Foreign language

Results

Reflection-on-Action

Reflection-on-action requires teachersto look backon their past experiences and to evaluate them by sharing their ideas and perceptions. Participants frequently engaged in this retrospective reflection under certain themes: teacher and learner identity. Table 4 shows the themes and their codes that fall under this reflection type along with how many times they occurred in the data.

Table 4


Themes and Codes for Reflection-on-Action with Their Frequencies

Themes	Codes	Participants P # 1 P # 2 P # 3 P # 4 P # 5 P # 6 P # 7 P # 8 P # 9
Learner Identity	Motivation	2	2	-	-	1	2	3	-	-
	Personal characteristics	-	-	-	-	-	2	-	2	2
	Autonomy	3	-	-	-	5	-	1	-	3
	Language learning experiences	6	7	5	3	5	5	8	3	5
Teacher Identity	Teaching processes	4	5	4	3	5	6	8	5	4
	Professional development	6	5	5	5	6	5	5	5	5

Note: The frequencies reflect how many times participants wrote comments about each code.
Learner Identity.The very first theme that emerged from the reflection papers and the discussion sessions was about participants‟ reflections on their

identity as language learners. Participants‟ motivation, personal characteristics, autonomy and their language learning experiences were the codes listed under this theme.

Motivation.First of all, it was clear that motivation was a strong factor encouraging participants in language learning. Five of the participants left statements about motivation on their reflection papers and the discussion sessions. According to participant # 7 (P # 7), she was a really hard-working student and studied hard in order to catch up with other students when she attended language preparatory class at high school. She was highly motivated as she thought learning a language was really prestigious. Similarly, participant # 6 (P # 6) stated that she had already known that language learning would give her a great pleasure and she defined herself as a learner who had a high aptitude. She could learn the things easily and she was successful at her third language learning, German, as well. Moreover, she tried hard to improve her English by working at tourist-oriented businesses such as travel agency, a clothing store and a hotel during summers, which is a result of her high motivation level. P # 6 also defined herself as a motivated learner as she stated:
From the point of view of Lightbown and Spada, I can say that I am a good English learner as I am somehow a self-conscious and motivated learner. I always try to create an environment or situation where I am exposed to language and practice it. The other way of improving English was keeping a diary and a travel journal in English and I have always tried to find some ways to go to English-speaking countries as I believe that one of the best ways to learn a language is in its natural environment. Also, I was always motivated to learn English for two reasons. I wanted to learn it for myself

around the world, meet new people, learn new cultures and visit my relatives abroad. The idea has always triggered me to develop my English skills.

According to these explanations, it can be concluded that motivation was a crucial factor for participants‟ language learning processes as they reflected on its contribution to themselves as language learners. Thus, through reflecting on the role of motivation in language learning processes, they could identify the importance of learning another language in their lives as well as their aptitude for language learning, both of which enhanced their motivation for language learning.