This article reports on an exploratory case study of a Japanese learner of English as a foreign language (EFL) who was introduced to metatextual skills and activities for metacognitive instruction as a route towards promoting her autonomous use of the BBC's online "From Our Own Correspondent" podcasts outside of the classroom to enhance…

Much research regarding listening strategies has focused on assembling lists of reported strategies and gaining better understanding of differences in strategy usage between less- and more-skilled listeners. Less attention has been given to how the accumulating knowledge based on listening strategies informs listening strategy instruction as…

This qualitative study aims to develop and evaluate a tool which can be used to help learners autonomously reflect upon their implicitly held learner beliefs, with a view to promoting language learning practices appropriate to the individual and addressing any issues of learner beliefs which may be preventing effective learning. Metaphor was…

This action research study evaluates the effectiveness of a CALL Learner Autonomy (CALL LA) course at a Japanese university. The "C course" blends face-to-face instruction and independent study in a CALL environment. It aims to enhance learners' autonomous use of CALL in the acquisition of English as a Foreign Language (EFL). In this…

Self-regulated learning explores learners' complex intrinsic factors, including their learning strategies and motivation to learn. It offers learners the opportunity to become autonomous--a situation that is essential for ensuring that Japanese students acquire English proficiency. This study aims to explore the factors involved in self-regulated…

Informed and inspired by neo-Vygotskian theory, this article outlines a study exploiting a contemporary conceptualization of Wells's (2002) joint activity system model as an exploratory framework for examining and depicting the social-cultural-historical contradictions in second-language (L2) learners' joint activity. The participants were a pair…

This article reports on an ethnographic case study that explored how Chinese learners' national identities were displayed and reconstructed through their English language-learning journeys in Britain. Drawing on a variety of sources (ethnographic observations, informal conversations, diaries, and narrative interviews), the analysis focuses on the…