Scribd
Upload
190 views2 pages

Autonomy in Language Learning

This document discusses the concept of autonomy in language learning. It defines autonomy as people taking more control over their own learning, including the purposes and ways in which they learn languages. Autonomy involves abilities and attitudes that allow people to control their own learning to varying degrees. The document explores related terms like self-instruction and independent learning, and recommends several key sources on developing an understanding of autonomy, such as works by Little, Benson, and Dam. It also discusses related areas like learner training, self-access learning, and computer-assisted language learning.

Uploaded by

Fellype Diorgennes Cordeiro Gomes
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
190 views2 pages

Autonomy in Language Learning

This document discusses the concept of autonomy in language learning. It defines autonomy as people taking more control over their own learning, including the purposes and ways in which they learn languages. Autonomy involves abilities and attitudes that allow people to control their own learning to varying degrees. The document explores related terms like self-instruction and independent learning, and recommends several key sources on developing an understanding of autonomy, such as works by Little, Benson, and Dam. It also discusses related areas like learner training, self-access learning, and computer-assisted language learning.

Uploaded by

Fellype Diorgennes Cordeiro Gomes
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 2

Benson, P. Autonomy in Language Learning.

Retrieved on August 10, 2006 from


<http://ec.hku.hk/autonomy/what.html> and <http://ec.hku.hk/autonomy/#k>.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Autonomy in Language Learning

P. Benson

What is autonomy?

This is probably the single most difficult question to answer about autonomy in language learning and
any answer to it is likely to be subjective.

To me 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.

Related terms

There are a number of terms related to autonomy that can be distinguished from it in various ways.
Most people now agree that autonomy and autonomous learning are not synonyms of 'self-instruction',
'self-access', 'self-study', 'self-education', 'out-of-class learning' or 'distance learning'. These terms
basically describe various ways and degrees of learning by yourself, whereas autonomy refers to
abilities and attitudes (or whatever we think the a capacity to control your own learning consists of).
The point is, then, that learning by yourself is not the same thing as having the capacity to learn by
yourself. Also, autonomous learners may well be better than others at learning by themselves (hence
the connection), but they do not necessarily have to learn by themselves. Over the last few years, for
example, more and more research is coming out on autonomy in the classroom and 'teacher autonomy'.

The terms 'independent learning' and 'self-directed learning' also refer to ways of learning by yourself.
But these terms are very often used as synonyms for autonomy. When you come across any of these
terms, it is a good idea to check what the writer means by them exactly!

1 / 114
Reading about autonomy

The links below lead to entries in the longer bibliography on this web site. I am afraid that I am not
able to provide copies of any of these titles. If the title of an entry is hyper-linked, you should be able
to find the full-text on the web. If the name of the publisher is hyper-linked, you should be able to find
more details on how to get hold of a copy. If there is no hyperlink at all, I am afraid you are on your
own!

To get started now, I would suggest you go straight to an article that Little (2002) has recently
published on the web. I would then recommend Little's (1989) introduction to the theory and practice
of autonomy before my own longer overview of the topic (Benson, 2001). To get an idea of the range
of issues involved in autonomy, I would suggest any of several recent collections of papers: Dickinson
& Wenden (1995), Pemberton, et al (1996), Benson & Voller (1997), Cotterall & Crabbe (1999),
Sinclair, et al. (2000), Benson & Toogood (2001), Dam, 2001. There is also a rich literature on
autonomy in education more generally. Candy (1991) is good way into this literature.

Related areas

Autonomy is also associated with several other areas of research and practice in second language
learning. Below, I have tried to emphasise work that connects these areas to the theory and practice of
autonomy.

Dam (1994) is an excellent introduction to autonomy in the classroom (see also Benson, 2003). Breen
& Littlejohn's (2000) collection of papers is useful starting point on negotiated learning. Voller (1997)
is a good introductory paper on the role of the teacher in autonomous learning and Sinclair, et al.
(2000) has several papers on teacher autonomy.

Learner training and strategy training have been described as methods of developing the skills learners
need for autonomy. Wenden, 1991, Dickinson (1992) and Cohen (1998) are good general
introductions to these closely related fields. More recently there has been much discussion of the role
of learner beliefs in strategy use and autonomy - see papers in Wenden's (1999) collection. For a
recent interesting clash of views on the idea of 'learner development', see Wenden (2002) and
Palfreyman (2003).

Self-access generally involves setting up some kind of resource centre in which language learners can
work freely. If you are setting up a self-access centre, Gardner & Miller (1999) is essential reading.
Papers by Sheerin (1997) and Sturtridge (1997) and the collection of papers by Esch (1994) are also
highly recommended. On connections between computer-assisted language learning and autonomy,
see Kenning (1996) and Healy (1999).

2 / 114

You might also like