What does 'autonomy' mean within language learning? Should it be enhanced within national, institutional or small group culture and, if so, how can that be done? A variety of new theoretical perspectives are here firmly anchored in research data from projects worldwide. By foregrounding cultural issues and thus explicitly addressing the concerns of many educators on the appropriateness and feasibility of developing learner autonomy in practice, this book fills a gap in the literature and offers practical benefits to language teachers.

This volume presents the reader with a stimulating tapestry of essays exploring the nature of personal autonomy, self-determination, and agency, and their role in human optimal functioning at multiple levels of analysis from personal to societal and cross-cultural. The starting point for these explorations is self-determination theory, an integrated theory of human motivation and healthy development which has been under development for more than three decades (Deci & Ryan, 2000). As the contributions will make clear, psychological autonomy is a concept that forms the bridge between the dependence of human behavior on biological and socio-cultural determinants on the one side, and people’s ability to be free, reflective, and transforming agents who can challenge these dependencies, on the other. The authors within this volume share a vision that human autonomy is a fundamental pre-condition for both individuals and groups to thrive, and that without understanding the nature and mechanisms of autonomous agency vital social and human problems cannot be satisfactory addressed. This multidisciplinary team of researchers will collectively explore the nature of personal autonomy, considering its developmental origins, its expression within relationships, its importance within groups and organizational functioning, and its role in promoting to the democratic and economic development of societies. The book is aimed toward developmental, social, personality, and cross-cultural psychologists, towards researchers and practitioners’ in the areas of education, health and medicine, social work and, economics, and also towards all interested in creating a more sustainable and just world society through promoting individual freedom and agency. This volume will provide a theoretical and conceptual account of the nature and psychological mechanisms of personal motivational autonomy and human agency; rich multidisciplinary empirical evidence supporting the claims and propositions about the nature of human autonomy and capacities for self-regulation; explanations of how and why different psychological and socio-cultural conditions may play a role in promoting or undermining people’s autonomous motivation and well-being, discussions of how the promotion of human autonomy can positively influence environmental protection, democracy promotion and economic prosperity.

Today’s global educational environment includes the emergence of adult learners participating in formal and informal educational encounters for the purposes of professional development or personal enrichment. These learners must possess the conceptual and attitudinal idea of self-directed learning in order to be skilled workers and fulfilled human beings. Self-Directed Learning Strategies in Adult Educational Contexts is a critical scholarly publication that examines the impacts of self-directed learning methods and strategies on adult learning in various formal and informal learning situations and educational encounters. Featuring topics such as andragogy, learning analytics, and educational technologies, this book is geared toward adult educators, administrators, principals, professors, human resource managers, educational professionals, and researchers working in the fields of andragogy, adult learning theory, professional development, instructional technology, and curriculum development.

This edited volume offers a cohesive account of recent developments across the world in the field of learner and teacher autonomy in languages education. Drawing on the work of eminent researchers of language learning and teaching, it explores at both conceptual and practical levels issues related to current pedagogical developments in a wide range of contexts. Global shifts have led to an increase in autonomous and independent learning both in policy and practice (including self-access and distance learning). The book s scope and focus will therefore be beneficial to language teachers as well as to students and researchers in applied linguistics and those involved in pre- and in-service teacher education. The book concludes with an overview of the state of research in this field, focusing on the (inter)relationships between the concepts of learner and teacher autonomy.

In this volume researchers from Asia, Europe, the Middle East and North and South America employ a variety of theoretical perspectives and methodological approaches in their exploration of the links between identity, motivation, and autonomy in language learning. On a conceptual level the authors explore issues related to agency, metacognition, imagination, beliefs, and self. The book also addresses practice in classroom, self-access, and distance education contexts, considering topics such as teachers’ views on motivation, plurilingual learning, sustaining motivation in distance education, pop culture and gaming, study abroad, and the role of agency and identity in the motivation of pre-service teachers. The book concludes with a discussion of how an approach which sees identity, motivation, and autonomy as interrelated constructs has the potential to inform theory, practice and future research directions in the field of language teaching and learning.

