I. INTRODUCTION
a) Theoretical Framework
The COVID-19 pandemic and its attached outcomes ramified inauspicious disruption of conventional pedagogical methods. This has compelled teachers and educators to embrace the technological option of the internet-enhanced teaching and learning. Therefore, the shift from face-to-face interaction into screen-to-face of classrooms meetings turns an exciting issue to debate among practitioners and researchers in education. In this respect, online classes offer the flexibility of time and space in teaching and learning (Semedley, 2010). Furthermore, students with different paces of education are well accommodated in terms of time and procedural assignments achievement. In this sense, students' responsibilities made autonomous learning concept very relevant. The clear relevance of online learning mode concerning autonomy following some previous studies.
For instance, (Phan, et al., 2021) gave evidence for how the combination of mobile learning and gamification as part of activities in online learning was successfully able to trigger Vietnamese students' learning autonomy in language teaching classroom. Along the same lines, for (Alpert Sleigh, 1997) self-regulation includes the following components: motivation to monitor and control learning, metacognition, cognitive and learning strategies, prior knowledge and mental models to scaffold understanding, self-efficacy, and last, learner's epistemic beliefs on learning.
Likewise, in an Indonesian context (Dalilan, 2021) captured the students' interest in joining online classes according to what students perceived. The result showed that students viewed online learning as enabled them to learn independently which was manifested through their self-responsibility, self-learning awareness, self-regulation, and self-time management. Nonetheless, learners encountered difficulties in learning regarding their attitude regarding being autonomous and less ready to be so. Unfortunately, teachers and students definition of autonomy remains as simple as learning independently with the absence of a teacher (Augustina, 2017) and (Daflizar, & Petraki, 2022). Conceptually, experts have different perspectives in providing a clear-cut definition to learners' autonomy, which appears to be, at a certain extent, versatile.
For example, (Illés, 2012) view that most of the characteristics attributed to the autonomous learner would merely represent a romantic ideal that does not align with reality. In a paraphrased version, this would be a far-reaching purpose. (Little, 1991) considers autonomy as students' ability to bridge the gap between learning and living. In literal meaning, Little intends to highlight learners' skill to bring and connect what they learn in an academic setting on classroom to the real world. Similarly, other experts for example (O'Reilly, 2014) and (Duarte, Leite, & Mouraz, 2016) agree that learning autonomy positively affects internal motivation so that it can strongly generate students' actions to achieve their goals. Moreover, (Nunan, 2003) proposes a student autonomy definition in a slightly different way by putting learners into five different levels. In the first, called awareness, autonomous learners fully understand what they aim for in their education. Besides, the learning objective, they are also able to identify the best way that suits their learning. At one level higher, a student is called as an autonomous learner.
The population under study underwent some embedded pandemic-related circumstances that tremendously fell over notions about students' engagement in learning. These are manifesting through university work trivialization, and taking for granted determination and hardworking. Thus, self-determination and responsibility are inextricably two significant ingredients conducive to academic success, as Little summarizes autonomy by: "the ability to take charge of one's own learning." (Little, 2007:15). Since the estimated regression is alarmingly massive in comparison with the pre-pandemic rate. This implies that almost no effort is deployed, thereby independence. Furthermore, teachers' constant monitoring interwoven with awareness maintenance, appear to be pivotal in front of the advance of retreat threat.
b) Students' Teacher-dependency Origins
Students' teacher-dependency took shape during the pandemic era. It was noticed that self-reliance in learning belonged to past, and that new practices emerged, altering initiative-taking, self-regulation, and self-time management and so forth. In addition, self-awareness, the notion that seems quite generous in terms of connotations, turns into an old story, when evoking virtual instruction. Synchronous online learning means that learners and instructor are at the same specific time, and synced. Likewise, asynchronous online learning is self-paced learning that enables the students to do the tasks given by the teacher during the given period. Issues interacting with the multifaceted topic of learner-autonomy caught the scholars' attention in worldwide. A priori, curiosity and eagerness to the matter in undergraduate has been shown by (Pasaribo, 2020) who attempted in a class of the English language department to learn autonomy enhancement. All of the studies presented research on this of higher education are hardly found, moreover, student's teacher-dependency as a severe concern has remained largely unexplored.
In addition, the current interest for this issue has been triggered by a flagrant phenomenon stemming from the viral crisis era, which is indolence and reliance on teacher. Keeness to find out was further amplified by colleagues' complaints from the same department, letters and English language, about the inability of the students to be independent in learning. This reality made teaching arduous and unilateral, besides addressing learning loss from the pandemic and the gaps that need to be tackled. This implies that there is still a lot of work ahead in assisting students to catch the delay and, reach adequate academic milestones.
