Maintaining Control: Autonomy and Language Learning

9. Learner autonomy, the European Language Portfolio and teacher development

Learner autonomy 147 Introduction This chapter is about learner autonomy and the contribution that the European Language Portfolio (ELP) can make to learner and teacher development in language learning contexts where learner autonomy is a central goal. The first part of the chapter explores the concept of autonomy as a basic human need, a general educational goal, and a determinant of language teaching programmes; the second part describes the ELP, first as a generic concept and then in the version developed by the EU-funded Milestone Project; and the third part reports on the use of the Milestone ELP with adult learners of English as a second language in Ireland. A brief conclusion draws together the threads of the argument and identifies goals for future research and development. Learner autonomy Autonomy and interdependence as basic human needs The American social psychologist Edward Deci defines autonomy as follows: Etymologically the term autonomy derives from being self-governing. To be autonomous means to act in accord with one’s self — it means 9 Learner autonomy, the European Language Portfolio and teacher development David Little 148 David Little feeling free and volitional in one’s actions. When autonomous, people are fully willing to do what they are doing, and they embrace the activity with a sense of interest and commitment. (Deci & Flaste 1996: 2) According to Deci, the opposite of “autonomous” is “controlled”: […] to be controlled means to act because one is being pressured. When controlled, people act without a sense of personal endorsement. Their behaviour is not an expression of the self, for the self has been subjugated to the controls. In this condition, people can reasonably be described as alienated. (Deci & Flaste 1996: 2) The distinction between autonomy and control is fundamental to Deci’s view of human motivation: autonomous behaviour is by definition motivated behaviour, whereas the alienation induced by controlled behaviour undermines intrinsic motivation (which is what makes us curious about our environment and ready to be proactive in exploring it). Deci argues that autonomy is one of three psychological needs that must be satisfied if we are to achieve self-fulfilment, the other two being competence and connectedness, both of which (like autonomy) exist in a symbiotic relation to intrinsic motivation. We have a feeling of competence when we confront and successfully overcome “optimal challenges” (1995: 66); and we experience connectedness when we love and are loved by others (1995: 88). It is sometimes assumed that the need for connectedness conflicts with the need for autonomy, but as Deci points out, that is to confuse autonomy with independence: Independence means to do for yourself, to not rely on others for personal nourishment and support. Autonomy, in contrast, means to act freely, with a sense of volition and choice. It is thus possible for a person to be independent and autonomous (i.e., to freely not rely on others), or to be independent and controlled (i.e., to feel forced not to rely on others). (Deci & Flaste 1996: 89) Deci’s view of what we need for self-fulfilment implicitly recognises our dual nature. On the one hand, each of us incorporates cognitive and affective processes to which no one else can have direct access: you cannot have my thoughts and feelings, and the extent to which I can penetrate your thoughts and feelings is limited. On the other hand, we are inescapably social beings: from the moment of our birth, we depend on other people in an infinite variety of ways. Without physical care Learner autonomy 149 babies die; without nurture their development is impaired; and without love they are exposed to emotional deformation. A human life lived from beginning to end in total isolation is literally unthinkable. The Soviet psychologist Lev Vygotsky (e.g. 1978, 1986) gave us a new understanding of the relation between the individual-cognitive and sociocultural dimensions of human experience, especially in child development. It is not that we are organisms whose cognitive processes just happen to occur in one or another social context; rather, the social context and social-interactive process shape cognition, while cognition in turn can act on social context and social-interactive process. In one sense, the individual-cognitive dimension has priority: remove a child from her social context and you merely remove her for the time being from the possibility of social interaction. But in another sense the sociocultural dimension has priority: Every function in the...