PDF #45 – Richard C Smith – Autonomy, context, and ‘appropriate methodology’
Is the promotion of learner autonomy just the latest top-down fashion in language teaching, or does it have a more universal, lasting significance? In this paper I provide examples from various historical and cultural contexts to show why I believe the promotion of a ‘‘strong’ version of pedagogy for autonomy is not just a passing trend, is not the invention of ‘experts’, and can be a particularly appropriate idea in non-western as in western classroom settings. I begin with historical examples which show that pedagogy for autonomy is not a new idea, although it might have been called by different names in the past and has remained, and probably still remains a minority pursuit in practice. I then consider how notions of autonomy seem to be spreading world-wide these days, and I attempt to show that this does not necessarily involve a western ‘imposition’ on non-western contexts, although over-simplistic interpretations which equate ‘developing autonomy’ with technology or top-down strategy training do seem to court this danger. I conclude that pedagogy for learner autonomy will continue to be valid in many contexts whether or not autonomy is simply the latest fashion in mainstream discourse on language education. However, if pedagogy for autonomy is to become genuinely mainstream in practice there is a continuing need for theories and ideas to be derived out of attempts by teachers to engage in appropriate (context-sensitive) experimentation, and to share insights regarding their practice, in resistance to the ever-changing fashions in top-down discourse on language education to which they are so often subjected.