Introduction

The data we presented in Chapter 5 support the claim that autonomous language learning in our sense produces greater TL fluency than a traditional textbook-based approach. We attribute this to two features of the autonomy classroom. First, the TL use that is at the centre of the learning process is authentic and spontaneous, metacognitive as well as communicative, and calculated to exploit learners' interests; and secondly, learners engage willingly in classroom activities because individual differences are accepted, all learners are respected and valued equally, and the development of learners' confidence and self-esteem is a key pedagogical aim. In this latter regard it is worth recalling what we explained in the Introduction (p. 6), that our approach first took shape as a response to the challenge of differentiation in mixed-ability classrooms. Nowadays, the concept of differentiation has been superseded by the altogether larger concept of inclusion. In this chapter we present two case studies of learners in the LAALE class which we believe support the claim that learner autonomy offers a way forward for inclusive education.

The move towards inclusion

In 1994 the World Conference on Special Needs Education, organized by the Spanish government in cooperation with UNESCO, issued the Salamanca Statement and Framework for Action on Special Needs Education (UNESCO, 1994). The Salamanca Statement is a response to the fact that millions of children all over the world are excluded from regular education; and as the accompanying Framework for Action makes clear, the concept of inclusion is all-embracing: