VOICES OF EFL UNIVERSITY LEARNERS THROUGH DIGITAL REFLECTIVE JOURNALS
A Qualitative Study of Learning Motivation in Cross-Cultural Understanding Courses
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24252/elite.v13i1.66683Keywords:
Cross-cultural understanding, Digital Reflective, EFL University Learners, Learning MotivationAbstract
This study was conducted to investigate the effect of digital reflective journals on the motivation of English as a foreign language (EFL) university students in the cross-cultural understanding (CCU) course. This study involved 6 EFL students who enrolled in the CCU class, where they were required to write reflective journals digitally at the end of the teaching and learning process. This study employed semi-structured interviews as the data collection instrument, adapted from the Self-determination Theory. The students’ responses were then analyzed through 7 main stages: familiarization with the collected data, generating initial codes, reviewing the obtained themes, defining themes, identifying the most significant quotes, and writing up. The findings of this study showed that digital reflective journals functioned positively as a pedagogical tool in fostering students’ motivation in CCU courses. The tool successfully helped EFL learners shift their emotions from anxiety to adaptability, enabling them to engage in a meaningful learning process through ongoing use of digital reflective journals. Furthermore, the students also assumed that this valuable tool encouraged them to be autonomous learners, to monitor their academic progress, and to strengthen their connection with educators. Given its impact on students’ motivation, this tool can be considered for implementation in the EFL classroom context. Future researchers are suggested to explore large-scale participants, combining this with a mixed-methods research design to achieve analytical generalizability of research findings.
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