Developing EFL Learners' Autonomy in Speaking English: An Investigation Into Teachers’ Support at a University in the Mekong Delta

Learner autonomy (LA) has been concentrated in the Vietnamese educational context for more than two decades as it equips learners the capacity for lifelong learning. For the EFL tertiary context, students encounter various challenges practicing language skills, especially English speaking, because of lacking the language environment (Huyen & Cang, 2021). As the importance of LA and students’ English speaking skills in language learning, this study aims at exploring what EFL teachers support to develop LA in speaking English. The study using a mix-method approach was conducted at a university in the Mekong Delta with the participation of 12 EFL teachers. To gain insights into teachers’ support to develop LA in speaking English, a questionnaire, recording observations and a semi-structured interview were used to collect data from the participants. The result indicated that the teachers positively supported their learners by offering choices of relevant information belonging to English speaking topics delivered, implementing class discussion and group work activities, encouraging them to self-evaluate and emphasizing the importance of LA in speaking development.