The story of becoming an autonomous learner: a case study of a student’s learning management

Abstract When asked about the impact of language advising sessions that our students attend, they report various positive effects. These sessions are a crucial part of the English Autonomously course at Masaryk University. As they were introduced to support students in their self-regulated learning, they should primarily foster course attendees’ abilities to manage their learning. This paper is based on research on how one-on-one meetings with an advisor function as a pedagogic tool and investigates whether advising sessions contribute to the development of students’ learning management skills by examining a case study of one student’s experiences. The investigation uses data collected from multiple sources – advising session recordings, a student’s self-assessment, and his reflective texts; a feedback form indicating how students perceive language advising is used for triangulation. Since the materials gained were coded and analysed using qualitative methods, their interpretation should enable a proper insight into his language learning, and thus, create a case study. This case study reveals various types of relationships between advising sessions and the student’s various metacognitive subskills, that is, planning, monitoring, and evaluating learning. The study attempts to portray the student’s ability to manage his learning as a dynamic, inter-rational and context-based phenomenon that is perceived and manifested in multiple ways.