Author Archive
Pedagogy for Autonomy in Modern Language Education: The EuroPAL contribution
by Manuel Jiménez Raya, University of Granada, Spain
(Published in Learner Autonomy in Language Learning, October, 2009)
1. Introduction
The notion of autonomy in learning has long been part of a wide range of educational philosophies and has recently been identified in educational policy as crucial to the development of Lifelong Learning in ‘the learning society”. Piaget (1965), for example, maintains that the ultimate aim of education is for the individual to develop the autonomy of thought to create new, original ideas rather than just recycle old ones. Besides, autonomy is one of the most fundamental values in modern western culture. As an educational aim, the development of autonomy is “the development of a kind of person whose thought and action in important areas of his life are to be explained by reference to his own choices, decisions, reflections, deliberations—in short, his own activity of mind” (Dearden, 1972, p. 70). There is a considerable agreement among educators that autonomy ought to be taken as a highly desirable aim of education. Within pedagogy as discipline, the goals of teacher development are then often formulated in terms that imply familiarity with the concepts of autonomy such as maturity, personal responsibility, self-esteem, self-awareness, and self-determination, among others. (more…)
Ethical concerns in practising and researching (E)FL by Leena Karlsson
(Published in Learner Autonomy in Language Learning, October, 2009)
When I started my doctoral work I was concerned about what I have called in the thesis ‘hardened stories’ (a description borrowed from Carola Conle, 2000). These were stories and images of language teachers and learners I had come across in my daily life as a teacher and a counsellor, as a reader of newspapers, Internet discussions and fiction, but also as a reader of research literature, and as a listener at conference and seminar presentations. According to Conle, a story becomes hardened when it is detached from its experiential moorings and made to serve a new teller’s purpose without acknowledgement of her meaning-making process. Stories have an attraction and appeal but they are also dangerous just because we are so used to encountering them: even the hardened ones are often a part of learners’ and teachers’ daily lives and (separate) discussions. (more…)
November, 2009 Bulletin
Dear ReNLA members,
We’re writing to give you an update on recent ReNLA activities and to ask for your input. We hope you enjoy the new web-based format for this Bulletin. Feel free to use the comment boxes on each page or e-mail us directly.
1. Call for proposals: ReNLA Symposium at AILA 2011 in Beijing – ‘Social Dimensions of Autonomy’
2. Work Underway on New Website
3. Learner Autonomy in Language Learning (LALL) Section of Website
4. Recent Publications Section of Website
We look forward to receiving your proposals for the AILA 2011 conference, as well as notices about upcoming events, your short articles, reports and reviews, and references to recent publications for the website. Also, should you have issues or announcements you’d like us to bring to members’ attention, please let us know and we’ll try to include them in the next bulletin. Until you hear from us again, please consider exploring the website from time to time: http://www.ailarenla.org/ or (new site under construction, here) http://renautonomy.wordpress.com/
Best wishes,
GaroldMurray (garold.murray@gmail.com) and Richard Smith (R.C.Smith@warwick.ac.uk)
(Convenors of the AILA Research Network on Learner Autonomy in Language Learning, 2008-2011)
Welcome to the AILA Research Network on Learner Autonomy
AILA – ASSOCIATION INTERNATIONALE DE LINGUISTIQUE APPLIQUÉE (International Association of Applied Linguistics)
This AILA Research Network (ReN) is a group of just over 400 language educators and researchers from all over the world who are interested in the study of learner autonomy in language learning.
The main purposes of our organization are to gather and disseminate information on research in our field and to keep members abreast of events and publications.
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