Exploring autonomous learning strategies to deal with the students’ independent work in EFL learning within the credit system

This inquiry has to do with some informal procedures implemented in classroom research aimed to the identification of useful strategies to enhance the students’ autonomous learning in English within the credit system at the Bachelor’s Degree in Spanish, English and French at La Universidad de La Salle. The ideas presented are just a compilation of starting points on a literature review done by a group of English teachers1 who have voluntarily joined since last semester in order to share and discuss views, ideas and thoughts about students’ independent learning. The initiative of starting to implement a proposal in this area arises because the current tendencies of education are oriented to encourage the learners’ capabilities to acquire knowledge on their own and to develop communicative, interactive and working competences which are going to be used in different fields of action they are regularly engaged. Likewise, in the local context, and due to the policies stated by Colombian credit system it is also significant to put in action student-centered methodologies that promote new learning styles and help students recognize new ways of constructing knowledge, getting meaningful learning experiences, and learning independently both inside and outside the classroom. As the topic autonomous learning entails a lot of theoretical issues, this study is focused to determine EFL learning strategies to fulfill the purposes above stated. The theoretical principles that empower us as teachers to reflect on our daily practice and in consequence to implement practical actions in favor of the students’ independent learning are going to be revised.