Learner Autonomy and Web 2.0

The advent of networked digital technologies, in enabling language learners to collaborate and create content online, has given rise to new ways in which learners are able to express their autonomy. Learner Autonomy and Web 2.0 explores tensions between the “classical” definitions of learner autonomy and the learning dynamics observed in specific online contexts. Some of the contributions argue for the emergence of actual new forms of autonomy, others consider that this is merely a case of “old wine in new bottles”. In this volume, autonomy is seen as emerging and developing in a complex relationship with L2 proficiency and other competencies. The volume takes an expansive view of what is meant by Web 2.0 and, as a result, a wide diversity of environments is featured, ranging from adaptive learning systems, through mobile apps, to social networking sites and - almost inevitably - MOOCs. Paradoxically, autonomy is seen to flourish in some quite restricted contexts, while in less constrained environments learners experience difficulty in dealing with a requirement to self-regulate.


Individual chapters run the gamut of age groups, learning activities and online environments. The stage for all of them is set by an exchange in which David Little and Steve Thorne discuss the evolution of the concept of language learner autonomy, from its origins in the era of self-access resource centres to its more recent instantiations in online (and offline) learning communities. Subsequent contributors include an exploration how autonomy can be exercised even within the constraints of adaptive learning systems, a discussion of the metacognitive operations engaged in by autonomous adult learners in a French/Australian teletandem exchange, a look at an ecological paradigm of autonomy to conceptualise its emergence in relation to the use of mobile apps by primary- and secondary-level language learners in Canada, a study of how learner autonomy with a markedly social and empathic dimension drives collaboration in a Facebook-based collaborative writing project, a study of the autonomy stances adopted by different groups of learners using the Busuu online language exchange platform, an analysis of the difficulties encountered by a group of trainee language teachers in engaging with a range of language MOOCs and finally a study of how autonomy is experienced by advanced learners of English with a preference for online informal learning based on gaming and streamed video.

Marco Cappellini is an associate professor in the Department of French as a Foreign Language at Aix-Marseille University and a member of the joint research unit Laboratoire Parole & Langage. He obtained a PhD in Language Sciences (Foreign Language Didactics) in 2014 at Lille 3 University (joint research unit STL). His research interests include tandem learning, interactionist approaches to FL learning, FL teaching and learning through CMC and teacher education and the integration of ICT in FL education. Since 2007, he has been a FL teacher and teachers' trainer in secondary school (France) and in higher education (France and China). Tim Lewis has taught languages and cultures since 1980 in London, Sheffield, and elsewhere. As founding Director of the Modern Languages Teaching Centre of the University of Sheffield (1993-2001), Tim integrated Tandem language learning into the curriculum and was the UK partner in the International Email Tandem Network and successor projects, led by Ruhr Universitat Bochum (1994-2000). Tim is currently Director of Postgraduate Studies in the Centre for Research in Education and Educational Technology at the Open University. Tim's key publications include Autonomous Language Learning in Tandem (2003), Language Learning Strategies in Independent Settings (2008) and Online Intercultural Exchange: Policy, Pedagogy, Practice (2016). Tim is currently engaged in the EU-funded Evaluate project, which seeks to research the effectiveness of telecollaboration in teacher education. Annick Rivens Mompean is Professor of English Didactics at Lille 3 University (France) where she is currently Vice-President in charge of Language Policy, and a member of the joint research unit Savoirs Textes Langage (STL-UMR 8163 CNRS). Her research interests include Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) and Computer Mediated Communication (CMC). She is also interested in the development of autonomy related to language learning, especially in the learning context of language resource centers. To deal with these topics, she refers to complexity theory and systemic approach, which enables her to modelize the learning environment in a dynamic perspective. She is the president of RANACLES, the French Association of Language Centres in Higher Education, affiliated to the European Confederation of Language Centres in Higher Education (CERCLES). She has also been the director of Lille 3 Language Centre for more than 12 years.