Despite a shift in the field of learner autonomy towards a consideration of the role of the teacher and ways in which learner autonomy is bound up not only with the learners' but also the teachers' own learning and teaching experiences and their beliefs about autonomy, the interrelationships between the concepts are still largely unclear. This is due in part to the relatively short history of work in the field which, despite the emergence of some consensus in defining the concepts, has revealed ever-increasing levels of complexity as the multifarious nature of the contexts, drivers and manifestations of autonomy, both teacher and learner, becomes ever more apparent. The chapters in this book have individually considered either discrete or interrelated elements of learner and teacher autonomy in language learning. The purpose of this concluding chapter is to attempt to draw together the various strands which emerge in the book as a whole, and offer a synthesis of the driving question which the book was intended to address, namely where and how, if at all, the concepts of learner autonomy and teacher autonomy relate to each other. In doing so, the chapter will necessarily clarify what is meant by these two concepts.

The LACS project (Language Associations and Collaborative Support) marked the first major cooperation between the ECML and the Fédération Internationale des Professeurs de Langues Vivantes/International Federation of Language Teacher Associations (FIPLV). This article focuses on one aspect of the project, namely an exploration of issues affecting language teacher associations worldwide. It describes the research carried out into the associations' perceptions of their functions, the challenges they face, and the strategies they are employing to address these challenges. Following an exploration of related literature, which provided a framework for analysis, the article describes the research methodology employed and then presents and discusses the data. In response to the challenges of sustaining membership and influencing policy, language teacher associations are seen to be developing new spaces, in which multidimensional networks can develop, and which can be of continuing relevance both internally to members and to external bodies. The article concludes by drawing on theories of space, arguing that it is through the shift from normative structures to more dynamic and flexible networks and spaces that associations are learning to cope with changes in the nature of professionalism associated with postmodernity.

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This chapter focuses on the potential of the multilingual city to create spaces in which monolingual hegemonies may be challenged, inclusive, intercultural values may be nurtured, and plurilingualism may be valorized. Following a contextualisation of linguistic diversity in theories of globalisation and superdiversity, the chapter addresses discourses of deficit and power, arguing that the problematisation of multilingualism and pathologisation of plurilingualism reflect a monolingual habitus. Bringing about a shift towards a plurilingual habitus requires a Deep Approach, as it involves a critical revaluing of deep-seated dispositions. It suggests that the city offers spaces, which can engender interlinguality, a construct that includes interculturality, criticality and a commitment to creative and flexible use of other languages in shared, pluralistic spaces. It then proposes critical, participatory and ethnographic research in three multidimensional spaces: the urban school and a potential interlingual curriculum; networks, lobbying for inclusive policy and organising celebratory events in public spaces; and grassroots-level local spaces, some created by linguistic communities to exercise agency and maintain their languages and cultures, and some emerging as linguistically hybrid spaces for convivial encounter.

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This paper explores the changing roles of families in children's developing literacy in the UK in the last century. It discusses how during this time understandings of reading and writing have been evolved into the more nuanced notion of literacy. Further, acknowledging changes in written communication practices, and shifting attitudes to reading and writing, the paper sketches how families have always played some part in the literacy of younger generations; though reading was frequently integral to the lives of many families throughout the past century, we consider in particular the more recent enhancement of children's literacy through targeted family programmes. The paper considers policy implications for promoting young children's literacy through work with families.

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