While a number of studies have investigated the relationship between motivation and foreign or second language learning outcomes, the process of how such motivation transforms into successful learning outcomes is relatively unexplored. Interviewing a group of four participants, this study seeks to understand how college English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students produce successful learning outcomes, and to suggest some theoretical as well as practical implications of the transformation. In doing so it contributes to our growing understanding of how and to what extent motivation shapes the process of EFL learning.