Learner autonomy is widely understood to mean “to take charge of one’s learning and to hold the
responsibility for all the decisions concerning all aspects of this learning” (Holec, 1981, p. 3). Less
is understood, or has been researched, about what English language teachers believe about their
own learners’ capacity for self-direction (Borg & Al-Busaidi, 2012a). The case study reported here
occupies this research space by investigating the perceptions of a group of English language
teachers working in a New Zealand tertiary institute. Data were collected by open-ended items in a
questionnaire and interviews adapted from those used by Borg and Al-Busaidi (2012a). In the
present study, unlike previous investigations, there was a particular focus on the teachers’ views on
the extent to which learner autonomy could be fostered with students with low levels of English
proficiency. The findings suggested that while teachers thought most of the learners in the cohort
were becoming independent and autonomous learners with their support, they also perceived that
beginner or limited literacy learners were not very autonomous learners.