the learning situation which involves a learner and her goals (see discussion about this issue
in Widdowson, 1979,163-172, and van Lier; 1996, 125). In this sense, authenticity is created
when materials' features match with learner's purposes and needs. In fact, it is this last
definition that serves my purposes, for I am not dealing with the description of static
physical things (such as materials) but with the analysis of the highly dynamic phenomenon
of learning, that necessarily involves human beings and the context in which they interact.
Thus, according to van Lier (1996), authenticity can be defined as
a process of engagement in the learning situation, and as a
characteristic of the persons engaged in the learning. As such,
authenticity relates to who teachers and learners are and what they do as
they interact with one another for the purposes of learning.
(italics as in original, 125)
In order to give the reader a comprehensive account, I would like to discuss
authenticity of autonomy as an approach to second language learning from three different
levels: universal, cultural and individual^ In fact, this is the current concern of many
researchers on autonomy, as it can be seen in Benson's and Voller's introduction of their
book Autonomy and independence in language learning (1997), and which is re∩ected in
several of its articles:
One of key issues that is emerging in the field is how to reconcile
psychological and political (and individual and social) perspectives in
these concepts (autonomy and independence) (8)
When I put forward the cognitive model for self-directed learning (4.2, p. 78), I
stated that it was under the assumption that all self-directed learners carry out the same
cognitive process, with the same elements performing the same functions. In other words, it
is considered universal in the sense that it applies for all the instances of self-directed
learning, as it was defined. However, this does not mean that all learners are self-directed.
With this argument in mind, let me now discuss the universality of the learning process from
a different perspective.
4.3.3 The universal dimension of autonomy
When talking about autonomy, several researchers have made reference to the way
people Ieam in natural settings, i.e. outside school. In fact, the description of how we Ieam
to do hundreds of things, to carry out hundreds of processes, outside school, and without a