How can learners study at their own pace and improve their autonomy

With the freedom of choosing and compiling materials for in-house course books, lecturers of English at Thai Nguyen School of Foreign Languages (TSFL) have made their own sets of teaching materials for their students; one problem of this act is students don’t have a chance to be involved in and let their teachers know what their favorite topic areas are. Most of the time teachers pick a content of their interest which has nothing to do with students’ concerns. Being aware of this, the author has conducted a survey research on the use of students’ personal learning plans (PLPs) in managing their learning autonomy for an interpreting course. Every week, students make one plan on what they will listen to, how many new words they will learn and how many interpretations they will practice; in class, teachers then check what they do and give supports and feedbacks if necessary. The results from 100 students have revealed that making PLPs are significant in three ways: first, students are motivated to learn when they can study at their own pace; second, it helps build up their listening practice habits which are important in learning interpreting; and third, teachers have better information of what subject matters to choose for their teaching.