In this presentation, I propose a Dynamic Model of Autonomy Development as a Complex Phenomenon. The model illustrates the influence of subsystems such as motivation, beliefs, identities, and emotions, which enhanced or inhibited the autonomization process in the language learning trajectories of TEFL undergraduate students.
This work aims to discuss how the autonomization process occurred in the learning trajectories of TEFL undergraduate students, under the perspective of the complexity paradigm. "Autonomy is a complex and dynamic, individual and social system interacting with other learning subsystems such as motivation, identities, beliefs, and emotions, with which it connects in different ways and in diverse contexts, ranging from periods of setbacks, stability and advances throughout life"(Borges, 2019, p. 50). Under this perspective, I propose a Dynamic Model of Autonomy Development as a Complex Phenomenon. This model represents the autonomization process as a web, accounting for multiple possibilities of interactions and mutual influence among all its components through time. I illustrate this model by reporting on a qualitative 4-year longitudinal multiple case study conducted with four TEFL undergraduate students. The context was the Federal University of Pará (UFPA), located in Belém, in the Brazilian Amazon. In the first semesters of the TEFL program, when the participants studied five levels of English language at the university, learning diaries were collected in which they reflected about their own language learning. In the last semester of the program, in order to illuminate the study of the trajectories, an interview was conducted with the aim of analyzing the manner in which the autonomization in English learning contributed to empower students, enabling or not a more effective participation in the academic and professional community. Results evidenced the multidimensional and personalized character of autonomy, hence it happened in diverse ways to each student in different time scales and in different contexts. The influence of different elements, agentes, and subsystems such as motivation, beliefs, identities, and emotions was verified, which enhanced or inhibited the autonomization process in the learners' trajectories.
