Teachers' and Learners' Theories of Autonomy
Phil Benson
Hong Kong University

The basic idea of autonomy is one of learners taking control of their own learning. In this contribution, I intend to explore how teachers' and learners' notions of control in the context of language learning might differ.
On the teachers' side, I will argue on the basis of the literature on autonomy, that ideas of control tend to be focused on institutional and classroom learning arrangements within an established curriculum. In other words, from the teacher's perspective, autonomy tends to imply the learner taking control of arrangements whose underlying legitimacy is unquestioned.

On the learners' side, I will discuss evidence from a recently completed interview-based study of the English learning careers of 31 undergraduate students at Hong Kong University from early childhood onwards. I will argue that in spite of having been subjected to up to 16 years of traditional classroom instruction, these students have succeeded in developing relatively sophisticated notions of control of their own. For their perspective, control principally appears to imply:

• a reduced role for classroom and institutional learning
• an awareness of the inadequacy of traditional language learning categories such as vocabulary and grammar
• an emphasis on the communicative use of the language
• an emphasis on the personal relevance of learning

In other words, for these learners' perspectives, autonomy tends to imply the separation of their learning from the traditional language learning curriculum rather than control over institutional or classroom learning within the framework of an established curriculum.

In conclusion, I will explore the implications of these different perspectives for the practice of autonomy in language learning and suggest how it might move in a direction that is more accommodating to the perspectives of learners themselves.

Freedom – A Prerequisite for Autonomy?
Turid Trebbi
University of Bergen, Norway

My paper is concerned with the issue of freedom as raising of consciousness and sees this in relation to the didactic concept of autonomy and means of operationalisation of teacher autonomy.

The first of the paper's two parts presents the Norwegian national curriculum for the second foreign language as an example of how curricula can open up for developing learner autonomy even if it is conceived within the constraints of a framework decided by the authority.

In the second part, experiences from an ICT-based action research project on in-service training are presented. The project aimed at developing teachers' independence through learning situations similar to the ones used in the classroom to develop learner autonomy.

From this background, I argue that teachers' self-awareness, attitudes and understanding of language and language learning are crucial to develop autonomy in teaching regardless of curricula potentialities or constraints. The paper concludes by evoking some implications of this for in-service programs.

Fostering Autonomy in the Language Classroom: Implications for Teacher Education
Hélène Martinez
University of Kassel, Germany

The proposed question, “How can these teachers develop an understanding of what it means to be autonomous themselves?”, can in my opinion be understood in two different ways: How can the teacher develop an understanding of:

a) what it means to be an autonomous learner?
b) what it means to be an autonomous teacher?

These questions lead to other important questions: What does learner autonomy in the language learning classroom mean? Which competencies must learners and teachers acquire? Which kind of interdependence takes place between learners and teachers and their processes of autonomisation? The understanding of what it means to be an autonomous learner as well as an autonomous teacher must be considered as a process – a process of reflection – that has to begin at the initial training.

I would like to present the results of my doctoral research project on learner autonomy and teachers' development. In my study, I tried to explore what student teachers should learn at university to be able to promote learner autonomy in their future profession as teachers. I think that the development of “teacher autonomy” depends among other things on their understanding of learner autonomy, on their self-image as teachers (based on their biography and experiences as learners) and on their beliefs about language learning and learner autonomy. So I explored what sort of understanding of autonomy (learner as well as teacher autonomy) student-teachers have, where it comes from, and to what extent it conforms (or not) with the theoretical discourse on learner autonomy. I think that the verbal reports by the student-teachers about their notions of learner autonomy and about their experiences as learners and student-teachers provide a good potential to re-examine our practices in teacher education.