QUICK RESOURCE SHEET #53

Learner autonomy

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photo credit: Wayne Peacock

What is autonomy?

…autonomy is about people taking more control over their lives - individually and collectively. Autonomy in learning is about people taking more control over their learning in classrooms and outside them and autonomy in language learning about people taking more control over the purposes for which they learn languages and the ways in which they learn them.

Autonomy can also be described as a capacity to take charge of, or take responsibility for, or control over your own learning. From this point of view, autonomy involves abilities and attitudes that people possess, and can develop to various degrees. There are different points of view, though, on what these abilities and attitudes are (and even whether abilities and attitudes are the right words!). There are also different points of view on whether or not autonomy also involves a 'situational' element (i.e., the freedom to exercise control over your own learning). These differences explain why it is so difficult to explain exactly what autonomy is.

---from http://ec.hku.hk/autonomy/

http://www.independentlearning.org/ila03/ila03_chuk.pdf

This detailed article describes the results of research into the role of Exploratory Practice in fostering the autonomy of the language learner. The study, conducted in a Hong Kong EFL classroom, showed that classroom activities designed to promote conscious reflection on learning led to greater understanding. “Both the learners and the teachers became more autonomous, and the quality of life in the classroom improved, showing that learner autonomy and teacher autonomy can be promoted through Exploratory Practice.”

http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Campbell-LiveJournal/

“This paper describes a way for teachers to set-up and facilitate authentic international communication in the EFL classroom using LiveJournal.com: a free, hosted weblog tool with a 1.9 million-member-strong community of active users and built-in social networking features.  It also highlights the potential that social software, like LiveJournal, has for encouraging greater autonomy and self-direction in foreign language learning. Fiedler (2003) defines the weblog as a 'reflective conversational tool for self-organized learning', which best captures the constructivist spirit with which the tool can be used for fostering autonomous, self-directed learning approaches.”

http://ec.hku.hk/autonomy/bibliog.html

“This bibliography contains around 1000 entries on autonomy and independence in learning and on related subjects such as learning strategies and learner training, self-access and out-of-class learning, and learner beliefs.”  This is an interactive bibliography; there is a mechanism for the viewer to add relevant titles.

http://www.ruthvilmi.net/conferences/Madrid/

For those of you who enjoy PowerPoint presentations.

Previous editions of the QUICK RESOURCE SHEET

#1 – Creating quizzes (and more) online                                                         

#2 – Vocabulary builders

#3 – Online discussion groups for English teachers                                    

#4 – Grammar headaches – and how to cure them

#5 – Resources for new teachers                                                     

#6 – International Education Week

#7 – Mentoring programs                                                                    

#8 – Education publications online

#9 – Applied Linguistics                                                                   

#10 – English for Young Learners

#11 – World AIDS Day                                                                      

#12 – Online writing guides

#13 – E-mail exchanges                                                                      

#14 – Free online English courses

#15 – Effective e-mail communication                                             

#16 – Libraries online

#17 – American Studies                                                                     

#18 – Teaching methodologies

#19 – Internet tutorials                                                                       

#20 – Using the newspaper – Part I

#21 – Making books                                                                           

#22 - Using the newspaper – Part II

#23 – Human rights in language teaching

#24 – Blogging

#25 – Poetry and language teaching

#26 – The communicative approach

#27 -  Idioms

#28 – Earth Day

#29 – Alternative assessment

#30 – Peer assessment

#31 – Self-assessment

#32 – Portfolio assessment – Part I

#33 -  Portfolio assessment - Part II (Online Portfolios)

#34 – Intercultural communication

#35 – Teaching Adults

#36 – Learning disorders / Special needs

#37 – Using computers in reading instruction

#38 – Use of authentic materials

#39 – English for Medical Purposes

#40 – Sources for authentic materials

#41 – Education and technology

#42 – Academic writing

#43 – Teaching and stress

#44 – Back to school

#45 – Motivating students

#46 – Action research

#47 – Internet terminology

#48 – Fluency

#49 – Curriculum design

#50 – Pragmatics

#51 - Podcasting for English teachers

#52 – Critical reading