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Volume 37
Professional Teaching Articles
July 2009
Article 1

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Title
Exploring the Effects of Learner Training on Motivation


Author
Nalan Bayraktar Balkır and Ece Zehir Topkaya
Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Turkey

Bio
Nalan Bayraktar Balkır has taught EFL for over nine years in İstanbul and Çanakkale in Turkey. At present she is teaching at the Preparatory School of English at Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University. She holds an MA in ELT from the same university. Her main research interests include psychology of learning, learner-training and vocabulary teaching. 

Ece Zehir Topkaya is an assistant professor in the Department of English Language Teaching at Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Turkey. She holds a PhD (TEFL) from Dokuz Eylül University, Turkey. Her research interests include psychology of learning and pre- and in-service teacher education.

Abstract
This study was implemented in order to investigate the effects of a learner training programme on learners’ motivation in learning English. The study, which adopted the pre-experimental study design, was carried out with 30 participants studying in Compulsory and Voluntary English Preparatory Programme at Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Turkey in 2005-2006 academic year. The data were collected by means of quantitative and qualitative research techniques. Pre-tests and post-tests (questionnaires) given before and after learner training sessions were quantitative in nature; and a qualitative approach was adopted for the follow-up interview.  The results of quantitative findings revealed that there was not a significant difference in learners’ overall motivation after the treatment. However, the analysis of qualitative findings from the interview indicated that a reasonable level of increase in learners’ motivation occurred. Furthermore, learners’ metacognition turned out to be developed. Finally, no notable differences between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, and between female and male students’ motivation were detected. This study concludes that learner training activities have resulted in a moderate increase in learners’ motivational level and enhanced metacognition. In the light of these findings, this study draws attention to the importance of learner training in foreign language learning and points to some methodological and pedagogical implications. Finally, it offers some suggestions for further research.  

Key words: learner training, metacognition, motivation, intrinsic/extrinsic motivation

1. Introduction
The increasing realisation of the fact that learning is a life-long process has led to the need to employ a learning-to-learn approach in most educational settings in recent decades. A learning-to-learn approach is closely related to learner training which is to do with the attempt to equip learners with necessary and essential skills and knowledge in a particular subject area so that they could manage their further learning more effectively. Learner training also aims to build and heighten learners’ awareness of themselves as learners and the language learning process. In other words, the overall aim of learner training is to contribute to both learners’ cognitive and affective development. Foreign language learning is one of the subject areas in which learners are expected to learn how to learn in order to be more self-sufficient in their language learning process. In this respect, foreign language teachers have another main duty of teaching learners to learn how to learn as well as teaching them the content of the target language.
            The results of most studies indicate that the implementation of learner training or a learning-to-learn approach has been very beneficial and rewarding in terms of many aspects of the language learning process such as learner beliefs, attitudes, autonomy, perceptions, self-confidence, self-esteem, motivation etc. The purpose of this article is to report on a learner training study and its effects on participants’ motivation.

2. Review of literature
In this section, a brief description of the key concepts related to the study such as learner training, motivation, and the link between the two will be presented in turn. In addition, the findings or the results of some of the related studies in the literature will be mentioned.

