Student motivation is a multifaceted topic that English Language Teachers continually discuss and investigate. Differences of the learning environment and whether the student is in the ESL or EFL context are of special interest in the present paper. This paper presents the findings of a survey related to the topic of motivation that was given to students in both the ESL (English as a Second Language) and EFL (English as a Foreign Language) contexts. Findings include observations about student motivation in each context, glimpses of classroom occurrences in each context as well as student and teacher reflections from each context. Motivation in the ESL and EFL contexts is also discussed and different factors of student motivation are considered. Implications for teaching that can be drawn out of this study are related to the student and teacher roles in the classroom, instructional design, and attention to intercultural communication

The joint improvement studies in education in Europe and the development of common teacher training initiatives/policies to support it goes back to Marc-Antoine Jullien (Jullien de Paris 1775 - 1848) of Comparative Education Science. Educational reform movements link to teacher education. During the establishment period of the Republic of Turkey, innovations have been made in the education system and teacher training system. This teacher training system was also left to education faculties in universities as of 1982. Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) survey laid down by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) which Turkey is also a member, has shown the educational achievement to OECD member countries in their respective domestic distribution and Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMMS) results are also included in such educational achievement indicators. Turkey is among the failing countries compared to the OECD countries. According to the educational systems in Germany and the United States, the Turkish educational system should be compared in terms of the places where there are problems. In addition, contemporary and democratic, the secular education system should rapidly focus on the stand of the advanced industrialized countries. In all the European countries, the educational actions, or more precisely the reform studies, are repeatedly reviewed according to the PISA results. Here is a study based on comparative education science and the study aims to reveal the differences and similarities between the moves of teacher training in Turkey and innovative teacher training in Germany, for the example of Europe.