Articles “Learner autonomy: bird-in-the-hand or bird-in-the-bush?” and “What is leaner autonomy and how can it be fostered?” – Week 4 Reflection

In my opinion, learner autonomy is important not only because it makes students more independent learners who can take advantage of different learning opportunities besides the class but also because it makes students aware of their role in the learning process as well as the strategies they can use and the efforts they should make to learn a new language.

However, as it is mentioned in the article, autonomy is “not an article of faith, a product ready made for use or merely a personal quality or trait” but a process that depends on many aspects like: cognitive and metacognitive strategies on the part of the learner, motivation, attitudes, and knowledge about language learning.

In this process, the teacher has the essencial role of showing students the way to attain autonomy. For example, the teacher can make students aware of the different learning strategies they can follow and give some activities so that students get to know some of them. Also, the teacher can encourage students to use differents tools, like watching programs, reading books or newspapers and listening to music in the target language. Finally, teachers can increase motivation and self-esteem by creating a friendly atmosphere in class, what is also a very important stimulus to promote learner autonomy.

Some teachers still haven’t realised the importance of learner idependence so they usually don’t worry about using any material that provides the development of students’ autonomy. Having in mind the traditional courses, I think it’s possible to keep the approach of the textbooks adapting the exercises to a more independent style. The article brings a lot of simple ideas that can be easily used in different levels and ages.

“[…] without awareness [learners] will remain trapped in their old patterns of beliefs and behaviors and never be fully autonomous”