Where There’s a Will There’s a Way... to Teacher and Learner Autonomy: Landmarks of a Teaching Career

Abstract

Although ten years ago most writing on learner autonomy still did not explicitly relate it to teacher development prerequisites, my experience in the past seventeen years tells me that the development of learner and teacher autonomy are intimately interconnected. The aim of this article is to highlight the importance of teacher development within a framework in which reflective practice is articulated with an intentional focus on learner autonomy. It is structured in three sections, each one of them corresponding to what I call “landmarks” in my career as a foreign language teacher, from the first hesitant steps as an in-service teacher trainee to a more confident professional engagement in the promotion of innovation in
school practices.