Technology-Enhanced Out-of-Class Autonomous Language Learning in Times of the Covid-19 Pandemic: A Shift ing Perspective for Advanced Learners

The chapter focuses on how the Covid-19 pandemic has changed the attitude of advanced learners towards autonomous out-of-class technology-enhanced language learning. The starting hypothesis was that the lockdown imposed by the pandemic and the forced distance learning could boost the learners’ recourse to autonomy. Two questionnaires were submitted to advanced learners, before and after the pandemic, in order to gather data on their habits and beliefs; later on some of the respondents of the second questionnaire were interviewed. A comparison between the two surveys shows that while the recourse to autonomy quantitatively increased, the learners’ habits did not overall change. What is noteworthy, however, is that the learners seem to have assumed a more discriminating stance, which indicates that autonomy has come to play a more central role in their learning ecology. Implications for teaching are discussed.