The teaching task is becoming quite challenging and burdensome and miscellaneous concerns about learning and knowledge attainment are put on the back burner, when evoking the postpandemic phase. A priori, the distracting circumstances generated by the outbreak have eaten away some learners' language proficiency, aptness and, good practices, all along with the accompanying drawbacks such as passiveness, lack of responsiveness, and retreat. Lustiness and self-responsibility belonged to the past hereafter, because most students rely heavily on teachers, i.e. absence of course enrichment enterprise, no inventiveness, or creativity. Eventually, from those mentioned before, there will be a shortage in terms of learning returns and poor yields.
c) In Parallel Avenues Relevant to Dependency
Issues in relevance to learning independently are several, and all of them culminate in involving engagement, achievement, internalizing, and externalizing. The first one deals with the motivational as well as behavioral ability investment in the learning process. It is sad to say, however, that the populations under study did not show the least keenness in doing so. The second, is about academic accomplishment which refers to the learner's performance outcomes as an indicator of fulfillment of specific goals. The participants were demonstrating mediocre results, far from what was expected. The third, refers to retention and retrieval abilities; in fact internalization is the basis for production. In this sense, problems in recalling and reproducing input amongst subjects were recurrently noticed, due to the lack of course belonging. The fourth consists of faculty of treating issues as separate entities, i.e. the learning target is to comprehend an information structure via creating an interactive environment to operate.
II. METHODOLOGY
The objective of this research is to report and analyze the array of factors contributing to students' teacher dependency. Hence, this study has chosen the following correlational research questions: 1- To what extent did the pandemic impact students' teacher dependency? 2- Are students' learning practices and beliefs significantly shifting between pre-and postpandemic i.e., from independent or half-dependent to entirely dependent? Are we encountering students' teacher-independence decline? Fifty master two students were the core of this study. They have experienced the pandemic for three years long, concomitantly, being exposed to hybrid-blended instruction, except for the current year. Seemingly, those promotions allow us to see in life-size learning behavior, through the lens of the post-pandemic phase. Accordingly, it was noticeable that they were externalizing new forms in handling knowledge and exhibiting novel conceptions with regard to cognition attainment and harnessing abilities. In this respect, gender was not significant in this research, since reactions and reflections were quite similar; what accounted however was to highlight motives behind this joint let it all hang out.
The questionnaire ascertained the assumptions about what was observed with relevance to absence of lustiness and awareness in taking charge of one's learning. It was dispatched at the end of the first semester of the current year, as it comprised three sections. Each section encompassed three questions, and the last was open-ended. Therefore, the thematic framework was figuring out approaches in learning; in parallel, to find out if they consider or not independency as an ideology at this level of instruction.
Besides, a semi-structured interview was administered. It provided an opportunity to converse with some randomly chosen students and elicit the shared mentality that reigned amidst the outbreak. We mean here by mentality, the collective perceptions and understanding when it comes to learning independently. Those turned beliefs and attitudes that we are currently witnessing. Rupture with the old practices, and the good old way of thinking and reasons why dependency has increased as much, were the central themes of this interview. All in all, the process helped to deepen the data collected via questionnaire. This inquiry was exploratory in nature, seeking to provide understanding of learners' teacher dependency rather than extrapolate findings to other contexts. It is hoped that the yielded results will increase our knowledge of the phenomenon under investigation.
III. QUESTIONNAIRE QUANTITATIVE REVELATIONS
The questionnaire revealed the following data numerically expressed. It was reported that respondents view the following:
- Teacher is a boosting agent ;
- Hardworking is a fostering factor ;
- No extra research done weekly ;
- Relying heavily on courses contents ;
- Depending on teacher's input ;
- Most of them are extrinsically motivated ;
- All of them apprehend independency ;
- Dependent learners can never reach the desired competence ;
- Discipline forges independency ;
- Positivity, intrinsic motivation and self-regulation shape autonomy by .
IV. FINDINGS & RESULTS
Besides quantitative findings, the results suggest the following intermingled considerations regarding participants' perceptions and stances:
a) Extrinsically motivated: They rely on the teacher's constant urge and push. Generally, extrinsic motivators or motivating agents are few, for instance, parental motivation, then comes the instructors' one. Motivation emanating from the external environment operates as a boost, should be concomitantly accompanying the education process. Concerning the outcomes of this type are ungenerous, since it is environment-directed; and this, is what we are actually noticing. In contrast to intrinsically motivated learners, who take their willpower and determination from an inner motive. Eventually, the numerical results show that extrinsically motivated students greatly outnumber intrinsically motivated ones.
b) Teacher's-input dependent: According to their answers, they are entirely dependent to the teacher's input; this implies that course contents is the only reference. They confirmed by adding that no further reading or research making are undertaken weekly. It is worth mentioning here, that, teachers welcome extra information, encompassing metacognition, in considering assessment approaches according to the formative mode (Thrumbull & Lash, 2013). The goal is to improve learning, not to apply final marks. The summative aspect wraps students' acquisition and learning rates as well as achievement, at the end of the instructional period i.e. semester, besides tests.
c) Absence of Hardworking: Another point underlying dependency in learning is that they do not attribute much attention to hardworking and diligence. This philosophy is relatively cohort; they are economical when making efforts. Contrastively, in the pre-pandemic past years, we had six to seven hard workers per promotion, but unfortunately, nowadays, we have one to two who are truly conscientious. This leads to say that, the minimum for success might be a passing grade for majority, but a high distinction for others. Consequently, they are subject to enduring heavy episodic failure. This particular variation supports (Kahu & Nelson's, 2017) concept of an individual interface, where all aspects of the student experience, including perceptions of success, are a dynamic interaction between institution and student. They are supposed to meet university standards and requirements. Unsurprisingly, the meager percentage, representing diligent students, conceive that discipline forges autonomy. Since, the prevailing view of student's success focuses on measures of academic achievement, student retention and, qualification completion (York et al., 2015). In other words, unconscious learners need a quantum leap to join the other camp.
