A BRIEF HISTORY OF LEARNER INDEPENDENCE
Brian Knight

1970s
NEEDS ANALYSIS
Needs, wants & desires.
Caring about students.
But needs analysis idea is based on idea of students as a group.

mid-1970s
SELF ACCESS + ABDICATION OF RESPONSIBILITY
Led onto self-access centres.
Teachers unsure about their role - teachers didn't help, just let their students get on with it.
Still thinking of students as a group.

1980s
THE GOOD LANGUAGE LEARNER
Strategies ("proven") which a good language learner uses.
Movement to try & teach students to learn using these strategies.
BUT individual students use different strategies.

1990s
LEARNER INDEPENDENCE
All the above lead to what learner independence became from the 90s.
The learner should be in control of his/her learning.
But what?
When?
Where?
How?
Students must be made aware of different resources.

and now in 2003
& what is the teacher's role in this?
Do students even want this?
What of the constraints most institutions place on teachers?