Increasing numbers of students and teachers are being exposed to some form of autonomy in teaching or learning in new situations around the world, and, partly for this reason, autonomy continues to stimulate a large quantity of literature. There are many different interpretations of the concept of autonomy; some of these differences can be explained by the route by which it arrived in language teaching from other fields (psychology, pedagogy, politics or philosophy); others are due to paradigm preference. One conception is that of the resourceful and capable learner who is self-sufficient. Another is largely a result of a paradigm shift, often called the ‘social turn’, and views autonomy as a fundamentally social phenomenon of interaction. This, in very general terms, is how most of the contributors to these five volumes would probably describe their stance. Another influence on autonomy is its increasing popularity, with new interpretations arising in new contexts. With the spread of autonomy it becomes important to ask how best to support it, but the answer to this may be tied to the particular conception of autonomy adopted. The books chosen here will be discussed with particular regard to the question of support. They are all collections, and are recent and substantial additions to the field. The contributors are active practitioners who are trying to foster autonomy among their learners, and all aim to be inclusive by covering a range of contexts from across the world.

Pemberton, Toogood & Barfield's Maintaining control: Autonomy and language learning is a collection of 11 articles positioned as a sequel to the 1996 collection Taking control: Autonomy in language learning (Pemberton et al. Reference Pemberton, Li and Pierson1996), which contains papers that are still often cited. It features authoritative work by leading theorists and practitioners and considers different types of learner from secondary school to university, from teacher education to curriculum development. With autonomy moving into the mainstream and being increasingly taken up as a goal of language education, this book steps back to consider the changes that have taken place since the publication of the first volume and how best to adapt and continue. It approaches the field mainly from a critical socio-cultural perspective that sees autonomy as evolving in specific contexts, not as a set of skills to be learnt.

The first section is an introduction by the editors, followed by the section ‘Theories and discourses of autonomy and language learning’, which begins with Benson's paper ‘Making sense of autonomy in language learning’, a thought-provoking and well analysed discussion of how autonomy is defined and how it should be interpreted in the context of the growing worldwide interest in autonomy. Esch opposes the idea of individual personal autonomy, preferring critical socially-situated autonomy (p. 27). With the mainstreaming of autonomy she asks ‘whether the radical aspects of the concept of autonomy as proposed by Holec (Reference Holec1981: 3) have been distorted’ (p. 31). Esch maintains that it is necessary to take into account the political and ideological context. Riley also sees autonomy as situated, explaining in detail why he feels that the promotion of autonomy (and teaching in general) should be handled with cultural sensitivity, but he says that this is difficult, since to avoid unconscious assumptions about what is in the comfort zones of different students it is not enough to have good intentions. He introduces the concept of discursive dissonance to express the idea of conflicting discourses which consciously or unconsciously challenge the identity of learners.

Moving to more practical examples, Section 3, ‘Practices of learner autonomy’, begins with Lamb's reflections on research at a secondary school. He feels that underachievement and low motivation should be seen as a failure not of the learners but of the system. Learning context can influence the extent to which a learner feels in control of learning and so of motivation. Learners can be taught techniques to help them feel in control, though Lamb's research suggests that extrinsic rewards are only acceptable with the long-term goal of developing intrinsic motivation. Metacognition is a key factor and, in her chapter, Cotterall wanted to find out about the relationship between learners’ developing metacognitive knowledge of writing and the adoption of writing strategies. She found evidence that metacognitive knowledge about writing can be enhanced by the conditions created during a course, and that the learners became sufficiently confident to transfer this knowledge to new contexts.

In Section 4 the focus moves to teacher autonomy. Little argues that humans need to be autonomous – they want to be able to reflect and use language – and this ability is built up in dialogue with others, but traditionally schools have incorrectly treated learning as a monologue and this commonly results in alienated rather than autonomous learners. Teaching to develop learner autonomy must involve negotiation, sharing and reflection and Little gives three corresponding principles for autonomy: learner involvement, appropriate target language use, and learner reflection. I will argue in the Discussion section below that the first two of these have particular relevance to the notion of support. The next three papers highlight issues around individual autonomy, in which the focus is on the feelings and skills of the individual, versus a group conception of autonomy. Sinclair discusses the development of e-learning exemplar materials for teacher trainees in China to help them see how to support autonomy better in their classes. Sinclair initially surveyed teachers to find the current situation in China and, based on the results, decided that the e-learning materials should support the areas of metacognitive knowledge and strategies, psychological and methodological preparation for autonomy, and practice in self-direction. Aoki & Kobayashi describe how there is growing awareness in the literature that learners are not passive beings whose learning can be modelled and determined using a limited number of variables. They make the case for first-person accounts of learners’ experiences, as they are the best way of providing information vital to the understanding of the complex ways that learners learn, and therefore of how best to support them. Nix & Barfield look at the pitfalls of trying to involve other teachers in a vision for autonomy when they do not fully share that vision. They make the point that they had in effect tried to take away ‘private autonomy’ and enforce a controlled communal autonomy, and they conclude that ‘the project of collaborative autonomy must always engage with questions of power’ (p. 238).

