Getting puzzled about puzzling: Doing my first exploratory practice on self-directed English language learning

The Covid-19 pandemic required a transformation into innovative classroom pedagogies that expected language learners to become more active and shoulder more responsibilities than before. In this article, I report on my first experience of doing exploratory practice to examine online flipped classrooms used to develop English as a foreign language (EFL) students’ self-directed learning. In a classroom-based mixed-methods study, I examined and puzzled over classroom practices that may promote learners’ self-directed readiness in the context of a university-level writing class. The results indicated a significant increase in my students’ desire for learning and self-control. They also showed that learners need technical assistance and psychological support to increase their self-directed learning skills and become more self-directed and autonomous language learners. The article concludes with a critical reflection on my first exploratory practice endeavor and what the whole process of puzzling about my classroom activities has brought to my teaching practice.