represent knowledge about one's own social and cognitive
features...concerning...capabilities and limitations,...degree of personal
control over academic achievement,... reasons for success and failure at
different tasks and...expectancies for the future (Wenden; 1991,12)
In Chapter 2, when I firstly defined the concept of autonomy, it was stated that
autonomy consists of an ability (to take charge of one's own learning) and an attitude (to be
willing to do it). This "favourable attitude towards independence in learning" (Dickinson;
1994,39), as was mentioned in section 3.4, is mostly the result of learners' beliefs
(Cotterail, 1995,195). Therefore, it can be said that learner's behaviour (Cotterail; 1995,202),
such as the use of strategies (O'Malley and Chamot; 1990,161), and motivation
(Riley;1996b,8) are the result of her attitude towards learning, which, in turn, is the result of
her beliefs towards learning (Wenden; 1991,52).
Due to this strong link of beliefs, attitudes and behaviour, there have been several
authors who have focused their attention to the study Ofbeliefs and their relationship to self-
directed learning (Little et al;1984, Wenden; 1987, 1991, Horwitz; 1987, Cotterall; 1995,
Riley; 1989, Broady; 1996, Press; 1996 and Femandez-Toro and Jones; 1996). I have been
referring to attitudes and beliefs towards learning, but these expressions are not accurate
since learning is not the only factor that plays an important role in this issue. There are many
other related factors. Unfortunately, as Riley (1996b, 8) has pointed out, there does not exist
yet a complete taxonomy of beliefs (or representations) about self-directed learning, which
undoubtedly would be very useful for leaming-to-leam frameworks.
However, the combination of the different elements that a number of studies have
mentioned help us to have a comprehensive idea of the beliefs that play a role in the attitude
towards self-directed learning. Fig. 4.4 summarises the findings of 6 different studies
(Wenden; 1987b, Horwitz;1987, Riley;1989, Piper; 1993, Cotterall; 1995 and Broady; 1996)8.
In his article on the topic, Riley (1996b) synthesises the conclusions of self-directed
learning research on beliefs about language learning (BALLs) in a very straightforward way:
(these) research projects...show quite clearly that learners' beliefs vary and that
different beliefs give rise to different behaviours and attitudes to, amongst other
things, self-instruction in language learning (22).
96
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