Page 122 - Apuntes de Investigación en la Enseñanza de Idiomas

106 Apuntes de Investigación en la Enseñanza de Idiomas

Results and Discussion

Reflections of the Language Learner

At the end of the workplan, the language learner wrote his/her reflections on this mode of study. He/
she was given some points to reflect on particularly about how helpful the resources were in achiev-
ing the learning objective. He/she stated at the end if the learning objective was achieved or not.
This reflection also served as self-assessment, the necessary consolidating part of the process. For
example, the TC’s learner wrote: “Last plan helped me to get ready for the competition and I am
ready to present my project next week… Also I learned what the most common questions are and
I believe this gives me an idea of what I will be asked”. It is important to mention that this case was
particularly successful as the language learner could accomplish his learning goals and was able to
present his project in the United States in English, and even won the first place.

Reflections of the Counsellor
In helping our trainee teachers become true counselors of real self-access language learners, both
future counselors and language learners carried out reflective moments. The language learner re-
flected on his/her work and the resources used to achieve his/her learning objective. The counselor
afterwards reflected on the language learner’s written thoughts to try to understand and improve on
the way he/she was trying to help the learner achieve the learning objective.

After reading the language learner’s reflections, it was the turn of the TC to write his own reflections,
to give thought to what the learner wrote. This helped the counselor understand if the workplan was
effective or not. The language learner’s voice gave an insight to his own learning and information for
the counselor on the usefulness of the methodological resources for the language learner to achieve
his learning objective. One interesting reflection made by the TC is cited as follows: “We both have
been working to achieve the goals set, and this experience has given me the chance to reflect and
re-think of still my role as learner in order to find better ways to acquire the language.”

Conclusions
The study emphasized on the role of the teacher in this mode of study who becomes a counsel-
or. The counselor in a self-access mode of learning must possess the skills to develop autonomy
in the learners in order to be able to guide the learner through the process of achieving his/her
learning objectives. Equally important in guiding learners through a process that would enable them
to achieve their learning goals is reflecting on the self-access process to help both learner and the
counselor understand what went well or what went wrong.

The process described here resulted in well expressed reflections from the learners and the trainee
counsellors. The reflections revealed many learning experiences and more importantly, how counsel-
ing can be implemented to promote language learners’ autonomy. This is therefore the reason why
this study was brought to light: the importance of the counselor’s role in helping the language learner
become autonomous and that of reflecting on the learning and of the counseling guidance given.