Gender, education level and autonomous learning difficulty

Abstract

Research have shown the frequency of various activities which students use to self-regulate their learning. There is scarcity of data concerning difficulty of autonomous learning. Therefore, the problem of the research presented in the article was: which autonomous learning activities students perceive as most difficult and as least difficult and are students` perceptions of autonomous learning activities difficulty related to students gender and educational level? Difficulty in learning evaluation, planning and motivational control was measured by 34-item Learning Autonomy Difficulty Questionnaire (alpha = 0,92). The participants were 452 students: 150 from middle school, 302 from secondary school, 248 women and 204 men. In the analyses median, number of “very difficult” answers to “very easy” answers ratio and Mann - Whitney test were used. Increasing willingness to learn in themselves proved to be the element of autonomous learning which the participants indicated as the most difficult for them. Middle school students found determinig knowledge and skills needed to achieve goals as more difficult than secondary school students. For secondary school students evaluating effectiveness of various learning strategies was more difficult than for their younger colleagues. Gender differences were also found. In learning autonomy support programmes special attention should be focused on fostering students` ability to control their learning motivation. Girls should be taught how to match learning plans to goals. For middle school students developing ability to independently formulate goals seems essential. The data also indicate the need to show various ways of goal achievement to secondary school students.