Running head: AUTONOMOUS LEARNING 1

Autonomous Learning

Laura M. Moros

Institución Universitaria Colombo Americana

AUTONOMOUS LEARNING 2

Abstract

Autonomous learning is a teaching style implemented in some places in order to help

students become more independent and self reliable for their education. In this type of

teaching the student is the one responsible for their rhythm of learning. Implementing this

education style everywhere could help students to become more responsible and self

reliable. During this process professors must help the student in the learning process by

providing them with the resources the student might need. There must be a great deal of

trust and communication. The student must be able to speak to his or her professor when

needed and receive tutoring if it is considered necessary. In this paper we will talk about

autonomous learning when being applied to the learning of a second language.

Key Words:

Autonomous learning, responsibility, communication, tutoring.

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Autonomous Learning

Autonomous learning is a relatively new learning method that is being implemented

by some people for teaching. This new approach to teaching and learning is very interesting

because the load of work is now more emphasized on the student than on the teacher. For

many years teaching methods had been almost the same all around the world. We were

used to the normal classroom environment where the teacher would prepare a 45 minute to

1 hour class and stand in the front of the room to give a lecture to the students. With

autonomous learning, this method changes drastically. The main idea of this new method is

to give the students more freedom to decide how they wish to learn according to each

individual’s needs and when they will do what is required of them. Of course, the downside

for students is that with the more freedom they receive comes more responsibility as well.

When we say that the method changes drastically compared to the class

environment we were used to having, it does not mean that the teacher is now free of his or

her responsibilities. They must work along with the student and make sure that he is

receiving the help he or she may need. The role now changes from the “authority” of the

classroom to a tutor or mentor. Even though the student is the one in charge of deciding

how much time he will invest in each subject and what is the method he will use in order to

gain the knowledge he is required to have, he has the constant support of the teacher in

case he fails to understand on his own.

According to Henry Holec (Holec, 1979) learner autonomy is the “ability to take

charge of one’s own learning”. As mentioned previously, Holec says that in autonomy the

learner is the one in charge of taking the decision to study and to do so responsibly. Holec

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believed that the ability to learn in with this method was not inborn in people. This means

that people are not born being responsible for their own learning; or simply responsible in

general. Holec stated that in order to implement this learning method people must first

learn how to be responsible in order to begin learning the second language or desired

subject. In his book The Modern Practice of Adult Education, Malcolm Knowles (Knowles,

1970) talks about the same theory. He says that an adult learner is responsible for what they

learn, when they learn it and how it will be learned. This research made by Knowles was

done from an adult learning point of view. He believed that children and adults should have

a different approach to new languages and education in general. There are many more

autonomy researchers we could study and read who state similar theories, as so not to say

the same, as the previously mentioned ones.

Autonomous learning is more than just simple theories of how to become a better

learner. As we previously saw this is something that must be learned. No one is born being

responsible or knowing what is the best way for them to learn a specific subject. The most

important thing in autonomous learning are the different learning styles or strategies.

According to O’Malley and Chamot (O'Malley & Chamor, 1995) learning strategies are “the

special thoughts or behaviors that individuals use to help them comprehend, learn, or retain

new information”. According to Cook’s Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition (Cook,

1993: cited in Dimitrios Thanasoulas, 2002) we can divide these learning strategies into two

basic types: cognitive strategies and meta-cognitive strategies.

Cognitive strategies:

- Repetition: imitating others’ speech

- Resourcing: using dictionaries and materials

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- Translation: using mother tongue to learn the new language

- Note-taking

- Deduction: application of language rules

- Contextualization: embedding a word or phrase in a meaningful sequence

- Transfer: use information from first language to learn in the second language

- Inferencing: matching an unfamiliar word with available information

- Question for Clarification: asking teacher to explain

Meta-cognitive strategies:

- Directed attention: decide in advance to concentrate in a general aspect of a task

- Selective attention: paying attention to a specific aspect of a task

- Self-monitoring: checking performance while speaking

- Self-evaluation: checking performance in relation with one’s own standards

- Self-reinforcement: rewarding one’s own success.

All these tools that were given by Cook that I just mentioned are very useful and may

help a student in his or her learning. But, even with all these tools a student needs a

motivation. “Meeting and interiorizing the grammar of a foreign language is not

simply an intelligent, cognitive act. It is a highly affective one too…” (Rinvolucri,

1984). It’s very important for a student to have a motivation in order to make this

knowledge into something they have inside them. When a student understands

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why it is that he or she is learning the subject they will be more willing and open

to studying and doing well in this class. Their emotions will motivate them to learn

the most they possibly can.

Autonomous learning is a very interesting approach to education that

should be more profoundly studied by teachers. It may seem to be a complicated

when it comes to keeping track of the education of a student, but at the same

time is teaches students responsibility. It will help them become more

independent and teach them that they have the tools to learn whatever it is they

want.

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Bibliography

Cook. (1993: cited in Dimitrios Thanasoulas, 2002). What is Learner Autonomy and How Can it be Fostered? Retrieved September 11, 2010, from http://www3.telus.net/linguisticsissues/learnerautonomy.html

Holec, H. (1979). The European Centre for Modern Languages. Retrieved September 11, 2010, from http://archive.ecml.at/mtp2/Elp_tt/Results/DM_layout/00_10/06/06%20Supplementary%20text.pdf

Knowles, M. S. (1970). The Modern Practice of Adult Education; Andragogy versus Pedagogy. In M. S. Knowles. New York: The Association Press.

O'Malley, J. M., & Chamor, A. U. (1995). Learning Strategies in Second Language Adquisition. New York: Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge.

Rinvolucri, M. (1984). Grammar Games. Edinburgh: Cambridge University Press.