The Autonomy We Miss: Reconceptualizing Student Agency through Six Configurations of Volition

Student autonomy is widely recognized as a cornerstone of motivation and self-regulated learning, yet it is often reduced to task-level choice or freedom from control, such as overlooking other meaningful forms of agency that emerge through participation, reflection, and collaboration. This paper introduces a dimensional, configurational framework that reconceptualizes autonomy across six interrelated domains: goal, procedural, assessment, temporal, metacognitive, and collaborative autonomy. Grounded in Self-Determination Theory and informed by sociocultural and instructional design perspectives, the framework addresses a growing disconnect between autonomy-supportive practices and how they are captured in research and measurement. It also introduces the concept of implicit autonomy support as instructional designs that foster volition through structured participation rather than overt choice. To support application, the paper offers a prototype set of Decentralized Construct Taxonomies (DCTs),flexible tools for measurement, coding, and construct refinement. By making less-visible forms of autonomy more legible, the framework supports more inclusive, context-sensitive approaches to both research and practice. It invites a shift from asking whether autonomy is present to exploring how it is configured, supported, and experienced in diverse learning environments.