The final section is Smith & Ushioda's commentary chapter entitled ‘“Autonomy”: Under whose control?’ It is perhaps the most interesting and thought-provoking article in the collection, being a refreshing, timely and well-aimed call for a reassessment of expectations regarding language-learner autonomy in the face of the reality of autonomy's popularisation over the last ten years.

This collection will be of interest to teachers and student teachers, applied linguistics students and researchers. It is one of the most accessible of the current collections, with an impressive array of notable authors and interesting papers which have been well organised.

Reconstructing autonomy in language education: Inquiry and innovation, edited by Barfield & Brown, is a collection of 18 articles with an introduction by David Little. All the authors have a social-constructivist view of autonomy, which is in accordance with the editors’ concern with the need to hear the voices of all the contributors. This concern led them to produce the book with the help of online discussions and the pairing up of authors in different geographical locations. The chapters in the collection intentionally shuttle between theory and practice and are divided into three sections, each ending with a commentary. In his introduction, Little outlines the standard life cycle of an innovation in teaching, but maintains that autonomy is different because it has not been delivered top-down from theorists to practitioners but, rather, has been developed by practitioners who were at the same time developing it in the real world. Little thinks autonomy can survive as a mass phenomenon, though clearly this chapter reflects concerns within the autonomy field about how it will fare (cf. Esch and Smith & Ushioda in Maintaining Control mentioned above), and I will return to this in connection with support in the Discussion section below.

All the authors in Part 1 ‘Teacher and learner education’ illustrate that working towards learner autonomy is not a smooth and linear process with predictable outcomes. What emerges is that conflicts are common, but that they can be turned to opportunities. For example, Akaranthi & Panlay present their research on a common occurrence: the introduction of a new government initiative, in this case a scheme promoting learner-centred teaching in Thailand. The authors conclude that teachers and students should collaborate and hold discussions to solve their problems with the new policy. Alfredo Moreira finds conflicts where theoretical beliefs meet the practical empowerment of students while trying to apply democracy in the classroom. Brown, Smith & Ushioda describe how they faced a situation which will be familiar to many teachers, that of learner resistance to autonomy. The authors outline how they gathered data on what learners felt and how they made successful changes to their procedures as a result of student feedback.

Part 2 looks at classroom practice, but explores it in a more emotional way than some might expect. Shao & Wu, for example, gathered qualitative data regarding a ‘caring approach’ to learners’ ‘deep life concern for the meanings that emerge spontaneously in the pedagogic process’ (p. 97) which ‘nurtures’ learners’ autonomy and depends on ‘happenings of truth’. Nicoll is disarmingly frank about his self-doubt in his attempt to be more learner-centred in a course he taught in Japan. He admits to drawbacks, but sees these as ‘the necessary price of co-creating a more truly collaborative learning environment’ (p. 125). Oxford, Meng, Yalun, Sun & Jain remind us that learners should be able to talk about their problems because this would help them overcome them, and that adversity can be a ‘powerful teacher’. Nix believes that learning skills such as note-taking are important for successful autonomous learning, though there are chicken-and-egg questions about the causal links.

Part 3 turns the focus to self-access learning and collaboration. The connecting theme seems to be that collaboration within and among the levels from government to learners is the key to the success of autonomy schemes. For example, Darasawang, Singhasiri & Keyuravong report on a government scheme in Thailand to introduce self-access centres. The authors find there were many problems, stemming from a lack of support for teachers and learners in a top-down scheme, which could be improved by more continuing support, consultation and collaboration. Young, Hafner & Fisher, looking at teachers’ reactions to the introduction of an independent learning component in courses, also find that teachers benefit from collaborative reflection. Collaboration in the form of teamwork among learners continues the theme in Kennedy & Pinter's contribution. Over the years they observed that trainee teachers working in teams tend to produce better work than do individuals. They therefore encouraged teamwork, though they found that as this was a new concept to many of the students, it was necessary to establish support systems to help them deal with group processes. In the commentary to Part 3, Mackenzie highlights the fact that programmes which are initiated bottom-up are more likely to succeed than those initiated elsewhere.

