An autonomous learning emphasizes students’ responsibility in their own learning process. Nonetheless, it does not mean that students learn by themselves without teachers’ guidance. Many concepts about autonomous learning have been proposed by many educators. Thus, teachers must understand the concept of autonomous learning, their own competence, and their approaches that they use to help students be an autonomous learner. The objectives of this study are to identify the teacher’s perception about autonomous learning, the teacher’s roles in developing students’ autonomous learning, and the teacher’s approaches to develop autonomous learning for the students.

This study conducts at SMA Islam Al-Azhar 9 Yogyakarta from May to June 2016. The participants of this study are an English teacher and four students of the school. A case study is applied in this qualitative research. The qualitative data are obtained from interview and class observation. The data collected of interview and observations are presented in the form of tables. The tables include a core point which functions to analyze the data. Source and technique triangulations are used to get the trustworthiness of this data. Furthermore, Interactive Model proposed by Miles and Huberman is used in this study.

The findings show that (1) the teacher agrees that autonomous learning will give positive impact to the students’ learning process as long as they consistent to read up, realize that learning is for their need and can collaborate with the teacher during teaching learning process. It is because autonomous learning is not the only one factor that influences the students’ intelligence. It is one of students’ ways in their learning process. Hence, the teacher is still needed to help students in learning process. (2) The teacher realizes that he must teach, educate, and motivate the students. It is line with the concept of 2013 curriculum, i.e. the shift of teacher-centeredness to students-centeredness. The main teacher’s responsibility is in supporting students become actively involved in teaching learning process. Thus, in developing students’ autonomous learning, the teacher cannot only function as the source of  knowledge for his students anymore. The teacher should function as a guide, facilitator, prompter and controller for them. (3) The teacher mostly uses teacher-based approach and learner-based approach as his approach to develop the students’ autonomous learning. It happens because between the teacher and the students are interdependent each other. Furthermore, the teacher needs to be more closed to the students so he can motivate them intrinsically. 

This study concludes that degrees of autonomous learning differ in students. Hence, teachers must more realize of their roles in developing students’ autonomous learning. Teachers must still guide and control their students even though the focus of teaching learning process is students, not teachers. Teachers should not leave students to learn only by themselves without teachers’ control.

It is recommended that teachers need to support students to be an autonomous learner. By implementing autonomous learning, students can find their weaknesses on learning and know how to overcome it. Furthermore, further researches are recommended to explore more the concerns.

Keywords:autonomous learning, autonomous learner, learning process, teachers’ roles, teacher’s strategies