teacher or a textbook, is the best way to describe autonomous learning. As Dickinson, has
stated, "the most autonomous learners that I am aware of are small children, who are
obviously learning about themselves and about the world" (1993,331). We learn, during our
childhood, how to do many things, to walk, to handle a spoon, to play with a toy, indirectly,
implicitly, even intuitively, exactly in the same way Holec describes autonomy type (b) (see
2.3, p.25). We set goals, try out strategies, monitor our performance and assess the outcomes
constantly and, most of the times, successfully. There is no need in teaching a child how to
be an autonomous learner, she is an inborn autonomous learner already. With regards to first
language acquisition, Little highlights two ways in which the child is autonomous:
The first has to do with the (unconscious) agenda by which linguistic
development proceeds; the second has to do with the social freedom that the
child enjoys to interact with parents, siblings, relations, caregivers, and so on.
(1991; 24)
Hence, in Little’s words again:
Autonomy is not only the intended outcome of developmental learning: it
is also fundamental to its process....children cannot help but construct
their own knowledge, (1996b,2)
Or, as Riley has expressed it:
It may be culture...that provides the tools for organizing and
Imderstanding our worlds...but it is the individual child
who must appropriate those tools and Ieam how to deploy
them in the construction of his or her own meaning (1996b,21)
Furthermore, according to Little, it is the metacognitive capacity of human beings
(Riley, 1996b,21) (see 4.2.7, p.95) that allows them to be autonomous:
In the normal course of development the human child Ieams to think but
also to think about thinking; she develops beliefs, but also beliefs about
beliefs....Our potential for autonomous behaviour derives from the fact that
we are second-order as well as first-order intentional systems
(Little,1996b,2).
With regards to autonomy within the classroom, Dick Allright has carried out
interesting research. According to him, there is evidence of the existence of autonomy and
individualisation in teacher-led classroom interaction (1988,35). There are two arguments
that support his view. The first one lies on "the idiosyncrasy of classroom language
learning". Leamer autonomy is evident, he says, if we consider the fact that what is learned
depends on the learner and not on the teacher.