Self-access project
Description goes here.
You can view our AILA presentation given as part of the Autonomy Symposium here and read the abstract here.
Published papers
Below are a few papers that have been published using the data from this study. You can read them online.
Lázaro,
N. and Reinders, H. 2008. Independent Learning Centres: Tips
for Teachers. Sydney: NCELTR. 
.
This is a practical guide on all aspects of establishing and maintaining a self-access/independent learning centre.
Reinders, H. & Lazaro, N. 2008 'Current approaches to assessment in self-access'. TESL-EJ Journal, 11:3, 1-13. You can read the article here.
Reinders, H, & Lázaro, N. 2008. 'Technology in support of pedagogy: the case of self-access'. In: Zhang, F. & Barber, B. The Handbook of Research on Computer Enhanced Language Acquisition and Learning. , p. 469-482. Hershey: IGI. For more information see here
Reinders, H. & Lázaro, N. 2008 'The assessment of self-access language learning: practical challenges. ' Language Learning Journal, 36(1), 55-64.
Lázaro, N., & Reinders, H. 2007 'Innovation in self-access: Three case studies. CALL-EJ, 8(2). Available online.
Lázaro, N. & Reinders, H. 2007 'The state-of-the-art of self-access in New Zealand: results of a SWOT analysis. TESOLANZ Journal, 15: 42-58.
Recent discussions of agency and identity in language learning have focused largely on the learner. This study was motivated by an interest in understanding teachers’ roles as agents in the learning process and in particular their roles as facilitators of autonomous learning. This paper reports on a large-scale study that took place over three years in which extensive interviews were held with managers of 46 self-access centres in five countries. Such centres are generally based on principles of learner autonomy and the purpose of the study was to 1) understand the motivations of their managers in adopting these principles, 2) elicit their views on their own roles as language teachers, or facilitators, and 3) identify overlap and potential conflict between personal, institutional and (perceived) learners’ identities and motivations in this particular type of pedagogic environment (Aoki, 2001). The study used an etnographic approach to develop an understanding of the participants’ personal theories (Borg, 2003) of supporting autonomous language learning. It did this through a combination of open-ended interview questions and a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) of the language support offered in the centre. A categorical content analysis (L’Ecuyer, 1990) revealed a complex and sometimes conflicting interaction between the managers’ beliefs and their everyday roles which show that the concept of agency cannot be separated from those of motivation and identity. A particular area of tension (both negative, as frustration, and positive, as challenge) emerged as the relationship between personal beliefs and learners’ beliefs about autonomy and the roles of teachers and learners, as well as the perceived need to reconcile those.
Aoki, N. 2001. The institutional and psychological context of learner autonomy. In L. Dam (ed.),
Aila Review 15: Learner autonomy: new insights .
Borg, S. 2003. Teacher cognition in language teaching: A review of research on what language teachers think, know, believe and do. Language Teaching, 36: 81-109.
L'Ecuyer, R. 1990. Méthodologie de l'analyse développementale de contenu. Québec: Presses de l'université du Québec.