Writing involves a number of skills and being self-directed in the process would contribute to greater
effectivity. The concept of autonomography, or being self-directed in terms of writing, draws from the
literature on self-directed learning and specifically self-directed writing, where concepts such as selfregulation and learner autonomy are relevant in the language learning process. This study entailed the
development of a self-directed writing questionnaire through a thorough overview of the pertinent
literature and a consultative process with language experts in order to explore the nature of
autonomography among a selected Afrikaans-speaking university student population. The statistical
factor analyses confirm that autonomography involves a writer's self-directedness, voice and selfinvolvement, self-assessment and problem-solving, preference for own and expressive language,
sensitivity towards other languages and language varieties, metacognitive skills, approach to selfdirected writing on computer as well as editing and problem-solving on computer. These factors
provide measures but also key areas of development in writing instruction. In addition, the level of
autonomography wa
