Building a Bridge With the practice of teacher-directed learning over the years at primary and secondary levels, Hong Kong students are so used to this way of learning. Students may be able to appreciate the flexibility and the autonomy provided in the self-access system, however, they may also have psychological and practical problems in employing this new method of learning. Seen in this light, tutors at the centres should offer a hand to lead them into the system. This makes me feel more confident learning English. Direct guidance from tutors is preferred even in the self-access learning environment.
Students can also decide on their degree of dependence on tutors in the scheme.
Students who prefer to take a less dominant role in the tutor-guided scheme can request more tutor support while those who would like to lead their own learning can have no interferences from the tutors at all. There seems to be a general positive feeling towards the scheme among students though I am not attempting to draw any general conclusions about the actual effectiveness of the scheme even though I did conduct a pilot study interviewing students about their opinions on the scheme. The perceived value of the scheme is generally high from the interviewed students. Learners' choices are respected while they are also learning under much guidance in the tutor-guided schemes. Thus, these schemes can be seen as a means or tool to help self-access learning beginners to master the basics and gradually build up autonomous learning skills on their own.