Language learner autonomy: where are we now?
David Little
Trinity College Dublin
When the concept of learner autonomy first became a topic of discussion in foreign language education, it was a minority interest. Now, almost forty years after the publication of Henri Holec’s Autonomy and foreign language learning, it still stands apart from the mainstream, despite having become a major focus of academic publishing. Although it has shaped notably successful language teaching experiments in a number of countries, it has not had a large-scale impact on classroom practice and learning outcomes. There are, I think, two reasons for this. First, learner autonomy remains a fuzzy concept; there is a broad consensus that it entails giving learners responsibility for their own learning but no general agreement on the scope of the concept or its practical implications for teaching and learning. Secondly, however we decide to elaborate the concept, most teachers at all levels of education are unsettled by the idea of giving even a modicum of control to their learners. My talk will consider these and related issues with reference to my own theoretical explorations and the classroom practice for which I have been responsible or with which I am closely familiar.
David Little
Trinity College Dublin
When the concept of learner autonomy first became a topic of discussion in foreign language education, it was a minority interest. Now, almost forty years after the publication of Henri Holec’s Autonomy and foreign language learning, it still stands apart from the mainstream, despite having become a major focus of academic publishing. Although it has shaped notably successful language teaching experiments in a number of countries, it has not had a large-scale impact on classroom practice and learning outcomes. There are, I think, two reasons for this. First, learner autonomy remains a fuzzy concept; there is a broad consensus that it entails giving learners responsibility for their own learning but no general agreement on the scope of the concept or its practical implications for teaching and learning. Secondly, however we decide to elaborate the concept, most teachers at all levels of education are unsettled by the idea of giving even a modicum of control to their learners. My talk will consider these and related issues with reference to my own theoretical explorations and the classroom practice for which I have been responsible or with which I am closely familiar.