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140 Shu-Hua Kao that differs from the more familiar teacher-oriented classroom tutors’ previous experience of. As far as the development of learner autonomy is concerned, this finding not only echoes Vygotsky’s (1978) approach that emphasises the importance of collaboration as an essential part of learning, but also reflects a collectivist aspect of learning in the tutors that is often found in East Asian contexts (Littlewood 1999). Limitations Despite the positive results derived from this study, there are at least four limitations. First, in order to obtain more in-depth information, this study focused on a small number of participants in a specific context in Taiwan, and so the potential for generalisation of the findings from this particular context to other contextual settings may be limited. Second, the study focused primarily on aspects of the development of learner autonomy, but whether the tutors’ English proficiency could be enhanced as a result of the peer tutoring experiences remains unclear and may be an area for future research. The third limitation of the study relates to the difficulty of measuring learner autonomy due to its complex and varied nature (Candy 1991; Little 1991). Although the tutors’ capacity for learner autonomy and their willingness to be autonomous language learners were employed in this research as the major indicators of the development of learner autonomy, it may be beneficial to examine how learner autonomy could be assessed in a more systematic and detailed manner. The fourth limitation of the study is linked to the design of the training course and its effectiveness. During the second interview, the tutors’ feedback on the training sessions showed that they regarded the ‘teaching methodology’ and ‘classroom management’ sessions as the most helpful ones for their teaching, while the ‘learner autonomy’ course was seen as the most valuable for their own learning. The ‘syllabus design’ session was considered to be the least practical, and one tutor regarded it as of no importance at all. This may be because the Institute had decided on the syllabus of the English course for the tutees in advance, and neither the trainer nor the tutors were involved in the decision-making process. This became a contextual limitation of the study as it had an impact on the effectiveness of the training course by taking away the opportunity for the tutors to put into practice what they learned from the syllabus design course. A questionnaire on the tutees’ level of satisfaction with the peer teaching programme was conducted after the programme and—despite Developing learner autonomy through peer teaching experiences 141 the limitations noted above—the feedback received was positive, with 93% of the tutees finding the programme helpful and 90% indicated that, if given the opportunity, they would like to attend the programme in the second semester. In addition, it was found that all the tutors would like to have the opportunity to be tutors again. Conclusion This study has found that, through the peer teaching experience, the tutors developed greater learner autonomy in at least five ways: • enhancing their sense of responsibility and motivation for their learning; • strengthening their critical awareness of their own learning; • broadening their use of English learning strategies and study skills; • increasing their confidence in their English learning; and • engaging in learning in a more collaborative fashion. These aspects are closely related to aspects of the development of the capacity for learner autonomy (e.g. increased learning and metacognitive awareness) as well as the enhancement of the learners’ willingness to be autonomous in English learning (e.g. enhanced motivation and confidence). In addition, the fact that the tutors initiated a study group for exchanging their feelings and ideas about learning different subjects indicates their willingness to learn collaboratively. Even though this research project found that the peer tutors developed elements of learner autonomy through the peer teaching experience, the study was limited due to several factors: its small-scale design; the lack of an examination of the link between the peer tutoring experience and the tutors’ improvement in English proficiency; the difficulty in measuring learner autonomy; and the lack of involvement of the trainer and tutors in the process of syllabus design. Nevertheless, the tutees’ questionnaire responses indicated that they had positive feelings about the peer teaching programme, while the tutors also provided positive feedback on their teaching experience. Although this study does present evidence of the peer tutors’ development of learner autonomy through the peer teaching experience byusinganapproachbasedmainlyonself-reflection,furtherexploration of dialogue between tutors and...

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