With the advent of communicative language teaching in East Asia, the idea of learner autonomy has become a topic of discussion and a goal among language teachers. The idea of autonomy raises important questions that need to be further explored, particularly in terms of students taking responsibility for learning. While examining the English teaching and learning milieu in Japan and Taiwan, the authors argue that students are unlikely to be able to realize learner autonomy if their teachers still take the whole responsibility in a teacher-centered way and/or students fail to practice their ownership of learning processes. It may not be easy for the students to adjust to their new role as autonomous learners in a learner-centered class. Thus, there is a need to fully understand both students' current wishes for learner autonomy and teachers implementing activities first to be able to correspond to their needs in order to gradually enhance their autonomy. Gender difference was also a focus in this study, because female students were anecdotally better performers in English language learning. Therefore, if some elements of learner autonomy that separate good performers and bad ones are discovered, they might suggest some pedagogical implications. However, there is little research on the connections between gender and autonomy in East Asia, although some research on learning strategy is concerned with gender difference. This study aims to discover whether the instrument of the authors' research team can be used for a large number of students, what students in Japan and Taiwan think about learner autonomy with regard to their responsibility in learning English, what aspects would separate female students from male students in their attitudes toward English learning, and how students would like to be involved in class management. (Contains 11 tables.)