Learner autonomy

Definition

What is Autonomy?

For a definition of autonomy, Dimitrios Thanasoulas quotes Holec (1981: 3, cited in Benson & Voller, 1997: 1) who describes it as 'the ability to take charge of one's learning'. On a general note, the term autonomy has come to be used in at least five ways (see Benson & Voller, 1997: 2):

• for situations in which learners study entirely on their own;
• for a set of skills which can be learned and applied in self-directed learning;
• for an inborn capacity which is suppressed by institutional education;
• for the exercise of learners' responsibility for their own learning;
• for the right of learners to determine the direction of their own learning.

What do we mean by learner autonomy?

Students take responsibility for their learning and work in partnership with tutors and other students. It involves risk taking by all concerned. Learner Autonomy is about learning to learn and developing assessment for learning. Students reflect on their experiences and are able to create their own meanings and challenge ideas/theories. It requires tutors to trust students' abilities and to promote the use of student directed learning.

Characteristics of an autonomous learner include

• Critical reflection and thinking
• Self-awareness
• Taking responsibility for own learning
• Working creatively with complex situations
• The ability to create own meanings and challenge ideas/theories.

Learner Autonomy Video [1]. It is hard to define what Learner Autonomy is in words so the researchers in Sheffield Hallam University have interviewed members of their CETL team and asked them what Learner Autonomy means to them.

what caracterise autonomous learners?

Rousseau ([1762] 1911, cited in Candy, 1991: 102) regards the autonomous learner as someone who 'is obedient to a law that he prescribes to himself'. Within the context of education, though, there seem to be seven main attributes characterising autonomous learners (see Omaggio, 1978, cited in Wenden, 1998: 41-42):

1. Autonomous learners have insights into their learning styles and strategies;
2. take an active approach to the learning task at hand;
3. are willing to take risks;
4. are good guessers;
5. attend to form as well as to content, that is, place importance on accuracy as well as appropriacy;
6. develop the target language into a separate reference system and are willing to revise and reject hypotheses and rules that do not apply; and
7. have a tolerant and outgoing approach to the target language.

References

• Dimitrios Thanasoulas.(2000)What is Learner Autonomy and How Can It be Fostered? the Internet TESL Journal, Vol.VI,No.11,November 2000 html