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Scharle and Szabó (2012:4) use the following saying: “You can bring a horse to the water, but you cannot make him drink”. Above saying suggests that regardless of the teacher’s effort, learners’ willingness to cooperate is pivotal for progress. Any successful learning depends on both teacher and learner. Learners should realize that without any effort they cannot improve their skills. Taking that into consideration, students are supposed to become responsible for their learning process. Learners should also take into account that every learner is different and therefore, the institutional education might not be sufficient for them. As a result, they should be acquainted with a variety of strategies to enhance their learning. Fostering learner autonomy in classrooms requires changes in both learners’ as well as teachers’ behaviour. Little (1995) claims that teachers are often disappointed when the learner autonomy training does not work in their classes. However, they do not realize that the learner autonomy does not mean providing learners with materials and then sitting in the corner of the classroom waiting for the promised results. Teachers fostering learner autonomy in their classes should realize that the entire responsibility does not fall on the teacher nor the learner, yet it must be shared by both parties. Xu & Xu (2004 in: Han 2014) collected data from learners attending the learner autonomy training to provide a complex view on the learners’ beliefs on the roles of teachers in the learner autonomy training. The investigated roles were the following ones: a. guide (counsellor, instructor), b. facilitator (helper), c. organiser and designer, d. co-operator (peer partner, friend, participant), e. inspirator and supporter, f. monitor and evaluator, g. resource supplier, h. atmosphere creator. (Han, 2014:25) Firstly, the teacher as a guide is to provide students with learning strategies and methods needed to become autonomous. The guide is also to promote the methods of dealing with listening, reading and communication. The teacher as a facilitator is supposed to offer help with making plans and setting objectives. The teacher as an organizer is to create opportunities for practicing the target language. Teachers as co-operators should try to be as friendly as possible, help students with analyzing their problems in learning and solving their problems. The teacher as an inspirator is to encourage learners to communicate and speak as much as possible in English. The teacher as a monitor and an evaluator is to provide useful feedback on students’ performances and progress. Teacher as a resource supplier is to provide learners with knowledge and materials useful for their progress as well as introduce useful Internet resources. The last role of an atmosphere creator should secure encouraging climate in the classroom suitable for learners’ language improvement. The above mentioned characteristics relates to appropriate behaviour of teachers involved in the learner autonomy training. However, the responsibility is supposed to be shared by both teacher and learner. Therefore, the roles of learners are depicted below. Scharle and Szabó (2012) throw a light on the characteristic traits of the responsible learners. They point out that the responsible and autonomous learners understand that their efforts in learning are essential for their growth, therefore, they behave accordingly. The authors use an instance with homework assignments being completed by responsible learners not to please the teacher or to be given a good mark but to further their knowledge. Furthermore, responsible learners realize the importance of cooperation hence they are willing to work with the teacher or the group in order to learn. The authors also state that if the responsible learners do not complete their assigned homework they always consider it a lost opportunity to learn more. Furthermore, it is impossible to isolate autonomy from responsibility and vice versa. References: Scharle, Á, and A. Szabó. 2012. Learner Autonomy. A Guide to Developing Learner Responsibility. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 112p. ISBN 0-521-77534-5 Little, D. 2006. Learner autonomy: Drawing together the threads of self-assessment, goal-settingganddreflection.bAvailableoOnline:ghttp://archive.ecml.at/mtp2/ELP_TT/results/DM_layout/00_10/06/06 Supplementary text.pdf Han, L. 2014. Teacher's Role in Developing Learner Autonomy: A Literature Review. International Journal of English Language Teaching. Sciedu Press. Vol. 1, No. 2. 2014. ISSNm2329-7921.m AvailablemOnline: www.sciedupress.com/journal/index.php/ijelt/article Litlle, D. 1995. 'Learning As Dialogue: The Dependence of Learner Autonomy on Teacher Autonomy' System Vol. 23 N. 2: 175-181. Available Online: eprints.teachingandlearning.ie/2753/1/Little 1995.pdf NOVÁKOVÁ, Adela: Learner Autonomy and its Impacts on English Language Acquisition. Diploma thesis. Trnava, University in Trnava. Faculty of Education, Department of English Language and Literature. Faculty of Education TU, 2017.
