In order to know where we are now and where we may be going, it is helpful to know where we have come from. In this presentation, I will reflect on the wider history of the field of language teaching and learning of which the 30-year history of the LD-SIG is part – a period that roughly corresponds to my own involvement in this field. In an article published in Language Teaching (52:1) in 2017, I identified two overlapping eras in this history: the era of ‘learner-centredness’ (late 1960s to early 2000s) and the era of ‘person-centredness’ (early 1990s to the present-day). Using a combination of autobiographical and documentary methods, I want to ask how learner development and learner autonomy fit into the transition between these eras, and what their future roles in the wider field of language teaching and learning may be.