The Transformation of learner autonomy through innovative classwork in an ESP course.

ESP (English for Specific Purposes) has long been considered as an innovative and effective approach to language teaching and learning. Beside the linguistic needs, learners’ psychological, preferential and professional needs are to be put great emphasis on during the educational process. This paper is to review some of related theories about ESP and learner’s autonomy to explore some of the teaching and learning issues in a particular tourism class and present findings of the study. The research was conducted at Ho Chi Minh City University of Education in Vietnam and it concentrated on Vietnamese junior and senior university students who were currently taking a tourism class. Two homogeneous groups of students were selected to participate as a control and an experiment group. The data was collected through questionnaires and interviews. The results revealed that cooperative work and innovative classwork can motivate learner autonomy thanks to the prominent supports of teachers. Furthermore, the intrinsic incentives also contribute to the desire for achievement and expertise to fulfill learners’ goals for future careers. Compared to the traditional approaches, the close collaborations between teachers and learners in the study are to highly recommended since learners can play two simultaneous roles in the classroom: learners and “apprentice”.