In the second stage, learning awareness and students' common learning practices were explored. This was done through materials for learning strategies training, a description of the English program and learning surveys. Then, in the decision making awareness stage a sample of a work plan was discussed with the students in order to create their own work plan for each English session.

At the beginning of the class, students were asked to compare, using the class program, what they have learnt and what was missing in order to choose what they were going to study that day. This step was done in order to make them aware of what they had learnt and how it had been learnt. After choosing the topic from the class program, they wrote their expectations and a possible plan to learn what they had chosen from the class program. Later, students did the unit's exercises and proposed some homework activities. At the end students asked questions; they were answered by the teacher in the following session. The work plans were divided into six parts (see Figure 3).

Finally, it should be noted that time restrictions and the school's unplanned activities affected the continuity of the pedagogical intervention. The first phases took more time than expected and the process was very slow. For this reason, we applied just one research cycle. Nonetheless, and as can be read in the following section, it provided interesting insights that can guide us and other teachers in further implementations.

Findings

The analysis of data let us identify three main categories (see Tabla 1). The first category refers to ways in which students' autonomy was evidenced through the use of work plans in their portfolios and embraces how students reflect upon and systematize their experiences in order to go further in their learning. The second category deals with a categorization of the students' strategies used to create and monitor their work plans. The third category has to do with the students' possible roles and their kind of involvement in the development of decision-making work plans. In the subsequent sections these three categories and their subcategories are described further. Samples are included in the language they were originally written in, and participants and sources identified with codes as follows: S 1 (Survey 1); St 1 (Student 1); Int L 2-6 (Interview, lines 2-6); T (Teacher); FN (Field notes).

Taking Control of One's Own Learning

This category refers to students' practices carried out when they created their work plans in English class. The most common practice involved in such a process was students' planning of their own learning, particularly in issues having to do with the clarity of what they have learnt and how the learning process was organized. Within this learning planning, a subcategory emerged. It has to do with the systematization of the information and reflection upon experience, that is to say, the learning planning practice, as evidenced in the following students' comments:

Me parecieron buenos (los planes de trabajo) porque uno planea, es como si organizara para hacer un trabajo y al organizarse es más fácil aprender. (S 2, L 7-8)

No me fue difícil plantear los objetivos de clase ... No, porque eso es lo más fácil que uno puede plantear porque eso es lo que uno piensa hacer durante este curso y como yo ya los tenia planteados para mí no fue tan difícil. (Int 8, L 5-7)

These comments show how students planned, organized and reflected upon what they did in class in order to further their learning. According to what was found, these practices promote students' autonomy, decision making and language learning in the class. Supporting this aspect, Gardner and Miller (1996) state that autonomous learners are ''those who initiate the planning and the implementation of their own learning program'' (p. vii). Reflecting upon it, Nunan (1995) also states that setting and planning objectives can promote decision making practices in the classroom.

Additionally, the use of portfolios showed that they were a means for students to write and reflect upon their learning experiences. According to this, Omalley and Valdez (1996) explain that the use of portfolios in class encourages students to reflect on their work, to analyze their progress and to set improvement goals, as expressed by one student:

Pues eran... con las ideas que uno ponía. Entonces uno ya sabía lo que iba a ver, con las tareas uno ya uno tenía más imaginación y pues los planes ... uno escribía y uno ya se acordaba bien. (Int 3, L 15-17)

In the portfolios, two main issues were evidenced: The first one has to do with how the development of work plans promoted a sense of planning and organizing learning. The second issue refers to how these work plans allowed them to organize what they were learning and review what they were systematizing as a strategy of self-monitoring and class involvement. To this end, Breen and Littlejohn (2000) state that students using portfolios can get their own interpretations of what is done in the classroom and how it relates to their own learning agendas. Accordingly, one participant responded:

Eso [sugerir] ayudó porque yo creo que ... de acuerdo a las sugerencias se fueron mejorando las clases. Digamos ... estas eran más didácticas por la escucha y todo eso ... porque ya era más amplio el tema, no sólo se quedaba en lo que íbamos a ver sino que ampliábamos todos con nuestras opiniones. (Int 9, L 30-33)

This comment evidences that work plans also promote critical thinking because students can express their thoughts and what they are doing in the process from a critical point of view (Torres Díaz, 2009). This author emphasizes the idea of using portfolios as a way to make public students' opinions and feelings during their learning process. In this sense, the implementation of work plans in the portfolios can raise students' awareness, and it is considered as the starting point to develop students' autonomy (Scharle and Szabo, 2000).

