With the research on the development of learner autonomy in foreign language education, teacher autonomy has become a hot topic in the research of foreign language teacher education. However, it is the most difficult question to define language teacher autonomy and any answer to it is likely to be subjective. On the basis of expounding upon the different definitions concerning the research on teacher autonomy in language teaching and learning, the focus of the present paper is to clarify the connotations of language teacher autonomy and a working definition is made.