I have made a start...

So, I have only glimpsed over all of the posts so far, and like Anne, feel that I should put down my own thoughts first (before I start stealing ideas!)

Do I feel I promote learner autonomy as a teacher? My honest answer would be no - I don’t think I really do (not sure I should have written that already!) Of course I encourage the students to learn independently and highlight the importance of it, but I don’t think I actually promote it – well, not in the classroom anyway. I think it all comes down to the individual and how motivated and interested they are, and I don’t think I can promote motivation (does that make sense?) Maybe I am taking this from my own experience as a student, which could be the wrong thing to do, but surely my experience as a student counts for something? I see it in the classroom everyday – those who are autonomous, and those that are clearly not. All of the promoting in the world from me, is not going to really change the fact that as soon as the students leave the classroom, they are going to go their own way, and do what they like. Of course I am not saying this about all students, as some will listen, take advice and be guided – but the realisation really has to come from them. To keep this short, I agree with the ‘Self-determination’ theory and the argument that ‘self regulated learning can occur only when the ability to control the strategic thinking processes is accompanied by the wish to do so’ (Ushiodo, 2006). Until the student really wants to learn, there is not much I can do to promote autonomy. The most I can do is make the lessons as interesting and beneficial as possible, and hope that the interest in the lessons will have an impact on the students’ independent learning. Could this raise the question then, that inadvertently I do promote independent learning in the classroom?

I think I am going to stop here for now even though I know I haven’t answered a lot of the questions, at least I have made a start, and actually now it has really got me thinking (now I get the point!) I think I could join in with Klaus on the use of technology, as I actually had an interview with Wall Street. I didn’t get the job as I was questioning their methods throughout the interview, however, I also had a student who had learnt all of her English at Wall Street, and she was at a pretty high level. I realise though, that this is a completely different issue, so I really will stop writing!