, using qualitative research methods.I found that the three informants heavily focused on written texts, targeting tests even in out-of-school settings. Further analysis showed that school values were dominant, constantly regulating the students' activities in EFL learning regardless of in- or out-of-school settings. Cram schools, parents, self-learning materials strongly shaped the norm, expectations, and power structure for EFL learning. They played roles of agents to enhance the system that treated English as a neutral object, to limit equal access to EFL learning, and to create myth of "international society," which was likely the product of English hegemony.As a result, little choice was left for students to exercise their autonomy in EFL learning. I also discussed that informants' autonomy in EFL learning was a part of the their process of actively gaining advantage in a current Japanese society. It was suggested that learners and educators should enhance the degree of autonomy in language learning by raising their awareness of the social constraints of autonomy and working to improve their social contexts as responsible members of a society. |