2.1. Learner Training
The term learner training has been defined in quite similar terms by different scholars in the relevant literature.  According to Hedge (1993, p. 92), for instance, learner training is to do with “a set of procedures or activities which raise learners’ awareness of what is involved in the process of learning a second language, which encourage learners to become more involved and responsible for their own learning, and which help learners to develop and strengthen their strategies for language learning”. The term is often used interchangeably with learner development which is defined as “cognitive and affective development involving increasing awareness of oneself as a learner and an increasing willingness and ability to manage one’s own learning” (Sheerin997, pp.59-60). Both of the terms are concerned with the attempt to help learners maximise their learning efficiency.
            Learner training involves two main components: raising learners’ awareness and helping them acquire a set of skills for more effective learning (Hedge, 2000). In other words, typical learner training programmes aim at enhancing learners’ metacognition which is defined as “an awareness of one’s own mental processes and an ability to reflect on how one learns, in other words, knowing about one’s knowing” (Williams and Burden, 1997, p.148).
            There are different ways or methods to implement learner training in foreign language learning settings. According to Wenden (1998a), for example, there are two main methods for implementing learner training: indirect methods and direct methods. Indirect methods use inductive or discovery learning through which “learners reflect upon past learning experiences or acquired knowledge in order to seek insight into their approach to learning and their beliefs” (Wenden, 1998a, pp.16-17). The common elements in the frameworks of schedules using indirect methods are setting goals and objectives, having discussions on metacognitive knowledge and reflecting on past experience (Cotterall, 2000; Dickinson, 1993; Wenden, 1998b). Direct methods for implementing learner training, on the other hand, involve deductive and didactic learning activities. These activities are mainly implemented for cognitive strategy instruction (Wenden, 1998a, p.19). The instruction is in the form of explicit and informed teaching of cognitive strategies. Direct and indirect methods are usually used in combination in most of the learner training programmes and textbooks designed for learner training; and many practitioners also support the use of different methods in combination (e.g. Benson, 2001; Logan & Moore, 2004; McCarthy, 1998; Wenden, 1998a).
   Most researchers who have conducted learner training studies appear to have similar concerns about the principles for implementing learner training programmes. Firstly, learners should be assisted to gain a sense of awareness of themselves as learners and the language learning process. Next, a supportive environment  should be provided, which combines the principles of goal-setting, developing language learning strategies, undertaking self-assessment, building an awareness of learning styles, encouraging self-confidence and motivation, raising metacognitive awareness, cooperating with the teacher and peers, and reflecting on one’s progress (e.g. Cotterall, 1999; Dickinson, 1993; Esch, 1997; Finch, 1998; Gower, Philips & Walter, 1995; Lee, 1998; Nunan, 2002; Sheerin, 1997; Victori & Lockhart, 1995; Wenden, 1998b; Yang, 1998).  
            General conclusions that the researchers have drawn from learner training studies reveal that having been exposed to learner training and awareness building activities, students get significant gains in terms of cognitive and affective development. In conclusion, learner training is a valuable practice which is likely to encourage learners gradually to become more active, successful, responsible, autonomous and motivated in their learning process.

2.2. Motivation
While the term motivation is often assumed to be a rather abstract concept (Dörnyei, 2001), it could be basically defined as “the extent to which you make choices about (a) goals to pursue and (b) the effort you will devote to that pursuit” (Brown, 2001, p. 72). As a more detailed definition suggests, motivation is “a state of cognitive and emotional arousal, which leads to a conscious decision to act, and which gives rise to a period of sustained intellectual and/or physical effort, in order to attain a previously set goal (or goals)” (Williams & Burden, 1997, p. 120).
            It could be inferred from the definitions above that the occurrence of motivation is affected by a number of different factors, and goal-setting is an indispensable part of motivation. In addition, sustaining effort is as significant as initiating motivation. Therefore, when attempting to enhance learners’ motivation in learning a foreign language, different aspects or stages of motivation and factors affecting it should be taken into account.
            In the literature on motivation, the concept has been classified in different ways. The most well-known classification of motivation has been made in cognitive terms as whether it is internal or external to the learner. In this respect, intrinsic motivation is to do with “behaviour performed for its own sake in order to experience pleasure and satisfaction” (Dörnyei, 2001, p.27) while extrinsic motivation is about “performing a behaviour as a means to an end, that is, to receive some extrinsic reward or to avoid punishment” (Dörnyei, 2001, p.27). In other words, intrinsically motivated people accomplish a task for an internal interest whereas extrinsically motivated people perform an activity because of an interest external to the activity (Dickinson, 1995, p.169).
   There is the common belief among many scholars that intrinsically motivated learners will reach more effective learning outcomes and attain mastery in a foreign language (e.g. Dickinson, 1995; Ersöz, 2004; Mynard, 1999; Williams & Burden, 1997). However, it is also suggested that intrinsic and extrinsic motivation are actually quite interrelated and most behaviours are affected by a combination of both types of drives (Williams & Burden, 1997, p.123). Brown (2001) also points out that some research studies indicate that extrinsic drives could have a considerable effect on intrinsic motivation. A research study conducted by Salehi (2005, p.5) seems to support the latter view on motivation by indicating that there is a high correlation between extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. Therefore, it is stated that these two distinct types of motivation are not actually mutually exclusive.

