Free Webinar hosted by IATEFL on 20th August, 15.00 BST.
ABSTRACT: My presentation will be based on the belief that we develop language learner autonomy by harnessing the capacity for autonomous behaviour that our learners bring with them to the classroom. I shall argue that the development of their proficiency requires us not only to engage their agency – their capacity to take decisions, act on them, and evaluate the results – but to channel it from the beginning through the target language. This means that in order to develop language learner autonomy we must construct and maintain a learning conversation that is very different from the initiation–response–feedback pattern of traditional classroom discourse. I shall illustrate my argument with examples from classroom practice.
For more information see here: http://www.iatefl.org/join/webinars#coming
