The International Language and Language Teaching Conference is annually organized by the English Language Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma University, Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

Issues in empowering learner autonomy have been around for the past three decades (Holec, 1981; Zimmerman, 1986; Candy, 1991) and have been the strong suggestion for nourishing the 21st century learning skills, particularly in the context of widespread technology advancement. At the outset, the development of technology is expected to ease the implementation of learner autonomy in the school context. However, in practice, learner autonomy is not easily implemented in the classroom practice, particularly due to the prescribed curriculum and teachers’ insufficient understanding, knowledge, skills, attitude, and beliefs in the benefits of learner autonomy in the light of the prescribed curriculum (e.g., Indonesian National Curriculum 2013). This condition is often aggravated by the insufficiency of school, home, local and national cultures in terms of tapping the issues and making learner autonomy a priority in ESL learning and education in general. The presence of high stake testing has presumably dominated the process of ESL learning in the expense of Learner autonomy development.

Despite some aforementioned concerns, there might have been some successful stories in implementing learner autonomy in various parts of the world. The Fourth Language and Language Teaching (LLTC 2017), therefore, aims to provide a venue for teachers, lecturers, educational practitioners, and researchers to share the best practices of promoting learner autonomy in EFL/ESL learning. It is expected that through LLTC 2017, a new understanding of learner autonomy and how it is promoted in the school and institutional learning contexts can be harnessed successfully.