Fostering Learner Autonomy through Continuous Student Feedback in Pursuit of Praxis and Establishment of I-Thou Dialogue in an EFL Classroom

Development of learner autonomy is a challenging task, especially when students are not presented with regular opportunities to reveal their voice and take part in shaping,at least to a certain degree,classroom discourses. Engaging students in egalitarian teacher-students I-Thou dialogue(Buber, 1970)appears to be an effective way of empowering students voice,however there is need to investigate ways of practical implementation of this practice. Student feedback questionnaires(SFQs)have been widely used in tertiary institutions as a tool for establishing communication between students and teachers, as well as educational institutions,and evaluating course content and pedagogical methods applied.One of the major criticisms of this practice though is its summative nature and lack of closure of the feedback loop with students. Present study explores the practice of implementing formative continuous student feedback(CSF) throughout the duration of the whole course where teachers collect responses from students at the end of the class and close the loop in consecutive sessions by analyzing the feedback provided and acting upon it. Integrating the principles of Freire’s praxis and Buber’s I-Thou dialogue,this practice appears to be facilitative of building effective channels of communication between all parties involved,as well as developing greater sense of autonomy among students over the learning process in an English as a foreign language(EFL) classroom. The research is conducted as part of a larger CSF project implemented at a tertiary institution in Hong Kong.