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Hi! I’m Thomas Stringer. This portal features resources for learners, practitioners, and researchers on language learner autonomy or related topics.
It’s really hard to get good at something unless you really love it. Because how do you get good at something? You practice, practice, practice. Obsess, obsess, obsess. Gather feedback, gather feedback, analyze it. And you have to be really devoted to do all that if it’s something you don’t like. Find something you really like and are good at…Something in which you, for whatever set of reasons, you’re a little bit better than most people at it, and that you know that it’s the kind of thing that will light you up every day, and that will even keep you up at night.
– Dubner, S. & Bennett, D. (Hosts). (2025, November 11). What Happens When You Turn 20 [Podcast Episode]. In Freakonomics Radio. Freakonomics Radio Network. https://freakonomics.com/podcast/what-happens-when-you-turn-20/
September 2026 Feature Post:
Beyond The Abstracts: i-Space (Revisited) – Isobel Hook (S2e6)
“I think a wonderful thing that the university did and a wonderful thing that a lot of the teachers did was to say to the students, ‘Hey – this is closing. We have a new paradigm. What do you want to get from this university?’…I think that was incredibly empowering to the students. And they also had this feeling of, ‘The university is closing. It’s bigger than me, but I’m (one of) the last students here, so I’m putting my stamp on it as I leave.’”
– Isobel Hook
Today’s guest, Isobel Hook, first featured on the show in December 2023. In this episode we revisit her story for a September 2026 update.
Watch to learn the exciting details of what happened with i-Space – the self-access learning centre she started from scratch – and the ‘big’ social issues that came into play; like the long-term loss of women’s universities in Japan.
Despite this, Isobel reveals how learners and practitioners continue to find meaning, value, and autonomy – which lends a hopeful note to the episode.
And now, here is my conversation with Isobel Hook:
Isobel Hook is an EFL/ESL educator with over a decade of teaching experience across South Korea, Australia, and Japan. As Chair of JALT’s Gender Awareness in Language Education (GALE) Special Interest Group, she advocates for inclusive and equitable language learning environments. Her work focuses on learner autonomy, motivation, self-access learning, and the opportunities and challenges presented by AI in language education. In 2023, she founded the Immersion Space at Kyoto Notre Dame Women’s University, transforming it into a student-led Self-Access Language Center that supports independent learning and community engagement. She currently teaches at Kwansei Gakuin University’s School of Architecture
Relevant Publication:
Developing Student Autonomy through Self-Access Learning Centres and Teacher Practice – A New Endeavour. Hook, I., Learning Learning Newsletter 29(2), Nov, 2023
https://ld-sig.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/29.2hook13.xi_.22.pdf
Isobel’s Original Episode (S1e1):
Tour of i-Space:
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