Playing with theory to explore social language learning in an autonomy-promoting English course

Abstract

This story of practice outlines a practitioner-research project exploring the concept of social language learningon an autonomy-promoting English course at the University of Helsinki Language Centre. Students on theAutonomous Learning Modules (ALMS) course are required to include a social element into their self-devisedplan for the course. The project puzzles about social language learning in two distinct stages: stage 1 inquireshow students understand social language learning and stage 2 explores how social language learningmanifests on the course through the author’s language counselling journal. In both stages, a thematic analysisapproach is used to make sense of the data. The first stage problematises the concept of social languagelearning by revealing a wide range of responses to and understandings of the term, including positioningit variously as speaking practice, group work, learning by doing, supportive, fun, difficult, and central to thelearning process. The second stage of the inquiry approaches social language learning from the perspectiveof actor-network theory, which is critical of pre-determined categories such as social, preferring insteadto explore phenomena by tracing the association or interactions between the various actors in a network.The study is conceived of as a playful exploration of the author’s own educational practices in relation tothe social dimensions in language learning. It has resulted in new approaches to thinking about the course,particularly in relation to the course’s skills support groups. Analysis of the data also provides insight intothe students’ language practices, especially in relation to texts, and their approaches to realising autonomyin language learning.