In this collection, collaboration to build autonomy and how autonomy schemes can and should be initiated and supported again emerge as key themes. It presents much first-hand experience which may provide useful material for reflection. It is without doubt a major contribution to the field, though of all the books reviewed this is perhaps the most inaccessible for the lay reader, because it is deeply committed to a social-constructivist approach to autonomy.

The collection Learner autonomy 10: Integration and support, edited by David Gardner, is an addition to the Learner Autonomy series of pocket-sized books from Authentik dealing with key areas in the language learner autonomy field. Gardner's introduction is followed by seven chapters of research on the integration and support of autonomy in taught courses, distance learning and self-access. In the first chapter, Gardner examines learners’ perceptions and self-reports following the introduction of a scheme to integrate a self-access component into an English for specific purposes course, to ascertain whether it can be seen as successful. Fisher, Hafner & Young find that a key element for the successful introduction of learner independence is to ensure that it is fully integrated into the whole course. Turning to distance learning, White's chapter addresses the change from a technology-driven view of the future to a more ‘ecological’ approach, where the learners’ relationship to their situation and their ability to control it is key. Murphy considers the tutor's point of view, and finds that to function effectively, tutors need support in and experience of ways to promote autonomy. Baumann finds that the development of autonomy is constrained by the imposition of learning outcomes. Kjisik finds that it is necessary to treat learners holistically, considering together their linguistic, metacognitive, psychological and social needs. Hobbs & Jones-Parry describe how they developed autonomy-supporting advisory services in their independent learning centres, and how learners reacted to them.

All the papers are firmly grounded in practical situations and give a feel of professionals confronting the challenges of promoting autonomy in the real world. The volume provides material upon which readers can reflect and draw conclusions, and it will be relevant for anyone with an interest in the practical application and support of autonomy schemes.

In the introduction to Supporting independent language learning: Issues and interventions edited by Terry Lamb & Hayo Reinders, the editors tackle the question of what independent language learning is in contrast to autonomous learning, but find a very large variety of meanings and examples. Judging from the contributions in this volume, investigating ‘independent’ learning means considering the autonomy of an individual learner who is less embedded than a more traditional student in an immediate supportive social context. Situations such as one-to-one advising, distance learning, self-access centres, or using computers are examined, grouped into two sections, Issues and Interventions.

In the first of the chapters in Part I (Issues), Bailley & Ciekanski investigate the adviser–learner relationship in the support of reflective independent learning. They studied the interactions between a learner and her adviser, and show how those interactions manifested all the components of a community of practice. Gremmo & Castillo investigate whether advisors in language centres should specialise in one language or deal with many. They find that plurilingual advising is preferable as it allows flexible scheduling, promotes an increased knowledge of resources, and leads to a greater focus on overall language learning methodology. Moving to distance learning, White gives a useful introduction to the field of distance learner support. Surveying the literature of the field, she shows that much so far is ad hoc and that the rapid expansion of online learning has overtaken the research. Lamb looks at the perceptions of language learners in a UK secondary school about how they were introduced to and supported in independent learning. Lamb finds learning skills are a key area, and that teachers should listen to students’ perceptions as this builds confidence and allows students more independence.

In Part II (Interventions), Jiménez Raya's chapter makes the case for learner journals as a way to promote metacognition, constructive learning, motivation and positive affect. Echoing Part 3 of Reconstructing autonomy in language education, Mozzon-McPherson & Dantec find that the success of learner training programmes depends on long term commitment from the learners, teacher/advisers and the institution, and that they should be supported by staff development and informed by research. Toogood & Pemberton present their model for self-access language learning, which provides a framework for learners while also allowing them to maintain substantial control through making their own study targets. The final two chapters of this volume look at aspects of the use of computer technology in learner autonomy. Gläsmann describes autonomy-promoting online learning communities and looks at how creating and maintaining such a community can be facilitated, while Reinders presents a new interactive virtual learning environment which supports students in the self-access centre in a way which leaves responsibility with the learners. Reinders finds that increased support from teaching staff was needed and that human interaction was very important.

