ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we reflect on the past, present, and future of the Autonomous Learning Modules (ALMS) at the University of Helsinki Language Centre, Finland. ALMS started in 1997 as an experiment in the form of a collaborative action-research project by a team of English teachers. It is an English course, one of several options for students at the University of Helsinki to fulfil the required foreign-language studies component of their degrees. It is also a well-established programme in higher education based on and promoting learner/teacher autonomy. In ALMS, the learner is in the leading role, with the language counsellor advising, empathizing, or challenging as needed but, above all, inspiring a reflective attitude to language learning. Since it started, ALMS has espoused an attitude of inquiry, a culture of reflective writing, and a tradition of practitioner-research. In this (autoethno)biography of ALMS, we elucidate the power and potential of collegial pedagogy for autonomy, (collaborative) practitioner research and peer-group mentoring for developing learner/teacher autonomy, and experimental academic writing as an expression of that autonomy. The text consists of two intertwined stories: Leena’s in the main body and Fergal’s in the footnotes.
