The concept of learner autonomy implies that students should take an important role in choosing what and how they learn and in monitoring their own learning. This fits with the belief that education should be a self-directed, life-long process. Learner autonomy does not necessarily mean that students are learning alone, rather it is a matter of moving away from a situation in which control rests solely in the hands of teachers and, instead, of moving towards students playing the greatest possible role given the learning context.

        Learner autonomy fits well with CL as:

a)      groupmates can learn to depend on each other rather than always on the teacher

b)      in line with the CL principle group autonomy, teachers seek to devolve authority to the groups, while still playing a guiding role

c)      students provide feedback to and receive feedback from each other, thereby developing their evaluation ability (which can then be used for self-assessment) and the proclivity to look beyond authority figures for feedback.

Affective factors

Success in learning depends not just on cognitive factors, such as the way that information is presented, but also on the environment in which instruction takes place and students’ own perception of the educational context they find themselves in. Therefore, affective factors, such as anxiety, motivation and attitudes, demand attention in any approach to pedagogy.

        Two examples of how CL might improve the affective climate and, thus, promote language learning are:

a)      when working in supportive CL groups, students may feel less anxious and more willing to take risks

b)      when students feel that groupmates are relying on them (see CL principlepositive interdependence), they may feel more motivated to make the effort needed to maximise learning (Dornyei, 1997). 

        This concludes the first two sections of the article which have provided background on CL, in particular CL principles and the link between CL and language pedagogy. We now turn to the topic of reading aloud by teachers, the second component of the combination which is the focus of this article. Section 3 discusses why teachers should read aloud to their students and provides some ideas about how this reading aloud can be done.