Autonomous learning: A teacher-less learning!

Abstract

Holec (1981) describes autonomy as, “the ability to take charge of one's learning” (cited in Thanasoulas, 2000). The term autonomy has sparked considerable controversy, inasmuch as linguists and educationalists have failed to reach a consensus as to what autonomy really is. In fact, autonomy in language learning is a desirable goal for philosophical, pedagogical, and practical reasons. But what is oppressed here is the role of teacher. Considering autonomous learning as an unbridled learning is as ludicrous as to assume that an infant can grow up with the help of his/her mother. In the realm of language teaching, teachers scaffold students towards independence using variety strategies in order to help students develop autonomy. Despite such explanations as many practitioners does not consider autonomous learning as synonymous with teacher-less learning, many view the construct of learner autonomy as being synonymous with self-access and especially with technology-based learning. The writer held if being autonomous is to take some charges on the part of students, since the capacity of taking charges of one's own learning in not innate but it must be taught, there would be much need for guidance. As Thanasoulas (2000) declares it would be nothing short of ludicrous to assert that learners come into the learning situation with the knowledge and skills to plan, monitor, and evaluate their learning, or to make decisions on content or objectives. The present paper was an attempt to elucidate the concept of autonomy from philosophical and theoretical perspectives and also to provide some pedagogical implications in order to value the role of teacher, as the primary scaffolder in the educational classroom, in consolidating the autonomy of learners.

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