The data collected showed that self-reflection can support or stimulate students' awareness. Following this idea of promoting self-reflection through the use of portfolios, we worked on raising students' consciousness about their responsibility and autonomy, introduced new roles in class, and fostered conscious participation, cooperation and use of learning strategies.

According to Sanmartí et al. (2002), promoting self-reflection in the classroom develops students' responsibility. This self-reflection allows students to recognize their weaknesses and strengths in the process, and when they are doing so they can create their own ''action model''. Some students expressed:

En ellos [los planes de trabajo] podemos escribir lo que aprendimos y las dudas que teníamos. Además de que podíamos escribir actividades para mejorar en los aspectos trabajados. (S4, L 8-10)

Pues la importancia de eso ... pues saber qué era lo que nosotros hacíamos todos los sábados y también lo que en cada clase ... lo que íbamos aprendiendo para así saber qué era lo que nos habían enseñado. (Int 2, L 23-25)

También los planes de clase ayudaron harto porque eso uno los veía y ya sabía lo que uno que iba a trabajar. Entonces de acuerdo a lo que uno veía, pues, planteaba los objetivos y después complementaba. (Int 9, L 9-11)

These comments evidenced a methodological awareness in which students reflected upon what they were doing and how they were doing it. In connection to this methodological awareness, Sanmartí et al. (2002) state that the responsibility of self-regulation must be on the students' own shoulders. They must recognize their own learning characteristics and adopt their own ''logic'' or methodology and strategies for self-monitoring this logic.

Likewise, and referring to portfolios, Genesee and Upshur (1996) underline the benefits of using them in class as an integral part of the instructional planning. They state some learning advantages such as students' involvement, responsibility for their learning, interaction with others (classmates and teachers), students' ownership, and students' ability to think critically about schoolwork. Another advantage of the use of portfolios is the individualized monitoring of learning by the teacher. In our particular case, students felt that the teacher's attention was more focused on them than in daily weekday classes. In addition to that, feedback was usually perceived by students. These practices also evidence the interactive and active aspects of using portfolios in class.

Applying Learning Strategies

We bore in mind the importance of adopting the right strategies to make learning time more effective and contribute to more effective learning processes (Oxford, 1990). Interestingly, it was observed that the explicit training in ''learning to learn'' promoted the use of some tips which helped students in their language learning. Next, we can find some evidences taken from students' interviews:

De pronto ya uno sabía que ... digamos... la escucha, habla. Entonces pues uno miraba como por ese tema ... a buscar qué de pronto me ayudaba ahí. (Int 10, L 23-26)

Me pareció importante porque ... sí ... tal vez le va mejor a uno tal vez escuchando a otros; mejor escribiendo y otros aprenden más si solo leen y así. (Int 11, L 26-28)

In these statements we can note how useful the metacognitive strategies were. Furthermore, we can observe their connection to the students' learning styles (visual, analytic or auditory), their goals (what they wanted to learn in this class) and the kind of language ability (their English competence level) that they were working on.

Three different learning strategies were used by the students for monitoring their own work plans. According to Oxford (1990), learning strategies are divided into metacognitive, affective and social strategies. Regarding the meta-cognitive strategies, we found that students relied on arranging their plans, setting goals and objectives, overviewing already known material and self-evaluation. Also, we could observe that students used affective strategies to lower anxiety and encourage themselves. As far as social strategies are concerned, they used learning with others. Now, we examine how these strategies were evidenced in the data analysis.

