ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the language learning opportunities social learning place offered so as to foster interaction, engagement and reflection among Turkish students learning English as a foreign language. It explores a social learning place and outlines the reasons why and how participants use it autonomously. The chapter looks at the English Cafe (EC) and how its participants connect with each other through social relationships and, more importantly, how their shared meanings contribute to the emergence of a social place. It describes an investigation into the semiotics of this place. The chapter discusses the implications for practice and research in relation to the opportunities the EC offers for out-of-class learning activities, the need to fully explore the concept of place in formal/informal language learning environments in English as a Foreign Language contexts like Turkey. It finally looks into the relationship between how a place is socially constructed and the link between autonomy and the learners' sense of place.
