his [Rousseau’s] emphasis on the learner’s responsibility for learning
is a key idea of autonomy. Many advocates of autonomy in language
learning would also share Rousseau’s view that capacity for
autonomy is innate but suppressed by institutional learning.
Similarly Rousseau’s idea that learning proceeds better through
direct contact with nature re-emerges in the emphasis on direct
contact with authentic samples of the target language that is often
found in the literature on autonomy in language learning. (Benson,
2011: 28)