Re-placing the Jewel in the Crown of Autonomy: A Revisiting of the ‘Self’ or ‘Selves’ in Self-Access

While self-access resources enjoyed a wave of popularity in the 1980s and early 1990s and like the language labs of previous decades saw considerable financial investment in terms of space, materials, equipment and teacher commitment, with the coming of the Internet and other technologies, there seems to have been less rather than more concern for Self-access Language Learning (SALL). This seeming decline of interest in SALL has, somewhat paradoxically, been accompanied by what seems to be a surge of interest in autonomy and examination of the many ways that autonomy can be promoted in language learning. Rather than clarifying the relationship between self-access and autonomy, it may have become more blurred and indistinct. The author outlines four elements, involving strategic learning, which she believes to be essential in the promotion of autonomy and then briefly discusses the ‘self’ or ‘selves’, or internal resources which learners must ‘access’ if they are to succeed in an autonomous or self-access mode and improve their learning. Viewed in these wider terms of strategically accessing both internal and external resources, self-access takes on a whole new significance and, indeed, can be returned to its rightful place as the ‘jewel’ in the ‘crown’ that is autonomy