Teacher development, teacher-research, and autonomy

Richard Smith founded the JALT Learner Development SIG in Japan in 1993, was editor of Independence from 2006 to 2008, and since 2008 has been joint convenor of the AILA Research Network on Learner Autonomy. Aside from many authored and co-authored articles on practices and principles of pedagogy for autonomy both with language learners and with teachers-intraining, Richard has co-edited books including Learner Autonomy Across Cultures (Palgrave Macmillan, 2003) and Autonomy in Language Learning (IATEFL, 2011). His interests include the history of language teaching, teaching in difficult circumstances, and teacher-research. You can find out more about him at his website www.warwick.ac.uk/richardcsmith. Newsletter of the IATEFL Learner Autonomy SIG