Teacher development for autonomy: An exploratory review of language teacher education for learner and teacher autonomy

Abstract

The development of autonomy is acknowledged as a prominent educational goal in discussions of language education, but it is hardly a reality in many schools. One of the reasons for this discrepancy is the lack of teacher education programmes addressing teacher and learner autonomy as valid educational concerns. Because teacher education is vital for the enactment of autonomy in classroom practice, this paper reviews previous work on the development of language teacher education initiatives for teacher and learner autonomy. It analyses different aspects of these initiatives (e.g. conceptual framework, teacher development strategies, outcomes, etc.) to draw relevant conclusions for future action in the field.