According to Oxford (1990), meta-cognitive strategies involve centering learning and this can be carried out by over-viewing and linking new material with already known material. Some of the students' autonomous characteristics are the systematic review of their work plans, the reflection on what has already been learnt, the evaluation of effects, and the development and use of self-evaluative criteria (Luna Cortés & Sánchez Lujan, 2005). A testimony to illustrate this reads as follows:

Pues sí porque con eso [work plans] ... miraba y de ahí sacaba. O sea, miraba lo que yo había hecho en esas clases y entonces de ahí uno más o menos sabe qué es lo que tiene que escribir y poner en las hojas. (Int 2, L 27-29)

Era más fácil para estudiar. Uno revisaba el plan de clase y miraba lo que uno había puesto que aprendió de nuevo y entonces, de acuerdo a eso a uno se le hacía más fácil acordarse de lo que había visto. (Int 9, L 23-25)

On the other hand, some students underline the importance of some factors that can help their learning such as the number of students per class, normal practices and expectations, among others. Supporting the importance of the learning environment, Ariza (2008) asserts that ''the implementation of autonomous work requires a proper atmosphere where students and teachers feel comfortable and supported when engaging in a new teaching-learning paradigm'' (p. 69). In this project, the number of students in class, the schedule and activities represented an innovation for them. Students expressed that they felt more satisfied and motivated with their learning and this course's characteristics:

Porque es como ... más calmado ... más relajado ... Como que a uno le explican mejor (...) porque había poquitos niños y uno ya pone cuidado bien a las clases y no es tanta bulla ni nada. (Int 12, L .26-30)

Sí, he aprendido mucho y como los sábados son más relajados, uno se siente sin presión. (S2, L13-14)

Pues uno no pierde el tiempo y en vez de estar vagando, aprende algo ... Y pues para reforzar mi inglés ... claro. (Int 10, L 61-62)

Setting their own objectives to practice in class was considered as a core action in the implementation of this project because it had to do with promoting decision-making abilities in the students. Ariza (2008) asserts that setting clear objectives and having achievable purposes can introduce students' reflection and decision making in the classes. In turn, these practices promote autonomy because students are taking responsibility for their learning process (Dickinson, 1987; Ariza, 2008). That is why self-awareness was a key factor in the implementation of this project. Hence, it was mandatory that students knew and were aware of what they were going to learn each session and why the proposed activities could help them to reach their objectives.

The use of learning with others as a social strategy was also evidenced because students had to interact to reconstruct meaning (Oxford, 1990). This interaction took place mainly with their peers, but their family (parents at home) and the teacher were also involved in the process. At the beginning students did not feel comfortable working in groups because the groups were first assigned by the teacher, but then students were able to overcome their differences and consider their partner as a good teacher (role change), a useful and helpful development for their learning. It was another type of student-teacher interaction in the class. Hence, the usual power relation between the teacher and the students was moved towards a cooperative and supportive alliance in the classroom. Accordingly, Breen and Littlejohn (2000) say that encouraging collaborative spirit between teachers and learners can promote the use of learning strategies and develop students' autonomy.

Pues al comienzo no entendía, pero después como ya como a las tres clases Germán (un compañero) me explicó y ahí ya empecé a entender. (Int 3, L 8-9)

No, pues los cuatro, las mesas [los estudiantes trabajaban en grupo]. Estuvo bien porque si a uno le faltaba él le ayudaba o algo así y pues nos compartíamos las ideas todos. (Int 10, L 56-57)

Porque si uno no entiende uno se ayuda con las personas o les (...) les va ayudando, y eso pues me parece chévere. (Int 12, L 35-36)

Pues en la casa le preguntaba a mi papá y mi papa me decía: ‘busque un diccionario y lo traduce'. Cuando no encontraba algunas palabras me decía: ‘prenda el computador y lo traduce ahí'. Y lo traducía y me dijo: ‘primero contéstelo en inglés y déjelo aparte para que así vaya aprendiendo más. (Int 6, L 17-20)

This last comment shows how learning English could take place outside of the classroom -although learning English was still associated with translating. Concerning family homework support at home we could witness how parents suggested methodological strategies to their children in order to overcome difficulties and how they could guide their children at home, suggesting strategies concerning their homework. In this case the parents' role was active in the students' learning.

