David Little. The essence of learner autonomy

 

The essence of learner autonomy: learning a language from the inside out. It is generally agreed that language learner autonomy is a matter of learner control and self-direction. Most discussion assumes that the crucial distinction is between non-autonomous and autonomous learners, and that the teacher's role is to manage the transition to self-directed learning. My own view is rather different. Although they may be novices in language learning, learners of all ages usually exhibit a high degree of expertise and autonomy in their life outside the classroom. Thus for me the teacher's role is to exploit learners' pre-existing capacity for and experience of autonomous behaviour (their agency) in favour of language learning. The teacher achieves this goal by engaging her learners' sense of identity and the knowledge and experience they have gained outside the classroom: these are the magnets to which the target language attaches itself. Most approaches to language teaching assume that the target language is "out there" and that the most teachers can do is to develop their learners' capacity to communicate as if they were outside the classroom. By contrast, the autonomy classroom focuses on the learners' here and now. Founded on the belief that authentic language use is the only reliable path to success in language learning, it channels learners' agency through the target language. In this sense learning is "from the inside out". My presentation will develop this view of autonomous language learning with particular reference to the findings of neuroscience. (David Little)