Teachers’ Views on Learner Autonomy of Turkish as a Foreign Language

Learner autonomy refers to an individual’s ability to take responsibility for their own learning, including setting goals, planning, selecting methods, monitoring progress, and evaluating outcomes. In modern foreign language teaching, the primary goal is to develop students' communicative competence. Instructors play a crucial role in this process, by fostering classroom environments that support learner autonomy. This study aims to investigate how teachers of Turkish as a foreign language perceive learner autonomy and how these views are reflected in their teaching practices, using a mixed-methods approach. A parallel mixed design was adopted. The quantitative sample, consisting of 64 Turkish language teachers from various provinces, was selected through criterion sampling. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS. For the qualitative part, data were gathered from focus group interviews with 15 teachers, also selected through criterion sampling. A semi-structured interview form was used, and responses were analyzed through content analysis. The findings indicated that while most instructors were aware of the concept and value of learner autonomy, they often encountered challenges in operationalizing it within classroom settings.