2.3. The link between learner training and motivation       
It has been previously mentioned that learner training schedules aim to enhance learners’ cognitive and affective development through an attempt to build learners’ awareness of themselves as learners and the language learning process, and also assist them to attain a set of skills for more effective learning. The common aim of such research studies is to investigate the effects of learner training on different constructs such as learner autonomy, academic success, beliefs about and attitudes towards language learning, motivation, etc.
            Even though there is a small number of studies exploring the effects of learner training programmes on motivation, the results of several studies point to some link between learner training and motivation. For example, the results of the self-directed programme conducted by Victori & Lockhart (1995, p.228) pointed to the improvement in learners’ tolerance of ambiguity in language learning/use contexts, increased motivation, and improved self-esteem as language learners. Furthermore, the results of Lee’s (1998) study revealed that more enthusiastic students attained more gains from the self-directed learning programme than less enthusiastic students did. Similarly, Mynard’s (1999) study indicated that more able learners tended to have higher intrinsic motivation and a higher internal locus of control than less able ones.
            Without a doubt, variables such as learner characteristics, teacher characteristics, the practices followed during learner training, etc. all interact differently in different contexts. Therefore, to investigate the topic of learner training from as many angles as possible in varied ways will add new insights to our understanding of the issue better. In this respect, the attempts taken in this particular study to implement such a training program and its results will hopefully contribute to the existing literature.

3. Research Problem and Questions
The present study aimed to investigate the effects of learner training sessions on participants’ motivation in learning English. In addition, any possible significant differences between female and male learners’ motivational level in learning English before and after learner training sessions were investigated. Finally, it was also intended to explore any significant differences between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation before and after the treatment. With these aims in mind, the following research questions were put forward:
            RQ 1: What is learners’ motivational level in learning English before and after                treatment (learner training sessions)?
            RQ 2: Is there a significant difference in learners’ motivational level after  
         treatment in terms of gender?
            RQ 3: Is there a significant difference between learners’ extrinsic and intrinsic    motivation before and after treatment?
            RQ 4: How do learners evaluate learner training sessions?

4. Methodology
This section describes the methodology of the study, particularly design, participants and setting, limitations, instruments, and procedures.

4.1 Design of the Study                  
In this study, pre-experimental research design was utilised. To specify, only one intact group participated in the study; and that group was administered a pre-test prior to the treatment (learner training programme).  Following the treatment, a post-test was conducted again to find out whether the treatment caused any significant differences in participants’ motivational level in learning English. In addition, interviews were conducted with a group of participants in order to collect qualitative data.

4.2 Participants and Setting
The study was conducted in the Compulsory and Voluntary English Preparatory Programme at Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University. The students enrolled in this programme were going to study in different departments such as ‘Tourism and Hotel Management’, ‘Fine Arts’, ‘Drama’, ‘Physics’, ‘Public Relations and Advertising’, ‘Foreign Trade and European Union’ and ‘Accounting’ after a two-semester-long general English course. The main reason for conducting  the study in this setting was its convenience to the researcher since she worked at the same institution at the time of the research. Thus, arranging the appropriate time and conditions for the implementation of the study was easier. The study covered a period of five weeks during the fall semester of 2005-2006 academic year.  
            The study was implemented with 30 subjects from one whole group. 17 of the subjects were female and 13 were male. Their age ranged from 18 to 22. All of the subjects were native speakers of Turkish with an elementary level of English. 28 of the subjects were compulsory and 2 were voluntary programme students. As for the interview part of the study, 9 volunteers were chosen. 6 of the interviewees were female and 3 male.