The book investigates interest groups and various learning circles, Reading Circles (RCs) learning opportunity in particular, as a mode of in-class and beyond class autonomous learning in the context of English Language Teaching (ELT) at tertiary level in Oman, and in similar contexts in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. This investigation presents learners’ positive perceptions of learner autonomy and their readiness to adopt related practices. Building on findings from these RCs, the book introduces collaborative learner autonomy (CLA) as a novel concept of learner autonomy for use in educational contexts in the MENA region. As a concept of gradual development of learner autonomy, the CLA represents a new dynamic learner autonomy development process consisting of individual, competitive, collaborative, and autonomous stages. The CLA advocated in the book emphasizes the constructive role of teachers and educational institutions can play with other stakeholders in developing autonomy in their learners. The book also suggests that it is a shared responsibility that students, teachers, educational establishments, families, society and the educational systems should assume in a spirit of partnership.

This book examines how autonomy in language learning is fostered and constrained in social settings through interaction with others and various contextual features. With theoretical grounding, the authors discuss the implications for practice in classrooms, distance education, self-access centres, as well as virtual and social learning spaces.

Autonomy has become a keyword of language policy in education systems around the world, as the importance of independent learning and new technologies has grown. Now in a fully revised and updated second edition, Teaching and Researching Autonomy provides an accessible and comprehensive critical account of the theory and practice of autonomy. Examining the history of the concept, it addresses important questions of how we can identify autonomy in language learning behaviours and how we can evaluate the wide variety of educational practices that have been designed to foster autonomy in learning. Topics new to this edition include: - Autonomy and new technologies - Teacher autonomy - The sociocultural implications of autonomy With over three hundred new references and five new case studies of research on autonomy providing practical advice on research methods and topics in the field, Teaching and Researching Autonomy will be an essential introduction for teachers and students to a subject at the cutting edge of language teaching and research.

This book is a collection of papers that explores the notion of learner autonomy and the problem of helping language learners to manage their learning effectively. The first part of the book deals with issues of definition: what is the cognitive base for autonomous learning behaviour and how is this mediated by social and cultural expectations of a learner's role? The second part reports on experiences of working with learners and with teachers to promote learner autonomy. In working with learners, the focus is on language learning strategies and how strategic learning might be developed through strategy training, materials design, reflection and counselling. In working with teachers, the focus is on bringing about change in traditional perspectives on the roles of learners and teachers within education systems.

To promote culture based learner autonomy in school education of Nepal is inevitable at present. This study conveys a meaningful initiation of learner autonomy from the side of the professional teachers by exploring their perceptions and practices based on their living experiences with an aim to promote learner autonomy in school education of Nepal. It depicts the clear picture of teachers schooling, their learning culture, learning interest and its reflection in the real classroom context. It disseminates information regarding context based post method pedagogy and enables teachers to apply in the classroom scenario. Also, it can be a valuable souvenir to the readers as it incorporates the experiences of Nepalese teachers who belong to diverse caste, cultures, gender, geography, religion through the letter writing and poetic genres. This study is based on interpretive inquiry that presents the picture of teachers’ perceptions on learner autonomy, their practices and its promotion in the real classroom context of school education. The scarcity of autonomy friendly facilities, and learning environment hinders the concept of learning culture: ‘teach to learn and learn to teach’. Teaching by learning culture is a familiar schema in modern education system of Nepal. It relays on the professionalism of the teachers to promote autonomy friendly environment in school. Teachers self motivation, teaching learning culture, personal interest, their dedication and professionalism are considered crucial components to promote learner autonomy in Nepalese cultural context. This study facilitates the constructive practitioners who are dedicated to practice learner autonomy to their own cultural context and address learners needs. It provides context based teaching pedagogy to the innovative teachers. It requires the ability of the teachers to assimilate local cosmology with the global and apply learner friendly post method pedagogies to ensure learner autonomy. With the insights of the classroom practitioners and their lived experiences, it ventures the value of culture for autonomous learning.