SLA RESEARCH ON SELF-DIRECTION: THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL ISSUES

and interests. Following the CRAPEL model, and convinced of their theoretical
assumptions, we claimed that our objectives were:

to create the necessary conditions for the SAC users to Ieam to learn,
with this learning as a basis for learning a foreign language

(Clementeand Kissinger, 1994,16)

In order to meet these objectives we developed a working scheme of resources and
procedures.

The resources we had access to were basically of three types: materials, equipment
and counsellors. I shall now describe each of these types in turn.

2.4.3.1. Materials

The materials in the SAC can be divided into different categories. Our main
classification was according to the materials' source and purposes. Thus, we had didactic,
authentic and support materials. The didactic materials of English, for example, were
catalogued according to level, and content. In order for these materials to be available in
terms of physical and psychological access, we separated them into units. In this way,
several learners would be able to work with the same book at the same time. In relation to
goals, it was considered easier to set a short-term goal if the learner was working with a
single unit as opposed to handling a whole book. We started with around 500 hundred
different titles covering six different levels (elementary, pre-intermediate, intermediate,
upper-intermediate, advanced and proficiency) and the following categories: language
courses (some with video or audiocassettes), skill-focused books, dictionaries, games,
vocabulary books, exams and grammar-focused books.

Understanding that authentic materials were “ the record of any communicative act
in speech or writing that was originally performed in fulfilment of some personal or social
function”, as Little (1997b, 225) defines it, the authentic materials were classified according
to their genre and/or content. Thus, we started collections of films, obituaries, reviews, video

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