OMALL

OMALL is the Online Measure of Autonomy in Language Learning. It is a part of a PhD project to develop a web-based instrument for the investigation of autonomy in language learners who are in, or about to start, tertiary education.

There are many instruments designed to assess the way learners learn (their learning styles, strategy use, attitudes, etc.), however, there is no instrument specifically designed to research the construct of language learner autonomy at tertiary level.

OMALL consists of items intended to cover all areas of the construct of language learner autonomy. At present the questionnaire is at an early stage of development where the primary aims are reducing the number of items, refining the wording, and finding which items contribute best and which need to be changed or eliminated.

Please try it, and give your feedback in the form at the end - your contribution will be invaluable in the development of the questionnaire. If your first language is Chinese, please do the New OMALL Questionnaire in Mandarin Chinese; others please do the English version.

OMALL will be particularly appropriate for language learners from backgrounds that have not prepared them for Western-style tertiary education. China, with its recent opening up to the West, is a very important instance of this. Its eventual uses may, potentially, include: indicator of broad overall level of autonomy, formative aid, diagnostic tool, and research tool to develop autonomy theory.

David Dixon

Email: david.dixon@warwick.ac.uk