The REFLECT model: cultivating beginning language learner agency through eTandem conversations, transcriptions, and reflections

Abstract This qualitative case study is situated in the context of a beginning French language course at a Sino-foreign joint-venture institution in China. The course involved an eTandem component for ten Chinese students learning French who were paired with learners of Chinese in France. The eTandem was accompanied with iterative cycles of conversation transcriptions and guided reflections to think about how students prepared for their interactions, what they learned, what challenges they encountered, and what and how they planned to improve. Introducing the REFLECT model of reflections to support learner agency through metacognition, this article reports on the perceptions of students regarding their agency for linguistic and intercultural growth. The post-conversations and end of the semester reflections of the ten Chinese students were analyzed inductively and thematically. Findings indicate that students developed metacognition and learner agency by engaging in proactive behaviors including input, interaction, feedback, and information-seeking. This article provides theoretical and practical implications connecting eTandem, reflections, metacognition, and learner agency in the languaculture classroom, transcending the Franco-Chinese context.