This paper addresses the theme of the special issue by looking at the development of student autonomy in learning in the French programme at the University of the West Indies St Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago. The paper explains why a focus on autonomy is apt to meet both the programme's linguistic goals and its larger societal goal of preparing language specialists for the country and the region. Data from questionnaires and learning journals of first year students allow us to compare student attitudes to learning and autonomy with what is documented in the literature. These data show why there is a need to help students revise their interpretation of learning in a higher education context. The paper suggests that a learning environment that allows participants to reconceptualize their roles and responsibilities in learning is one which creates the conditions for transformative learning to occur. The higher education sector optimally provides such environments.