One of the recent trends in language learning is training the learner to learn, so that he or she becomes "autonomous," that is, able to carry out alone the various steps in the learning process. This article concentrates on one of the most important of those steps, the analysis and fulfillment of the learner's needs, and it shows that this is crucial both when objectives are defined and when evaluation is carried out. The various ways in which the learner's needs can be taken into account are discussed, exemplified and compared with teacher-directed learning programmes. Consideration is also given to the kind of training the learner needs to be able to carry out the operations in question. There is a clear necessity for further research into the learning, as opposed to the teaching, process. (Author/AMH)