The language learning experiences and their perceived impact on teaching: An interview study with English teachers in Hungary

Background and purpose: The purpose of the current study was to investigate how English language teachers’ foreign language learning experiences in the past are acknowledged by them, and how these experiences impact the way they teach in the present. Methods: This qualitative investigation included 10 English teachers with considerable amount of teaching experience in various contexts in Hungarian schools. The instrument was a semistructured interview guide yielding to a 70,000-word dataset. Once the data was transcribed, topical analysis was carried out to map the most salient emerging themes and their relationships. Findings: When teachers talked about their learning processes, a number of important themes emerged, including the role of their former teachers, intercultural contact and success as well as self-related issues and attitudes towards learning. All participants considered themselves successful language learners and this contributed to their self-confidence. There were some differences in how their experiences influenced the way they teach. Some participants described how their experience shaped the way they looked at teaching as a profession, while others described practical techniques and tricks they learnt from their former teachers. Conclusions: Despite the fact that learning experiences are a somewhat neglected element in the field of L2 motivation, the present study shows that there is an intricate link between language learning experience and teaching practice with learning experiences having a longstanding impact on teaching. Pedagogical suggestions: The major pedagogical implication of this study is that awareness raising might be useful for teachers concerning the impact of their own learning experiences on their teaching practices. Recognising differences between own and students’ experiences might also implicate ways to motivate their students by both being empathic and modelling successful 3 learning. Exploring own experiences of success might also create further opportunities to provide role-modeling examples for students and raise their self-confidence