This collection provides different perspectives on independence in language learning which will be of interest to a variety of readers as it covers a wide range of situations, including learner advising, high schools, self-access centres, online learning, language classes and learner training courses. It will resonate with anyone who has experience in self-access centres. The collection shows that support is a key factor in both independence and autonomy (not only for the learners but also for the staff who support them) and continues the theme that collaboration is essential for autonomy.

Finally, Learner and teacher autonomy: Concepts, realities and responses, also edited by Lamb & Reinders, is a collection of 13 articles with a foreword by Henri Holec and an introduction and epilogue both by Terry Lamb. The book is concerned mainly with teacher autonomy and teacher training. Based on presentations from the 2002 AILA World Congress in Singapore, the articles in this volume were written using a process similar to that employed in Reconstructing autonomy in language education. Lamb provides helpful introductory and concluding pieces to orientate and aid the reader. The chapters are organised into three sections: Concepts, Realities and Responses. The focus is on teachers’ freedom to change their teaching to promote their students’ self-directed learning, and on how teachers’ experiences of their own autonomous language learning can influence their teaching.

The Concepts section contains four chapters, of which I think Phil Benson's contribution is the most interesting, as it dives in and addresses the question of what autonomy is. Benson thinks it is necessary to look at the broader area of personal autonomy beyond language learning in order to understand how learners see autonomy. Trebbi maintains that freedom is required for autonomy, but there are different types of freedom and all situations have constraints. Trebbi suggests there are ‘good’ (supportive) constraints and ‘bad’ ones, on a continuum. Macaro asks who judges the standards of language competence that are needed for assessing the autonomy of language competence, and decides that it is better not to have defined standards as they can embody oppression. Choice underpins autonomy, and Macaro concludes that the measure of success for a school may be the degree to which it can assign choice. La Ganza maintains that autonomy – while involving taking control and responsibility, using learning strategies, and being self-directed – is also an interrelational construct where the parties involved can use or refrain from using their influence to create a learner/teacher-generated ‘Dynamic Interrelational Space’ conducive to both learner and teacher autonomy.

In the Realities section, Martinez analyses the subjective theories of student teachers about their language learning and their learner autonomy. She shows that for teacher education it is necessary to foster metacognitive awareness of the self as a learner, of the language learning process, and of learning to learn. Cotterall & Crabbe's research aim was to understand better the relation of teacher autonomy to learner autonomy and so help to clarify, and potentially change, the classic teacher (expert) and learner (novice) roles. They built a really useful-sounding database of problems and suggested solutions (which may perhaps be worth developing and making available online?). Siqueira Nicolaides’ aim was to examine how learners see their role in their own learning, including the importance of being in control and how they deal with opportunities to exercise autonomy. She found that learners tend to treat decisions made outside the classroom as their responsibility. Hacker & Barkhuizen look at how trainee teachers make their own theories about language learning during a training course. The authors found that trainees’ explicit knowledge of their personal theories of language teaching was vital to their professional development.

The Responses section contains four chapters. Shaw discusses the developing understanding of teacher and learner autonomy at the Asian Institute of Technology, where many students see language as a tool, not an end in itself. Shaw raises a number of challenging points regarding autonomy in practice, of which the following three stand out for me. Firstly, that there is a danger of a dogmatic application of autonomy. Secondly, he advocates a needs-based attention to the support of the individual student which is pragmatic, flexible, not worked out in advance, and not based on a philosophy of encouraging autonomy. Shaw's third point is that there is a need for disinterested evaluation of student progress, which can too often be based on optimism and marketing considerations. Reinders & Lewis involved teachers in assessing the independent-study value of self-access materials using an evaluative tool. The authors found that the tool helped teachers to develop their own autonomy by encouraging reflection, and the staff also appreciated the opportunity to have a say about the self-access centre materials. Vieira, Barbosa, Paiva & Fernandes report on case studies carried out in a pre-service Masters-level course. They found that there is a need for learner autonomy and teacher autonomy to develop in tandem by collaboration. They conclude that it is necessary to identify the factors that hold back autonomy in a given context and create ways to overcome them. Sinclair's chapter reports on a project to develop collaborative teaching and learning, looking at the design and delivery of a Masters-level course in learner autonomy. Her conclusion also favours collaboration, as it provides a rich source of reflection and awareness-raising for both participants and lecturer.