Awareness of and in learning..

During my stay in Finland I've become increasingly fascinated in, what I would like to call "independent, responsible, and active learners". Learners who are aware of what they don't know - or want to know (or have to know) - and actively take part in the learning process to reach their goals.

I don't know if this is what happens in Finnish public schools, but I do think this is  - at least partially - what happens at The University of Eastern Finland.

If everything (academic knowledge) you learn is something you get "served" at school there is - in my opinion - no doubt that your knowledge will be limited.

But why do some learners become independent and responsible while other don't? Is there something teachers can do to get more learners to become "life long learners"? What can be done?

I haven't had time to do much research in the area, but a few minutes ago I bumped in to this article about "focus on form" in language teaching. What I found particularly interesting was the section about "dictoglosses" (page 4). We worked with dictoglosses last year, but I don't think I actually got the main learning point/thoughts behind that technique at that time.

Well, anyways. Have a look at it, if you find the time:)