ABSTRACT
Learner autonomy has long been discussed worldwide and came into the attention of ESL researchers in 1980s. Holec (1979) referred “learner autonomy” as one’s “ability to take charge of his own learning” (p. 3) in the language classroom in which the ability to take charge “must be acquired by ‘natural’ means or formal learning” (p. 3). Dam, Eriksson, Little, Miliander, and Trebbi (1990), however, define autonomy as “…a capacity and willingness to act independently and in cooperation with others, as a social, responsible person” (p. 102). Little (1991), on the other hand, extends the meaning further by looking into the ability to decide, evaluate and reflect whereby he precisely
1 INTRODUCTION
Education in Malaysia has gone through various changes and development. Started off with the Razak Report in 1956 and the Rahman Talib Report in 1960, and later the Malaysia National Education Act was formulated in 1967. In fact, the review on the education plans and reports are consistently made. Table 1 presents the chronology of educational plans and reviews that took place in Malaysia (Ministry of Education, 2015).
