Starting the university journey is a challenge for most people. those entering academia are
highly expected to be able to demonstrate autonomy when studying and carrying out their tasks
and to take an active role in the academic community. However, autonomy is a dynamic and
complex system, which interacts in different ways with the different learning subsystems, such
as emotions and motivation; it is also a capacity developed throughout life, and involves
advances, stability, and setbacks (Borges, 2019). English undergraduate students at the School
of Modern Foreign Languages (Faculdade de Letras Estrangeiras Modernas - FALEM), at the
Federal University of Pará (Universidade Federal do Pará - UFPA), Belém campus, have an
advantage in this journey because they have in their pedagogical project the course “Learning
to Learn Foreign Languages” (AALE), whose objective is to encourage first-year students to
invest in their autonomy, through reflection and action. To contribute with practical resources
for the development of learners’ autonomy in the AALE classes, this paper presents a proposal
for an educational product, composed of five resources to promote autonomization, entitled
“MAP – My Autonomy Path”. The development of MAP was based on the “Dynamic and
Complex Model of Autonomy Development” (Borges, 2019), with particular emphasis on the
autonomization movements identified by the author. The MAP educational product was
developed as an editable e-book in .pdf format. The five resources aim to encourage reflection,
management of learning through planning, active participation in university life, and self evaluation of this process. The MAP was applied with fifteen students from the AALE morning
class, who used the resources and then answered a product evaluation questionnaire, in which
they made suggestions and comments. In the analysis of the data generated, pieces of evidence
of participants’ autonomy were observed. the participants reported that they appreciated the
opportunities for planning, reflection, self-evaluation, and identification of affordances that the
product offers. It is hoped that in the future the MAP product may be used in other contexts and
thus contribute to promoting the autonomy of new students.
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