4.3 Limitations
This study had several limitations:

• Since this study is small-scale, the conclusions are not easily generalised, i.e. the results of the study only concern the subjects of this study.
• The learner training schedule began in the middle of the first school term. It could have been more fruitful if it had started at the beginning of the term.
• The study ended in the last week of the first term when the learners were rather exhausted by being overloaded with a number of exams, projects and assignments. This fact might have affected learners’ responses in the post-test. 

    
4.4 Instruments
In order to investigate the research questions stated previously, the researchers developed a questionnaire on motivation. This instrument was developed by adapting various items about motivation from different sources. Most of the items were taken and adapted from Mynard’s (1999) questionnaire and Demir’s (2004) Attitude-Motivation Scale. The remaining items were generated in the light of theoretical aspects of motivation by the researchers. After deciding which statements to include in the questionnaire, the statements were translated from English into Turkish. Back-translation of the statements was undertaken by two English instructors. Next, three experts at the department of ELT at the faculty of Education in Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University were requested to check and evaluate the questionnaire in terms of face and content validity, wording and the clarity of the items. Finally, necessary alterations were done on the questionnaire items in the light of the experts’ suggestions and comments.
            The questionnaire on motivation, which involved 34 close-ended items originally, was built on a five-point Likert scale having the options of (1) I strongly agree, (2) I agree, (3) I am not sure, (4) I disagree, (5) I strongly disagree The analysis of the data collected from the piloting of questionnaires signalled that some of the items needed to be removed in order to ensure that data collection was reliable. After the necessary elimination, the final version of the questionnaire included 19 items which were divided into the two dimensions of extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation (see Appendix 1). Then, the remaining 19 items were analyzed statistically. The Cronbach-alpha value of 12 items belonging to intrinsic motivation was found highly reliable (α= ,86) for data collection. The Cronbach-alpha value of items related to extrinsic motivation was found to be ,69, which is accepted to be moderately reliable according to the literature (Şencan, 2005).
     
4.5 Procedures
This section includes a description of the procedures conducted for data collection and analysis.

4.5.1. Pre-Experimental Study
Prior to the study, the participants were informed about the purpose, content, length, time, language and procedures of the study. Then, they were asked whether they would like to participate in the study, and all of them agreed to take part.     
            The study was carried out in a five-week-long period. Before the training sessions started, a motivation pre-test was administered.  Altogether 6 sessions were held in the participants’ own classrooms after regular class hours. Each session focusing on a different aspect of foreign language learning lasting approximately 50 minutes. Participants’ mother tongue, Turkish, was used during the sessions since the general aim of the study was to help learners learn how to learn and in relation to this, investigate their motivational level. In addition, learners did not seem to be confident enough to speak in English about complicated matters as their level of English was just elementary at the time of the research. The pre-experimental design of the study is summarised and the topic of each session is presented in the following figure:
Figure 1: The pre-experimental design of the study

                       
            A typical learner training session started with greeting and establishing rapport and continued with lead-in and main activities related to the topic. In addition, different instruments such as scales and inventories related to the aim of each session were utilised in every session. Then, the participants reflected on their experience from the session by answering these two questions: 1) What have I learned from this learner training session? 2) How and where can I use what I have learned? The aim of this procedure was to increase participants’ awareness about the topic and also make them personalise the content. At the end of each session, the researcher and the participants reviewed what they covered in the session (see Appendix 2 for an example session).   
            In addition to the learner training sessions, the participants were asked to keep a weekly report named ‘My English Diary’ during the study. The aim of this diary-keeping activity was to back up the sessions through learners’ regular reflection on their weekly language learning experience so that their awareness of language learning process would be heightened. These reports, which the participants were required to fill in outside the class during a school week, involved questions concerning issues such as what they learned, the usefulness of classroom activities, their performance in the class, their studies with homework assignments, the problems they encountered and their suggestions to solve these problems, etc. The forms containing the questions mentioned above completed by the participants were collected at the beginning of each week by the researcher.         Following the last session, the questionnaire on motivation was administered as the post-treatment instrument.

