SELF-INSTRUCTED FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING

An annotated Bibliography

Francis R. Jones, University of Newcastle upon Tyne

INTRODUCTION

What is this Bibliography, and who is it for?

This Bibliography aims to give a comprehensive list of books and articles in the field of "narrow" or "autodidactic" foreign-language self-instruction, together with brief annotations. It is intended as a resource for researchers and methodologists, for materials writers and designers, and for all those involved in supporting foreign-language self-instruction - teachers, language-learning advisors, and open-learning centre staff. It covers sources published up to 2003. Unfortunately, I am unable to update the Bibliography, as I no longer research this area.

What areas does this Bibliography cover?

The main focus of this Bibliography is what happens when learners learn a foreign language without a teacher or class. Key fields included (see Definitions and Concepts page for details) are:

Self-study with a published "teach-yourself" package or a TV/radio course.

Full autonomy

Supported self-instruction in open learning or self-access centres.

For purely practical reasons, this Bibliography does not aim to cover the whole field of learner-led language learning, for which excellent lists already exist - see Links below. In particular, though some decisions to exclude or include have inevitably been arbitrary, it avoids modes where the teacher still retains some overall control, such as classroom autonomy and distance learning. It also avoids general discussions of learner autonomy, etc. which do not refer specifically to the three key fields mentioned above.

About the annotations

There is a brief annotation with each Bibliography entry. This points out those aspects of content which I see as relevant to the central theme of this Bibliography, but it is not meant to give a full précis of the text.