Changing Roles to Fulfill Goals

This category has to do with the different roles students could adopt through the process of creating and monitoring work plans. Bearing in mind the context, we favored ''procedural negotiation'' which, as already explained, deals with taking decisions about ''who will work with whom, what subject matter and what activities were suitable for this problem'' (Breen & Littlejohn, 2000, p. 8). During this process, two main students' roles were visible. The first one was characterized by a passive role, that of ''follower and viewer'', and it was mainly observed in the first stages of the creation of work plans. The second one was an active role called ''explorer and collaborator'', showed at the end of the project. Next, we characterize these two students' roles or profiles.

The first profile ''follower and viewer'' is closely related to authority-oriented students (Ariza, 2008, p. 59). Our participants showed a huge need for teacher's support and approval. They did what the teacher said and preferred others, such as the teacher or classmates, to take the decisions for them. A couple of examples are the following, to wit:

Porque vine casi todos los sábados ... hice todo lo que me ponían. (S 14, L2-3)

Me pareció fácil porque los pude resolver todos completos, como lo había dicho la profesora. (Int 6, L 6-8)

They (students) usually stand up and asked teacher if they were doing it (the class exercise) well. (FN 3, L 26-27)

At the beginning, these ''followers and viewers'' repeatedly asked about what they had to do, but not about strategies or paths they could explore for learning more about a topic. They were just interested in showing that they were working and that they deserved a good grade. It was a feeling like studying for others, learning for others (teachers, parents), not learning for themselves. Sometimes students expressed that they had run out of ideas and expressed that their writing difficulties were their main limitation to actively participate or to engage in the creation of work-plans.

Tuve dificultad un poco con el plan de trabajo porque hay veces no sé qué escribir. (S9, L 11-12)

Me pareció a veces difícil porque a veces uno no sabe qué tarea ponerse y se le vienen las mismas ideas de siempre. (S 10, L 13-15)

When I reviewed this exercise, I realized that many students did not write anything in their work plans. (FN 4, L 25-29)

Fortunately, when students were trained in learning to learn and started setting their own objectives, their profile started to change from a passive one to an active involvement. At the same time the teacher's role was also different: a guide, a mediator who had to facilitate the resources and knowledge, but with the students themselves having to decide how to do it and what to do in their learning. In this respect, Breen and Littlejohn (2000) assert that ''students can get [their] own interpretations of what is done in the classroom and how it relates to their work plans'' (p. 9). One student expressed:

Me pareció bueno porque ahí uno podía decir qué era lo que faltaba en las clases. (Int 7, L 22)

The second profile, ''explorer and collaborator'', was more evident at the end of the project. It was characterized by the students' initiative, creativity, organization and revision of products. They also showed their willingness to go further and to self-evaluate what they were doing. Moreover, students liked working in groups and making decisions about their learning process. They organized what they learnt in their work plans, set their own learning objectives and could create a cooperative learning relation with their classmates. This way they showed independent behavior and an autonomous profile.

Ese punto es como para que uno mismo ponga la tarea y tenga ideas para aprender más rápido.

Entonces eso ayuda mucho para...para uno desenvolverse en la tarea para hacerla más fácil. (Int 3, L 38-40)

Eso [sugerir] ayudo porque yo creo que ... de acuerdo a las sugerencias se fueron mejorando las clases ... Y estas (clases) eran más didácticas ... porque ya era más amplio el tema, no sólo se quedaba en lo que íbamos a ver sino que ampliábamos todos con nuestras opiniones. (Int 9, L 30-33)

Pues los cuatro [estudiantes], las mesas ... estuvo bien porque si a uno le faltaba él le ayudaba o algo así y pues nos compartíamos las ideas todos. (Int 10, L 56-57)

In summary, it could be seen how decision-making practices, fostered in the English class, let students reflect and review what they were doing and go further in their learning. In addition to this, it could be observed how students feel when their opinions or suggestions are taken into account in the class organization and lesson planning. Reinforcing this view as a final goal, these decision-making practices can enable students to develop participation as citizens in democratic processes. In our particular case, if we start promoting students' active involvement in the planning of learning processes, deciding and evaluating what they are doing - we will be promoting autonomous profiles for future citizens who can self-monitor all aspects of their lives, as proposed in the school PEI.