4.5.2. Interview
The second phase of the study involved semi-structured interviews by which it was intended to collect qualitative data. The interviews were conducted on the last day of the treatment with nine participants. The participants, who volunteered, were informed about the purpose, duration and conditions of the interview. In addition, their permission was asked for tape-recording their interviews. The interviewer asked questions from general to specific to the participants. Later on, the interviews were transcribed by the researcher to be analysed. 

4.5.3. Procedures for data analysis
The data obtained from the pre-experimental study were entered onto the computer and analysed with several statistical procedures like descriptive statistics, Paired Samples T-test and Independent Samples T-test on SPSS (ver. 15.0). The data collected from the interviews were evaluated both qualitatively and quantitatively; the findings were presented; and necessary interpretations were provided.

5. Findings
Findings from the questionnaire and the interview will be presented in the following sections.

5.1. Findings from the questionnaire
In order to find out whether a significant change occurred in learners’ motivational level in learning English, firstly descriptive statistics of pre-test motivation was carried out and mean values were calculated. The mean value of pre-test total motivation was found to be 4,31 (see Table 1).
Table 1: Total mean values of motivation pre-test

The results of descriptive statistics indicate that learners’ overall intrinsic motivation appears to be fairly high (mean: 4,34).  This result reveals that the majority of the participants are quite aware of the significance of English in their future lives.  Moreover, they choose the particular department they enrolled in knowing that there is an English preparatory class. As it had been previously observed students in these groups were quite motivated to learn English.
            To understand the learners’ ideas in relation to each specific item, the results of the descriptive statistics are presented below in tables 2 and 3 in two parts corresponding to the two dimensions of motivation: intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.

Table 2: Descriptive statistics of learners’ intrinsic motivation  in learning English before treatment

As the table above shows, while they find English somewhat interesting (mean: 3,53) and enjoyable (mean: 3,80), it could be noticed that their motivation to learn English (item 12, mean: 4,20; item 18: 4,33; item 19, mean: 4,57; item 6, mean: 4,67) seems to be higher. Especially, item 3 with the top mean value of 4,83 is a sign of learners’ high motivation to learn English.

Table 3: Descriptive statistics of learners’ extrinsic motivation in learning English before treatment

Participants’ extrinsic motivation is also quite high (mean: 4,27) although it is slightly lower than the mean of intrinsic motivation. When the mean values of the items of extrinsic motivation are studied, it is noticed that all of the first three highest scoring items (mean: 4,87) involve statements related to the importance of English with respect to learners’ future employment needs.
            In order to find out whether the difference between total mean values of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation of pre-test was significant, a Paired-Samples T-test was implemented (see Table 4).
 
Table 4: Paired-Samples T-test results for the differences betweenextrinsic and intrinsic motivation before treatment

While the mean value of extrinsic motivation (mean: 4,27) is slightly lower than the mean value of intrinsic motivation (mean: 4,34), the difference is not statistically significant (p>.05). Next, the difference between male and female learners’ motivational level before the treatment was sought through an Independent Samples T-test (see table 5).
           
Table 5: Independent Samples T-test results for gender differences in learners’ motivational level before treatment  

Table 5 indicates that there is not a significant difference between female and male participants’ motivation to learn English prior to the treatment (p>.05). 
            With the aim of finding out the outcomes of post-test motivation, firstly mean values were calculated and mean of post-test total motivation was found to be 4.22 (see table 6).

