This qualitative inquiry delves into the reconceptualization of language learner agency within the context of interactive online classes, a setting that has become increasingly prevalent in the post-pandemic era. The study aims to comprehend how language learners exercise their agency in response to changes in the learning environment and to identify the challenges and opportunities that the new online context presents for enhancing learner agency. Informed by an integrated framework on language learner agency and drawing on life-story interviews with students and teachers at a public university in China, this study addresses the research question in regard of the three components of agency: noticing, awareness, and action, in relation to both resources and constraints from two structural layers: institutional setting and situated activity. The research reveals that learners demonstrated a weakened ability to act and control outcomes due to insufficient awareness of the resources and constraints associated with online actions. The study proposes a refined model of language learner agency that features a bidirectional cycle of agency enactment and a dynamic interplay between resources and constraints. The findings offer valuable insights for strengthening language learner agency in the evolving landscape of online education.
Lin et al. (Fri,) studied this question.