Reflection from the perspective of new reflectors: investigating what teacher learners find valuable in a reflective task

ABSTRACT

This paper aims to understand the experience of reflective activity from the perspective of Teacher Learners (TLs) encountering reflective ideas for the first time. By identifying elements of a pedagogic reflective task they found most valuable and plausible, the study seeks to provide insights to improve educators’ presentation of reflective ideas. It investigates the experiences of 20 language teachers writing reflections on classroom teaching during a programme of formal instruction. Writers’ decisions are examined intensively to identify which phases/elements of an idealized cycle they chose to extend while engaged in a reflective task. Writers’ commentaries on their writing, collected after the period of their instruction, were also analysed to discover the elements they found plausible and valuable beyond their utility for the course. The study found that writers looking back at their accounts tended to locate most value in practical, ‘descriptive’ sections of their writing rather than those linking to academic theory, or more ‘critical’ modes of reflection. Nevertheless, interviewee responses indicated that many had a nuanced sense that such higher-level modes of reflection might have value outside the formal circumstances of the programme. The paper finally offers practical suggestions that respond to these findings.

KEYWORDS:

• Writing
• written reflection
• critical reflection
• teacher education
• language teaching

Acknowledgments

We would like to acknowledge the support of the British Council in funding part of this project.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the British Council.

Notes on contributors

Duncan Hunter

Duncan Hunter, PhD, is a lecturer at the University of Hull. His interests include discourse analysis, teacher education, and language teaching methodology. Before entering higher education, he worked as a language teacher in several countries including Poland and Japan, then as an ESOL tutor in London. He has also taken part in several projects for teacher development, including a British Council and locally funded teacher education initiative in China.