Table 6: Total mean values of motivation post-test

            Then, descriptive statistics of intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation was conducted (see tables 7 and 8).

Table 7: Descriptive statistics of learners’ intrinsic motivation in learning English after treatment

 
The results of descriptive statistics show that participants’ intrinsic motivation could be said to be high as in the pre-test, though it was observed that a slight decrease occurred in the mean values (pre-test intrinsic motivation mean: 4,34 and post-test intrinsic motivation mean: 4,21). Similar to the descriptive statistics of the pre-test, the lowest scoring intrinsic motivation items are again the ones involving the statements about the nature of English and the study of English language (items 5 and 15, mean: 3,40; item 4, mean: 3,73; item 1, mean: 4,07). However, they seem to be quite motivated again to learn English. For example, item 30 with the mean value of 4,40 reveals that they would still like to learn English even if it was not compulsory. Similarly, item 19 (mean: 4,40) indicates that they are intrinsically motivated since they become happy when they realise that they learn English. Once again, the mean values of the first four highest scoring items point to the learners’ willingness to be able to learn English due to the intrinsic factors.

Table 8: Descriptive statistics of learners’ extrinsic motivation in learning English after treatment

The results from descriptive statistics show that learners’ extrinsic motivation is considerably high, especially in terms of their future professional concerns again (item 11: 4,90; items 9 and 8, mean: 4,87). On the other hand, participants are not concerned with how others will approach them if they learn English (item 17, mean: 3,07).   
            After the results of descriptive statistics of post-test motivation were presented and interpreted, a Paired-Samples T-test was carried out so as to discover whether there is a significant difference between total mean values of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation (see Table 9). 

Table 9: Paired-Samples T-test results for the differences between extrinsic and intrinsic motivation after treatment

The values in Table 9 indicate that the difference between the mean values of extrinsic motivation (mean: 4,23) and intrinsic motivation (mean: 4,21) is not statistically significant (p>.05). With the purpose of finding out the difference between male and female learners’ motivational level after treatment, the data were subjected to an Independent Samples t-test (see Table 10).
 

Table 10: Independent Samples T-test results for gender differences in learners’ motivational level after treatment

Table 10 indicates that there is not a significant difference between female (mean: 4,13) and male participants’ (mean: 4,33) motivation in the post-test (p>.05). In order to find out how significant the difference is between pre-test and post-test total motivation, a Paired-Samples T-test was carried out (see Table 11).

Table 11: Paired-Samples T-test results for the differences between pre-test and post-test total motivation

           
            The values in Table 11 show that there is not a significant difference between participants’ motivation before and after the treatment (p>.05). In other words, no statistically meaningful differences were detected in learners’ motivational level after treatment.
           
5.2. Findings from the interview
In order to analyse the findings from the interviews conducted with nine participants, the interviews were first transcribed and then the findings were interpreted. As mentioned in the methodology of the study, the interviewees were volunteers. Although academic success level was not taken into consideration when selecting the interviewees, it was noticed that their level ranged from ‘very high’ to ‘low’ according to the end-of-term grades (The average is ‘60’ out of ‘100’, which is the passing grade in English Preparatory Programme). Three of the participants (33. 3%) had ‘very high’ level of academic success; four participants’ (44. 4 %) academic success level was ‘high’; and the academic success level of two participants (22. 2 %) was ‘low’.

            The interviewees were asked general and specific questions. The first question was the most general one: ‘What do you think about the activities done in the sessions?’ On the whole, the participants had quite positive opinions about the activities. 7 participants out of 9 stated that they found the activities very useful. For example, P-9 said that:
P-5 also reported:        

           
The second interview question was: ‘How have the activities contributed to you personally?’ The responses to this question exhibit variance. Actually, each interviewee responded to this question quite differently (see Table 12).

