SLA RESEARCH ON SELF-DIRECTION: THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL ISSUES

transmit my conviction and enthusiasm to everybody. I started reading about the subject and
having meetings with the teachers and with the authorities, although the purpose when
addressing these two parties was very different. In the former I wanted to share information
with the teachers, that is, to tell them about the good news, whereas in the latter I wanted to
convince the authorities. After several meetings with both parties, I achieved my goals. On
the one hand the teachers were willing to start participating in training courses and working
in the preparation of materials and, on the other hand, the university authorities decided to
open a SAC in Oaxaca. They signed an agreement with the Ministry of Education.
According to the agreement, the University was going to receive a specific amount of money
to be administered and spent by the university on material resources, equipment and staff
training. The university, in turn, was responsible for providing staff working hours and
appropriate premises. As a part of the nation-wide scheme, the Ministry of Education was
also responsible for in-training courses and the organisation of national and regional
conferences and work groups.

I have to admit that it was not easy to explain the concept of a self-access centre. At
the beginning, nobody seemed to understand it. However, the different training courses
helped the teachers to have a better idea of what a self-access centre was. Nevertheless, there
were several that stood fast in their belief that the SAC was going to be more a resource
centre for the teachers than for the students. We attended four different courses before the
centre was opened (see section 2.4.3.3, p 36). However, as the reader will see in a later
chapter, it was not until we opened the SAC and experienced working with students that we
(even I who was selling the idea) really realised the meaning of it.

For the University authorities, the situation was different. At the beginning my
approach to them was to compare the SAC facilities with a Iibraryi. ɪ thought that it was a
good way to describe the layout and function of a SAC. However, I suddenly realised that
they were not very happy with the comparison. If they were going to embark in such an
expensive project it had to be much more sophisticated than a simple library. Obviously,
they were interested in the public role (Sturtridge; 1997, 79) of the new project, something
that was going to reflect well on them as university authorities. Finally, they decided to

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