After setting the context with a look at the history of Learner Autonomy and CALL, and assumptions wrongly made in this area, that paper-based material is no longer preferred, that learners no longer like self-access centres (SACs), Huw presented research showing the move learners are making (from CALL to MALL).
It is no longer about explicit teaching and learning, or just realized in SACs, but learners are routinely multi-tasking and are more and more informally connecting with other English speakers using social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. Often this communication is based on hobbies (football, gaming, etc) that learners share.
Huw shared Stephen Krashen's 1982 research that distinguishes between learning, which is conscious, and acquisition, which is unconscious. Both, Huw believes are personal, social, academic, global and mediated through a range of digital devices. The rise in informal learning and mobile devices are the keys to understanding how learner autonomy and technology is changing.
Join us live from the PCE in Liverpool using the live stream (see http://ltsig.org.uk for details)
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