The validation of self-access centres

Abstract

Self-access centres have been established in various regions of the world as a way to offer university students alternative or additional ways of learning languages. These SAC's apply varying systems of operation and a variety of approaches to fostering autonomy. Such choices may be related to the specific contexts of the SACs and/or the beliefs of educators involved with them. We will present a project based initially in Mexico and Hong Kong (but ultimately targeting the global self-access community) which aims at developing standards through which all self-access centres can be evaluated in terms of accepted good practice and in relation to their own contexts and goals. Based on a participative methodology that takes into account the experience of SACs around the world, as well as an analysis of the existing literature, we will present the results of the first phase of this project, which will allow the validation of SAC's, and, in the future, the integration of a system of certification of self-access language learning.