Abstract:
Developing independent study skills (the characteristics of how to be effective learners from students' perspective) have been a major area of interest in foreign language teaching (FLT) for many years. The concepts "autonomous learning", "learner autonomy", "independent study skills" and "transferable skills" started to be used widely in ELT context with the advent of student-centered approaches to language teaching. Autonomous learning can be fostered step by step in the correctly organized learning environment and it is built on promoting learners independency and addressing learner needs focusing on developing learner responsibility and transferable skills in the safe zone of language classroom where students learn strategies how to become effective learners; The more these concepts widely spread in different disciplines, the more their definitions become multiply meaningful in the respective contexts. However, there might appear confusion or misconception while it comes to interpreting the concept of "Independent study" into Uzbek ELT context where we are used to understanding period of time when learners are alone, mainly out of classroom environment. Independent study skills are defined as prerequiresite skills for enhancing learning which any individual leaner finds beneficial to their learning purposes out of the classroom not necessarily without teacher's support and instruction as it used to be interpreted. This article defines what independent study in Uzbek ELT context are and discusses the role of independent study in current ELT PRESETT curriculum and the essence of the developing of sociolinguistic competence of future English teachers as a part of communicative competence.
|