Table 12: Interviewees’ responses to the second interview question

           
When Table 12 is examined, it is noticed there is a marked increase in learners’ overall metacognition. In terms of motivation, while no significant differences in learners’ motivation were found out via statistical procedures, qualitative findings from the interview reveal that some of the participants’ motivation seemed to be enhanced. For example, two participants’ (P-4 and P-8) motivation to learn English could be said to have increased as both of them stressed that they realised how important English was in their life. Furthermore, P-9 said that:

Table 13: Interviewees’ responses to the third interview question

           
Next, the fourth question ‘What were your opinions related to the process of learning English before the learner training sessions and what about your present opinions?’ was asked to the interviewees: The interviewees’ responses to this question also show variation. For example, P-1 said that:

P-2 emphasised that she became aware of her responsibility in her learning and also the importance of studying English:

Furthermore, P-3 reported that he learned many things about different aspects of language learning. P-4 pointed out that he felt as if the thoughts in his mind came alive when the discussions were being held. In other words, he remembered what he knew previously. Similar to P-1, P-5 also emphasised that he started to think that the time allocated for learning English could be shortened if one knows how to plan his studies carefully. Likewise, P-6 made it clear that if one works hard enough, she can achieve anything. She also added that since she realised that it had been her fault when her performance got poorer, she started to put more effort into her work to improve her performance. Moreover, P-7 noted down that:

            Participants 8 and 9 responded to the fifth question in a similar way. They stated that they had decided how to study English. They also added that they had not been aware of many things about foreign language learning before the sessions. P-9 emphasised that:

P-4 also had positive opinions about the study:

To sum up, while no statistically significant differences were found in participants’ motivational level in learning English before and after treatment, findings of the qualitative data indicate that their motivational level increased to a certain extent. In addition, participants’ metacognitive awareness appeared to be much greater.

6. Discussions of findings
This section involves the discussions of the findings from the overall study.
 
6.1. Discussions of findings from the quantitative data      
The results of the quantitative findings are three-fold: First, one aim was to find out learners’ motivational level before the learner training sessions started. The findings indicated that learners’ motivation to learn English appeared to be really high at the beginning of the study. Next, although no significant differences were observed between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, it was noticed that the prevailing source for this high motivation was learners’ future employment concerns. This is not surprising since attending English Preparatory Programme was compulsory for most of the participants (28 out of 30). In terms of gender differences with respect to motivation prior to the treatment, female and male students’ motivational level turned out to be quite close to each other.
            Second, it was found that learners’ motivational level was again quite high following the treatment. Similar to the motivation pre-test, no considerable differences were found between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation; while it was noticed again that learners seemed to be willing to learn English particularly because of external factors related to their future professional careers. However, learners also appeared to be intrinsically motivated as a high scoring item indicated that they would like to study English even if it was not compulsory. In this respect, it could be compared to Salehi’s (2005) study in which he suggests that there is not a clear-cut boundary between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation as the findings of his study pointed to a high and meaningful correlation between these two types of motivation. Finally, no meaningful differences between females’ and males’ motivational level were detected. Similar results were also reached by Dursun (2007) and Salem (2006), who have reported that no significant differences were found in learners’ motivational level with respect to gender in their study.
            Third, the results of statistical findings indicated that no significant differences were found in learners’ overall motivation after learner training and awareness building sessions. This result might be attributed to the general observation that learners’ motivation is usually higher in the beginning of the course but it tends to decrease by the end of the term as they are involved in so many engaging activities and exams throughout the course. Since the researcher was the teacher of the group, towards the end of the sessions, fatigue and frustration were extensively observed among the participants.

