Abstract:

In the year 1999, the University of Veracruz (UV) in Mexico, implemented an EFL teaching-learning mode which was based on principles of autonomy and was to be developed at the Self-Access Centres (SAC) with the support of counsellors, that is, Self-access Language Learning (SALL). As an innovation, in Mexico and particularly in the Language Centres at the UV, this learning mode was adopted (top-down decided) and has been adapted according to the different Language Centres’ contexts. At this university, the students, who have to study English as part of their undergraduate programmes, can opt for one of the three modes of teaching-learning offered by the school (classes, on line, autonomous). Since the number of students has exceeded the number of teachers and classrooms where they can attend classes, the ‘autonomous’ courses became popular, not precisely because the students preferred this mode of learning, but because they did not have another alternative. On the other hand, the virtual (on line) courses have been offered for the last two years, and only in two of the six Language Centres of the university, therefore, they are not so popular yet.

Seven years later, a qualitative case study aimed to investigate how the students undergoing this new learning mode as their only source of learning EFL perceived it and what their experiences were within these autonomous (no-class) courses. Throughout interviewing, observation and analysis of students’ work reports, ten themes emerged. One of these outcomes revealed that there are contradictions between the day by day functioning of these courses and their original goals and principles, according to the university’s claims. That is, a recurring topic regarding this learning mode throughout the study was the exertion of control and surveillance of the whole no-class system (no-class learning mode and its infrastructure: self-access centre and the counsellors, assistants, technicians, administrators working there) over the students.

This POSTER aims to illustrate, by extrapolating Foucault’s analysis of the panopticon (1991) to the spatial arrangement of the SACs, that contrary to the assertion that the autonomous learning mode was based on and fostered principles of autonomy and critical thinking, surveillance and control were subtly exerted over the students. In this kind of construction (panopticon), the glass walls dividing the different areas and workplaces in the SACs allow the staff working there (counselors, assistants, technicians) to look over the students (users) anytime. The latter, feeling observed, try to conform to the expected behavior, whereas the former insist on keeping control over the students’ activities and development. This, eventually, may hinder their becoming responsible, reflective and independent; features that, as mentioned before, are supposed to be desirable conditions of a more autonomous student.

Keywords:

Autonomous Learning, Self-access Language Learning, Self-access Centre, Control and surveillance.