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Promoting learner autonomy 149
the semantic redundancies in the paragraph (e.g., the word parapher- nalia is followed by a list of items). Focus on their process of meaning- making, prompting them with questions such as, How did you come up with that?
6.2.9 Follow a slightly different procedure in helping your learners understand the author’s choice of words like transformation and propel. For instance, rewrite We live in a world of transformations to read We live in a changing world and see whether your learners notice any dif- ference. Similarly, replace we are being propelled into a global order with we are moving into a global order and ask them if and how they see the difference in meaning.
6.2.10 Finally, in order to help your students reflect on their knowl- edge and use of inferencing as a learning strategy, ask them to write a brief report recalling the thought processes that were going through their mind while working on this task in class.
Exploratory Project 6.1: Where Am I and Where Do I Want To Be?
6.1.0 As the title suggests, the objective of this project is to help you reflect on where you are right now as an individual wishing to promote learner autonomy, and where you want to be within a time period you set for yourself (one semester? one year? two years?).
6.1.1 Select any one class you recently taught. Try to recall the de- gree of learner autonomy you promoted in that class. Consider the en- tire semester (or academic year), not just one class session. Think in terms of an interrelated GAME plan:
• Goals: general as well as specific instructional goals and objec- tives,
• Activities:thetypeofclassroomactivitiesneededforrealizingthe goals,
• Materials: the selection of appropriate instructional materials, and
• Evaluation: methods of assessing desired learning outcomes.
6.1.2 Note down your random thoughts about what you did to pro- mote learner autonomy in terms of the GAME plan. A possible format for your note-taking is shown in Figure 6.3.