Conclusions

This investigation sought to examine what students' portfolios show about the development of decision-making processes in the creation of collaborative work plans in English classes. Adolescents, and especially those who live in underprivileged contexts like the ones of our participants, need plenty of opportunities to develop proficiency in the English language. In this area, as well as in any field of the curriculum, we cannot forget that ''learning is a matter of repertoire: starting with a recognition of the life world experience and using this experience as a basis for extending what one knows and what one can do'' (Kalantzis & Cope, 2000, p. 124). Data suggested that portfolios are unique opportunities for students to learn to monitor their own progress and encourage them to take responsibility for meeting goals set jointly with the teacher and, hopefully, with parents' support. Next, we highlight the findings in response to the three subquestions we posed in our study.

How is students' autonomy evidenced in students' decision-making work plans gathered in their portfolios? We explored how students take control of their learning and concluded that they usually plan and regulate their process using two main practices. The first one deals with how they systematize and organize what they are learning in their work plans. In turn, the second practice embraces students' self-reflection and how it lets them go further in their English learning experience. This ''systematized'' experience involves how students organize what they did and learnt, and how they reviewed and used it in a real context.

When the students systematized what they learnt, they were able to retain, monitor and evaluate their learning using these work plans in their portfolios as tools to remember, to consult, to organize and to explore what they were learning. Doing this, students could adapt their own class methodology to their needs, interests and capabilities.

What kind of strategies do students use to create and monitor their own work plans in the learning progress in EFL? We found that the most common strategies used are meta-cognitive strategies, affective strategies and social strategies. In relation to meta-cognitive strategies, students arrange and plan their learning using the following steps: finding out about language learning, organizing, setting objectives, and identifying the purpose of language tasks. Likewise, lowering anxiety and encouraging themselves were considered as key practices in order to promote affective strategies. In addition, students were aware of their language improvement because of two main factors: the positive environment in the class, without teacher's or classmates' pressure, and their motivation level, which was evident when they noticed progress in their English learning.

Another strategy used was learning with others and this aspect includes the support of students' classmates, their family and the teacher. When students faced different tasks in class, they worked cooperatively and asked their classmates or the teacher for explanations, or shared what they had understood about a specific topic. At home, some students took advantage of their family support and used it as a strategy to clarify doubts or just to go further in their learning.

What role do students play in the creation of decision-making work plans? Two main profiles appeared during the whole pedagogical implementation. At the beginning of the course the role of ''follower and viewer'' was the most common profile, but through time, this role changed towards an ''explorer and collaborator'' profile. Whereas the follower and viewer role shows a teacher-dependent relationship and demands external supervision, the explorer and collaborator is more in tune with the individual's decision to adopt a more autonomous route and to make informed decisions.

Implications

Though results proved positive, some further reflections and implications also emerged. They embrace roles played by the government, schools, teachers, parents and students. In the first place, policies proposed by the government have to ensure that enough resources, better spaces and supportive personnel are available at school in order to generate suitable learning environments in which autonomous learning can be applied. The second issue concerns how the school practices help the development of autonomy. For this to happen, the school must create negotiation spaces in which students, parents and teachers can take decisions regarding the learning process. Thirdly, in autonomy development a new teachers' role is vital. We need to develop some characteristics such as being more open minded, making decisions and being aware of our roles as advisors, reflective professionals, tolerant practitioners, explorers, negotiators and listeners. In that sense, universities have to think about future teachers' profiles and make sure that teacher educators can also receive updates in new teaching models and more learning centered approaches.

The fourth implication has to do with parents' involvement in their children's learning. Parents' support outside the class is a key point to empower students' autonomy in their lives. This support has to push students to move from a dependent state towards a more self-directed one. Finally, students have to reflect more upon what they are doing and take more responsibility for what they are learning and how they are learning it. To do this, they should be encouraged and guided to take challenges and explore further what they really want to do in their lives.

References

Aparicio, B., Benavides, J., Cárdenas, M. L., Ochoa, J., Ospina, C. M., & Zuluaga H., O. (1995). Learning to teach and teaching to learn - Working Document 5. London, UK: Thames Valley University.