Exploring learners’ agency as a co-regulated construction of autonomous practices
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/jalpp.19458Keywords:
autonomy, agency, co-regulation, mediation through cultural artifacts, social worldAbstract
This study uses the frame of sociocultural theory to explore the idea that agency is at the root of autonomy and autonomous learning, despite recent trends that instead emphasize self-direction and independence. Agency is here conceptualized in light of co-regulation in a group of 12 university learners who were involved in practices of other-regulation, co-regulation and input-regulation, with their learners framed as agents who both shape and are shaped by sociocultural contexts. The findings reveal the link between agency and the co-regulated practices that emerge within the learning environment, as well as the different manifestations that learners’ agency can take due to their backgrounds.
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