Student’s full name: __________________________ Student ID number:__________________________

LEARNER AUTONOMY - MIDTERM TEST

Time allowed: 45 minutes
For questions 1-7, match what the learner does with the learning strategies listed A-D. You need to use
some options more than once.
LEARNING STRATEGIES
A. Taking risks
B. Getting organised
C. Judging your own performance
D. Working with others
WHAT THE LEARNER DOES
1. The learner collects new vocabulary on cards and then sorts the cards into topics.
2. The learner paraphrases to say something beyond his level of language.
3. The learner guesses an unknown word from the context.
4. The learner compares a recent composition with an old one, to see if she has made progress.
5. The learner decides to buy a dictionary for use at home.
6. The learner solves a problem with his classmate.
7. The learner records herself reading aloud and then listen to the recording to see if her pronunciation is good.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

For questions 8-15, below are areas of advice for students who need to develop autonomy. Match the
areas of advice to the statements.
Areas of advice for students
A. goals
B. time frames
C. materials
D. help
E. learning style
F. progress
G. revision
H. learning systems

Statements
8. You will need this sometimes, so don’t be afraid to come and ask for it.
9. This has got to be done regularly. We’ll do some in class, but you also need to do your own.
10. A good way to start is by finding out what is available in the library and the learning centre – not just books, but also
computer programmes and things off the internet.
11. You need two lots of these – ones that you can reach in a short space of time and others, bigger ones that will take
you longer to reach, for example studying at an English-speaking university.
12. You need to think about setting up ones that work for you, for example, the best way for you to record vocabulary so
that you’ll remember it.
13. These need to be realistic in relation to your learning goals.
14. I’m not asking you to change this, but you sometimes need to be a bit flexible about the way you study language.
15. It’s just as important to know when this has been made as it is to realise what you don’t know yet.

8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

For questions 16-20, match the problems teachers have with motivating their students with the
corresponding behaviour:
PROBLEMS
A. The teacher forgets that most students want to learn rather than just have fun.
B. The teacher’s voice is monotonous.
C. The teacher misjudges the interests of the students.
D. The teacher is too strict with the students.
E. The teacher has poor eye contact with students.
BEHAVIOUR:
16. The teacher enters the classroom and looks at the learners over the top of her glasses without saying anything. She
looks a bit angry and waits until all students are quiet. She then questions them in a loud voice.
17. The teacher enters the classroom, looks quickly at the students and immediately opens the course book. She asks
students to do the same thing. The teacher doesn’t look at her learners and questions them about the material in the
course book.
18. The teacher tells a joke in class. The students don’t really understand it, but the teacher laughs loudly anyway.
19. The teacher talks for a long time and never caries the pitch and tone of her voice
20. The teacher creates a lot of fun activities to help motivate her learners. She even makes a cake once a week so they
can have morning tea together in class.
16 17 18 19 20

For questions 21-26:

Match the problems with the corresponding solutions. It may be possible to match more than one problem
to a solution.
PROBLEMS
A. The teacher forgets that most students want to learn rather than just have fun.
B. The teacher’s voice is monotonous.
C. The teacher misjudges the interests of the students.
D. The teacher is too strict with the students.
E. The teacher has poor eye contact with students.
POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS:
21. Ask a colleague to observe you and give you feedback.
22. Ask a colleague to video record your lesson and watch yourself.
23. Use a cassette player and record your lesson – listen to your voice on the tape.
24. Think about using gesture and facial expression more to make information clear to learners.
25. Find out from your students what interests and motivates them.
26. Begin each lesson with an informal chat with your students.
21 22 23 24 25 26

Questions 27 to 31:
Below are key ideas associated with learner autonomy. Match the ideas to the explanations.
KEY IDEAS
A. Learning time
B. Students’ individual needs
C. Students’ motivation
D. Students’ general study ability
E. Students’ individual responsibility for learning
EXPLANATIONS
27. Some students may have had little or no training on how to study any subject in an effective way, so English
language teachers will need to help them with useful strategies.
28. If students have a sense of ownership of their English language learning, they are likely to want to study more.
29. Teachers cannot hope to teach students absolutely everything they need to know so a good part of the learning is up
to the student.
30. Students are outside the classroom more than they are inside it and need strategies to help them use their own time
productively.
31. When students are working in a group they cannot hope to always do the things they like doing or need to do. They
have to consider other students needs too.
27 28 29 30 31

Questions 32-40:
Complete the following definition, using ONE word in each space:
 Learning (32)_______________ are the ways in which a learner naturally prefers to take in, process and remember
information and skills. Our learning style influences how we like to learn and how we learn (33)_______________.
Experts have suggested several different ways of classifying learning styles. They relate to the (34)_______________
sense we prefer to use to learn, our way of interacting with other people and our style of thinking.
 Learning (35)_______________ are the ways chosen and used by learners to learn language. They include ways to
help ourselves identify what we need to learn, process new language and work with other people to learn. Using the
right strategy at the right time can help us learn the language better, and help to make us more independent or
(36)_______________ learners.
 Learner (37)_______________ involves helping learners understand the process of learning both inside and outside
the (38)_______________. It means that they begin to acknowledge that they have a large (39)_______________
to play in their own learning. It also allows learners to understand what their needs are and to set
(40)_______________ for themselves.

THE END OF THE TEST