Indonesian students autonomous learning activities to support English mastery in the era of merdeka belajar

Learner autonomy has received greater attention in Indonesian educational system after the concept of Merdeka Belajar or the freedom of learning was introduced in 2020 by the Ministry of Education and Culture of Indonesia. In the past, Indonesian society believed that the higher of the educational level of the learners, the more responsible they will be in pursuing the knowledge. This is described by the beliefs that elementary school teachers are required to transfer 100% knowledge to students and the percentage of knowledge transfer will decrease gradually as students enter a higher level of education, about 75% in senior high school and 50% in junior high schools. At university level, the lecturers will require the students to work more independently in discovering the knowledge as the knowledge transfer will only be done for about 25%. Combining the philosophy of Merdeka Belajar and this local belief, the writers were interested to reveal university students’ autonomous activities in learning English outside of the classrooms. The data were taken from the self-report written by Pekalongan University students. The findings reveal students’ various autonomous learning activities in which listening to English songs and watching English movies become the most frequently performed activities to improve their mastery of English.