Learner autonomy has been defined as ‘the ability to take charge of one’s own learning’ (Holec 1981: 3). This fairly open definition has sometimes phased into stronger definitions along the same lines, for example: ‘the situation in which the learner is totally responsible for all of the decisions concerned with his [sic] learning and the implementation of those decisions’ (Dickinson 1987:11) — a definition couched in terms of a situation rather than the ability of an individual.