Pat yourself on the back for that: Self-­evaluation 155

In December I meet Francesco for the last time. Since the end of the Centro’s course in October, he has been taking weekly private lessons with Teresa, and is now looking forward to joining a few of his classmates in the Centro’s Summer School, a short extension of the course running over the summer trimester. When I ask Francesco to think back to the year that has been, Francesco expresses a degree of satisfaction with many aspects of his learning over the last ten months:

F: There was a point at which I thought yes, there is some progress. You know you kind of think I actually can say a sentence without thinking about it ten minutes. So yeah, overall there is a degree of confidence, backed up by a feeling of some competence, and progress.

A: What do you think that is that due to?

F: I’d like to think that it is due to time and effort, you know the more I look at this the more I think the more you do… Not necessarily the better you get but the more chances you have of getting better. (…) Eventually what I want to be able to to speak Italian and to use it with people, and if I feel that this is not being achieved then that demotivates me, but this year has been good because I have achieved more of that, and it’s not that you take things for granted or get bored with them, but you know the classes have their ups and downs, and overall I am happy with them, but there are times you realise that everything in class is a compromise. But yeah, overall good. (…) And it’s like anything, if I had more time, I could have done more, but no, I am not unhappy with my year’s progress, in the context of my life and all the other things. (F6)

The two issues Francesco identifies as the primary obstacles to his learning are consistent with what has already emerged from the previous interviews, namely the constraints posed by the current learning environment and the lack of time and energy available for his studies. According to the principles of attribution theory (Weiner, 1992) the fact that Francesco tends to attribute what he perceives as shortcomings in his learning to external elements outside his immediate control – and not to his own abilities or effort – supports his motivation, as it suggests that his confidence in his abilities is not compromised and that any decline in his enthusiasm could be reversed in a more

favourable environment At the same time, Francesco’s attribution does not mean that he is not willing to take responsibility for his learning, as throughout his studies he has asserted and proven his autonomy in many ways, including never relying on a particular course or teacher to satisfy all of his own learning needs and aspirations. In fact, his awareness of the need to take his learning into his own hands is now stronger than ever:

I think I am more waking up to the fact that the class is only one of my tools to learn Italian, and therefore my self study, talking to people and all that, that’s up to me. (F6)

Francesco’s tendency towards autonomy is also evident in that, as the year draws to an end, he is already thinking about what he can do to maximise his learning in the year to come:

One thing I have been thinking about is how to make next year better and at the moment that is the key I guess, and maybe getting some Italian… How can I put it? Pen pals or something like that over the internet. (F6)

Next year I’d like to set myself more specific goals about competence. I was sitting down with the text book last night and we sort of worked through it with Teresa, but we skipped a few bits, and I said to myself over the holidays and by the end of next year I’d like to have this level of competence in the book up to the end. (F6)

I think am going to say to myself by the end of next year, you want to be able to pick up any exercise out of this textbook and you want to have confidence that you could pass an exam on that book. In fact what I think I might try to do is to pick up one of the old exam papers at the university, and you know… And I still want to see if I can squeeze myself into the lectures. (F6)

The first element of Francesco’s plan for next year is also the most pressing: he needs more practice, especially in speaking and comprehending the language. Secondly, Francesco needs to set specific language goals, as throughout the year he has discovered that the lack of specific objectives can be detrimental to his motivation. He has also learned that his goals need to be achievable and measurable, and so in this sense his choice to use the university textbook and the university’s old exam questions is very appropriate. His choice also shows that Francesco is still thinking of studying Italian at university and that although his present circumstances do not allow him to make a

definite decision and set this as a goal, the mere possibility of it is a strong determining factor in the direction of his learning.