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The aim of the research study was to design various methods in which to improve continuous professional training of teachers for the position of mentor. Accordingly, essential key competences referred to as representing teachers’ further professional development were identified in the current research study. Based on the results collected from the pilot seminars carried out through the course of the research as well as results collected from completed questionnaires for mentors, actual and potential problems and the needs of secondary school teachers in Slovakia were identified. The presented research results are a summary of the collected research data.

This research focusses on the analysis of learning experience. Together with the other factors of motivational structure: Intrinsic motivation, Personal goals, Attractivity of foreign language community, and Worries about learning, it creates motivational profile of foreign language (FL) learners. The analysis is based on the theoretical concept of foreign language motivational self-system by Dörnyei. The research aim was to find out the perception of learning experience and the level of its dependence on the category of the Associations with the expression "German" in the selected categories. Moreover, it was to find out the differences in perception of learning experience, motivational structure, and the length of foreign language studying. The research sample consisted of German FL learners from six different lower-secondary schools within Slovakia. Motivational Structure Questionnaire was used as a research tool to obtain the research data. The data were processed by the selected quantitative and qualitative research methods. The research results supported ambivalence of learning experience. The statistical significance was found in the two categories: the category of Negative emotions related to the category negative perception of educational situation, and the category of German speaking countries related to the higher level of motivation in the factor of learning experience. Furthermore, significant relations were found between the factor of learning experience and the factors of the ideal self of the motivational structure and the length of studying a foreign language. The results in the qualitative part of the research opened up a possible intervention steps towards foreign language motivation reinforcement.