Abstract:
This study was carried out to investigate secondary-school students' attitudes towards self-access learning (SAL) through their use of self-access material (SAM) created related to the topics learnt in their normzl Engllsh classes. It is hoped that the findings of this study would indicate the feasibility of setting up a self-access center (SAC) at a secondary school, The Islamic College of Thailand (ICT). The subjects of this study were 30 M 4 students, who took the compulsory English course in the second semester of 1999. Having been introduced to the principles of SAL and their role in it, the subjects had choices to use at least two out of eight sets of the SAM that were put at the back of their classroom. After three weeks of using the materials, the subjects completed two parts of questionnaire: one about their attitudes towards SAL in general, the other about their attitudes towards the SAM which they used. The results of this study reveal that (1) the students' attitudes towards both SAL and SAM are mostly positive, (2) SAL is feasible for the students at ICT, and (3) it is possible to set up a SAC at ICT. The results, however, show that although some students are inclined to be satisfied with SAL, they cannot be totally independent learners because they have become accustomed to teacher-assisted learning and the mode of learning in SAL is very new to them. Additionally, some characteristics of the SAM need to be adequately included to suit the level andinterest of different students.