V. DISCUSSION
A priori, the pandemic has generated disproportionately two distinct gatherings. The first, which is predominant, encompasses learners' teacher-dependent, obviously noticed, unfortunately representing the overwhelming majority quantified by . The second gathers a minority of , alongside, of potential effects related, without exaggeration, to the upheaval amid the outbreak. Seemingly, blinded-hybrid learning has prepared a fertile soil for the germination of learning retreat and exacerbated mechanics lacunae; these are undoubtedly paramount for an EFL learner who is supposed to possess basics of the target language, and that would spell doom for any future aspirations.
Among dependency traits, apprehension of writing. This means that the subjects are afraid of being face-to-face with their spelling, grammar, and syntax; in short, they are terrorized by mistakes. This has been ratified by the lack of practice resulting from the pandemic era. The increasing phenomenon of dependency is two-faceted. The first facet is teacher dependency, and the second is online-instruction dependency. As mentioned earlier, they have been exposed during three years to virtual learning and its drawbacks; among those limitations, passiveness accompanies language reception. Thence, the notion of electronic learning is regrettably associated with readiness and effortless attainment of knowledge, dismissing any attempt at improvement or enrichment. Eventually, the complex phenomenon called double-sided dependency stemming from the previous era is characterized by a lack of willingness to sharpen one's skills with regard to language item reinforcement or disciplinary empowerment.
Further, dependency may operate as a hurdle for the fulfillment of learners' basic need for autonomy i.e., being able to make their own choices and act independently from the teacher. According to self-determination theory (Deci et al., 1991), this need for autonomy is essential for students' engagement with schoolwork and broader school environment. Likewise, the beginning of the students' development as self-regulated learners: 'metacognitively, motivationally, behaviorally active participants in their own learning process' (Zimmerman, 1989:329) and those are determining factors of a successful autonomous student.
Similarly, a significant result has been articulated, that most learners remain dependent on teachers to a large extent. Since they tend to be incapable of setting goals, regulating, evaluating, and making reflection on their learning. This fact is not only admitted by them, but also articulated by their teachers. In other words, teachers view them as being constant spoon-fed individuals, and getting acquainted to; actually, spoon-feeding is literally accentuating in the post-pandemic period; and that, they should no longer be so. This reality, is deemed choking, and accepted without bargain.
Moreover, the total number of the participants feel uneasiness with regard to the notion of 'independence', because this is synonymous to massive effort deployment, and concessions to make at the expense of leisure. However, this stands against endeavor economy, making decisions about learning needs; in the meanwhile, understanding individual learning styles, and promoting thinking as well as problem-solving. In short, what seems significant and remedial, is helping them in scaffolding their learning, keeping track, and monitoring progress.
VI. CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATIONS
The ongoing aftermath of the pandemic is still inspiring academics to cover at a greater distance the viral crisis spectrum. Educators and university teachers are striving with loss, concomitantly hitting dependency question that further exacerbates the teaching duty. Teachers should be responsibilizing students more, and this, by getting them engaged fully in the enrolment of the course, thus, in the learning process. Side-by-side with controlled assignment, all along with dissuasive strategies, which are highly recommended, with regard to research misconduct. Furthermore, instructors ought to boost, if existing, or nurture learner-centeredness.
A kit-build approach then should be inserted to offer students multiple approaches to commit to, and assist them in operating. For instance, applying the incentive theory of motivation (Indeed Editorial Team, 2020), is a behavioral theory suggesting that individuals can be stimulated by a drive; as it advocates that people behave in the way they believe will result in a reward. Therefore, the reward might be an academic success in education, or a promotion or raise in workplaces. Correspondingly, incentives, or stimuli can be categorized into two, positive and negative. First, positive incentives comprise recognition, promotions, raises and so forth. Second, negative incentives revolve around correcting mistakes, discouraging certain behaviors, or imposing penalties. In short, receiving positive incentives promotes working hard and, remaining dedicated to the task being performed.
In parallel, teachers need to create a learning environment leading to autonomy, where the learners can excise their agency in learning, which should become a major target in a course design (Ribbe & Bezanilla, 2013). Moreover, we should imbue university students with a sense of responsibility. We can achieve this, by injecting them with dose-by-dose leadership inoculation, throughout the instructive operation; and this, is in line with the learner's centeredness approach in learning. Regrettably, we will endure the changes stemming from the experienced extraordinary context, and its long-term impacts. We hope to have contributed to the existent body of knowledge, and emphasized on the mere avenues related to student's teacher-dependency. Ultimately, more complex analyses, are now required to tease out this pressing massive concern.
