In this article, I discuss the results of my research within the project AMFALE-Autonomia em um Modelo Fractal de Aquisição de Língua Estrangeira. Based on concepts of autonomy and motivation and in the correlation between them, I analyze narratives of learners of Portuguese as a foreign language in Belo Horizonte. Such analysis testify that the learning experience in a community of speakers of the target language makes autonomy possible, as it characterizes intrinsic and/or integrative motivation, providing a variety of possibilities for the learner to act with autonomy towards his own learning.