Hybridity, heutagogy, and humanisation: Rethinking language learner agency

The emergence of artificial intelligence and other transformative technologies raises a fundamental question: what happens when learners increasingly regulate their learning through continuous interaction with intelligent systems? 

This lecture argues that answering this question requires rethinking learner agency through three interconnected lenses: humanisation, heutagogy, and hybridity. Humanisation reminds us that education must ultimately serve human flourishing rather than technological efficiency. Heutagogy extends this commitment by emphasising learner self-determination, capability, and the capacity to learn in conditions of uncertainty. Together, these perspectives create a foundation for understanding a third and increasingly important dimension: hybridity. 

The lecture proposes that we are witnessing a shift from self-regulated learning towards hybrid-regulated learning, where learning processes are distributed across learners, peers, teachers, algorithms, artificial intelligence, and wider sociotechnical systems. In such environments, agency is neither fully human nor fully technological, but emerges through dynamic interactions between them.

This event will be particularly useful for researchers, students, and teachers.

Related links

• Centre for Applied Linguistics Research Seminars Series
• Centre for Applied Linguistics
• Culture, Communication and Media

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Sam Robinson for UCL.