7/23/2023 0 Comments Moxtra observability![]() The SALC will open in a new facility in April, 2017, with some changes to policies and procedures. The SALC has 11 full-time learning advisors (including the director), seven administrative and design staff, and around 35 student staff. The SALC was originally established in 2001 to promote language learner autonomy for all KUIS students and to provide opportunities for English language practice and study outside of class. Most of the students are Japanese undergraduates, and there are normally around 150 foreign students per year, either studying a full-time degree or participating in an exchange programme lasting either 6 months or 1 year. All students study English, at least in their first two years, even if their major is one of the other languages (Chinese, Korean, Thai, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Spanish, and Portuguese). There are approximately 3800 students enrolled in the university, all of them majoring in languages. KUIS is a small, private university near Tokyo founded just thirty years ago, in 1987, specialising in foreign languages and cultures. As we have come to a stage where the SALC curriculum has reached a degree of university integration, we look back at some of the landmarks, providing some suggestions or reference points for colleagues who may be at different stages of offering a SALC curriculum. In this paper, we will give an overview of the SALC curriculum at Kanda University of International Studies (KUIS) and show how it has evolved over a 16-year period. We argue that any approach to promoting autonomy in a SALC should come under the umbrella term of SALC curriculum for two reasons: (1) to make the approach more systematic and transparent, and (2) to enable us to evaluate how we promote learner autonomy, which implies that we can always strive to improve what we do. The way this is done may also vary, for example, through orientations, workshops, and materials. ![]() Depending on the age of a center, its mission, and institutional priorities, the focus may vary, but one goal of any SALC should be to promote language learner autonomy. ![]() Managing a self-access learning center (SALC) arguably incorporates a wide range of responsibilities including staff management, provision of materials, advising learners, conducting research, advertising, policy making, and liaising with other departments in an institution. Keywords: Self-directed learning, learner autonomy, second language learning, learner autonomy, self-access learning, curriculum evaluation Although the journey of this particular SALC is far from complete, charting its development so far could provide encouragement for SALC managers elsewhere, whose SALC curriculum may be at different stages of development. However, with planning, persistence, and a gradual approach, a SALC curriculum can eventually become an integral part of a university program. The development, implementation, and evaluation of a SALC curriculum is not straightforward as there may be political, financial, and technical challenges. After explaining the context of the Self-Access Learning Center (SALC) at Kanda University of International Studies in Japan, the authors will briefly describe the self-directed learning curriculum, its evolution, and approaches to its evaluation. If key aims of a SALC are to support learners and promote language learner autonomy, then the curriculum is an important tool in order to ensure that this is being systematically addressed. ![]() Studies in Self-Access Learning Journal, 8 (2), 169-182. Promoting learner autonomy and self-directed learning: The evolution of a SALC curriculum. Rob Stevenson, Kanda University of International Studies, Chiba, Japan Jo Mynard, Kanda University of International Studies, Chiba, Japan
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