Autonomy and Its Role in English Language Learning: Practice and Research

This chapter picks up discussion in the previous edition of this handbook of how the concept of autonomy has influenced language education and applied linguistics in recent years. It begins by discussing the philosophical and practical origins of learner autonomy in language education and particularly in English language teaching and how these have developed over the last 10 years. Key practical initiatives and research findings are reviewed to illuminate how autonomy has been interpreted in relation to learners, teachers, and the learning situation; how it has been linked or contrasted with other constructs; and how fostering autonomy has been seen as a part of pedagogy. Recent developments from the earlier edition are discussed regarding metacognition and, in particular, various contextual dimensions of learner autonomy. Other emerging topics are also reviewed, including learner autonomy in the world of digital/social media, learner autonomy in curriculum design and published materials, and the relation of learner autonomy to plurilingual perspectives. The chapter discusses issues in each of these areas, potential strategies for developing autonomy and effective learning, and possible future directions for research and practice

Diversity in collaborative research communities: a multicultural, multidisciplinary thesis writing group in public health

Writing groups for doctoral students are generally agreed to provide valuable learning spaces for Ph.D. candidates. Here an academic developer and the eight members of a writing group formed in a Discipline of Public Health provide an account of their experiences of collaborating in a multicultural, multidisciplinary thesis writing group. We consider the benefits of belonging to such a group for Ph.D. students who are operating in a research climate in which disciplinary boundaries are blurring and where an increasing number of doctoral projects are interdisciplinary in nature; in which both academic staff and students come from enormously diverse cultural and language backgrounds; and in which teamwork, networking and collaboration are prized but not always proactively facilitated. We argue that doctoral writing groups comprising students from diverse cultural and disciplinary backgrounds can be of significant value for postgraduates who wish to collaborate on their own academic development to improve their research writing and communication skills; at the same time, such collaborative work effectively builds an inclusive, dynamic research community.Cally Guerin, Vicki Xafis, Diana V. Doda, Marianne H. Gillam, Allison J. Larg, Helene Luckner, Nasreen Jahan, Aris Widayati and Chuangzhou X