Compulsory self-directed learning : contradiction or challenge ?

Sophie Bailly (1, 2) , Emmanuelle Carette (1, 2)

1 CRAPEL - Centre de Recherches et d'Applications Pédagogiques en Langues
2 ATILF - Analyse et Traitement Informatique de la Langue Française

This article presents the development of ongoing action research on self-directed learning (SDL) that we started in 2004 at the department of French as a foreign language at Nancy University (DEFLE). The DEFLE used to offer what we might call “traditional” classes, until SDL was introduced as a means of developing learners' autonomy. In that context, taking autonomy as an educational objective, as well as learning English, is an innovation for both teachers and learners (Bailly and Carette 2006). After two years of observations and research, we come to the point where self-directed learning must not only be encouraged but made compulsory, although, as the title suggests, there seems to be an apparent contradiction between the idea of “self-direction” and the idea of making it “compulsory”. We will suggest that, far from being a contradiction, making SDL compulsory in this context is in fact a condition for achieving the goal of autonomy.

Mots clés: "self-directed learning"; "french as a second language teaching and learning"; "advising sessions in target language"

Mots clés: apprentissage autodirigé"; "français langue seconde"; conseil en langue cible"

Domaines: Education; Linguistique; Linguistique

Sophie Bailly, Emmanuelle Carette. Compulsory self-directed learning : contradiction or challenge ?. Compulsory self-directed learning : contradiction or challenge ?, Mar 2007, Breme, Germany. pp.98-106. ⟨hal-00520340⟩