6.2. Discussions of findings from the qualitative data
As for the results of the last research question, the findings obtained from the interviews indicated that all of the interviewees appeared to have positive opinions regarding the learner training sessions. Responses of the interviews particularly indicated that their metacognitive awareness enhanced considerably.  In contrast to the statistical findings which revealed that no significant changes occurred in participants’ overall motivational level, the qualitative findings signified a relative amount of increase in their motivation as several of the interviewees reported that they started to perceive English as having a more important place in their lives; attend the course more willingly, etc.
            When learners were asked to express their further opinions about the sessions, it was observed that all of them found the activities quite useful. The most favourable activities of the participants were the ones related to improvement of metacognition such as learner styles, teacher and learner roles and character analysis.

7. Conclusions and implications
The main aim of the present study was to seek any possible significant increases in learners’ motivational level after a learner training programme. The statistical results showed that no considerable increase was detected in learners’ overall motivation. However, according to the qualitative findings, a reasonable level of increase in participants’ motivational level was found. In addition, the results of the qualitative data indicate that learners’ metacognitive awareness has increased. Moreover, the findings pointed to no significant differences between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation neither before nor after the treatment. Finally, female and male students turned out to have quite close motivational level in learning English.
            The results of the present study have several important implications regarding learners, teachers, and methodological issues. Considering the fact that motivation is a crucial construct shaping learners’ behaviours and performance, and determination to achieve goals, it could be suggested that learner training aiming to enhance learners’ motivation with a focus on the development of learners’ metacognition should be incorporated into every subject area and introduced preferably from the very beginning of education. However, the timing and the duration of the learner training should be more cautiously organised and, thus, be better observed over time since behaviour changes occur in long periods. Similarly, the intensity of the teaching programme should also be taken into consideration when designing learning training sessions in order to minimise likely negative effects of such tiring schedule on learners’ motivation. As for foreign language teacher education, the training of pre-service language teachers should be equally concerned with teaching how to learn apart from teaching how to teach the content area.
            This study also has several methodological implications. For this particular research, the training sessions were designed as separate sections apart from regular language classes. However, incorporating learning training into teaching materials and course content could yield better gains in the long term (Cotterall, 2000; Wenden, 1987). In order to make learner training an essential part of a course, learners could be given questionnaires focusing on different aspects of foreign language learning such as attitudes, learning styles and strategies, needs analysis and goal-setting, motivation and so on throughout the course. In addition, peer or whole-class discussions, learner journals, counselling sessions, and diary-keeping could be carried out so that learners could find the opportunity to reflect on various aspects of learning and also benefit from others’ ideas and experiences. Furthermore, learners could be assisted and guided to assess and evaluate their own performance and progress, set realistic goals and also determine the ways of achieving them. To sum up, learners’ metacognition could be developed well in a number of ways so as to encourage them to become more motivated and effective learners.

The present study calls for further research for examining the construct of motivation more thoroughly with respect to learner training. The fact that there was not a noteworthy change in the level of participants’ motivation at the end of the training sessions raises the ultimate question as to whether such training is necessary or should be given at all. To respond to this question, several perspectives should be considered tentatively. Firstly, in this particular study, the initial level of students’ motivation prior to the training sessions was already high. Therefore, to make generalisations according to the present results might cause misunderstanding. For this reason, this study could be replicated with a larger number of participants, preferably having a low level of motivation and the results could be compared. Secondly, as is well known, motivation is affected by several factors including personal ones such as age; academic success level; educational, cultural and family background, etc. and  several contextual ones such as timing, duration of the training, intensity of teaching programme and so on.  As one of these, metacognition, i.e. planning learning, setting goals, evaluating self-progress, etc. is certainly helpful and the findings from the follow-up interview of the study are also in support of this fact. However, training learners to become aware of themselves as learners and learning process should be taken as part of a whole scheme of language learning. In other words, all the other factors, or at least a majority of them, such as effective teachers, effective materials, and effective instruction should be provided so that motivation in learning can be greatly enhanced. Therefore, future research studies might look into the correlations, if any, between learning training, motivation and the factors mentioned above by controlling them more cautiously.       

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