Helping secondary school Modern Language students to become autonomous and independent learners: mission impossible?

My class is boring…. I can’t remember all of the words…I don’t know what to revise… I’m not good at languages…. I get too stressed in the oral exams, I don’t see the point…I prefer to use Google translate…I don’t want to memorise the entire glossary…Is this part of the exam? These are common responses by many secondary school students who have lost their motivation and don’t engage in the language learning process. The reasons behind this are various, from their inability to see how speaking a foreign language will be useful for them in their daily life, to the fact that classes based on controlled assessments tend to be boring and unappealing with coursework perceived as a memory task. As a result, their experience with Modern Language learning ends there, with some of them still regretting that years later. So, as Modern Language teachers, if we cannot change the assessment regime, can we at least, increase their engagement and motivation in and outside the classroom? Are we doing enough to help students become more autonomous learners? Modern Language teachers are always looking for new approaches and strategies to support students towards autonomy and independent learning in the classroom, but to what extent does motivation by the teacher play a role in the student’s decision to favour this approach? In this presentation, I will explore and discuss the benefits and challenges of some of the possible strategies, from using the target language as the main means of communication in the classroom to integrating creativity as an essential part of the teaching and learning language process.