Exploring pre-service teachers’ reflective practice through an analysis of six-stage framework in reflective journals

ABSTRACT

Reflective journal is used by the pre-service teachers (PSTs) to reflect on their learning and teaching experiences in the classroom but they lack writing it in a more critical way. This study aims to explore the common stages of reflective practice among the PSTs using a six-stage framework. The methodology utilised a case study involving a purposive sampling of a group of 20 participants in an institute of teacher education in Malaysia. The instruments were observations, reflective journals and interviews. The journals were analysed using content analysis by following the framework of reflective practice. The results showed that the PSTs reflected mostly at ‘Describing’ (36.04%), followed by ‘Analysing’ (26.00%), ‘Associating’ (21.15%), ‘Feeling’ (12.12%), ‘Assessing’ (2.78%), and ‘Developing’ (1.92%). The findings indicated that the PSTs reflected mostly at the lowest stage of ‘Describing’ compared to the highest stage of ‘Developing’. It is also interesting to note that the PSTs reflected more deeply after they were able to project their feelings and receive peer feedback. The six-stage framework used in this study not only provides the PSTs a guideline to reflect deeply, but also allows them to develop their future roles as teachers. The implication is for the policy makers and educators to include the proposed framework in the course syllabus and it is recommended for the PSTs to use it as a guideline in developing their reflective practice.

KEYWORDS:

• Reflective practice
• pre-service teachers
• framework
• reflective journal

Disclosure statement

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

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/14623943.2022.2071246

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Bee Choo Yee

B.C. Yee is an excellent lecturer at the Institute of Teacher Education Tun Hussein Onn Campus (IPGKTHO), Johor, Malaysia with more than 25 years of teaching English language to primary and secondary school students and currently to pre-service teachers and postgraduate students. She is actively involved as a teacher trainer in conducting Continuous Professional Development (CPD) courses for in-service teachers. Her areas of research include English Language teaching and learning, teacher education, literature and action research.

Tina Abdullah

T. Abdullah is a senior lecturer at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia with 28 years of teaching experience in communication courses for undergraduates and postgraduate levels. She is actively involved as a teacher trainer for the Teaching of English as a Second Language program. Her areas of interest are in literature in english language teaching, generative thinking, meaning making, and materials development for classroom practice

Abdullah Mohd Nawi

A. Mohd Nawi a senior lecturer at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia specialising in applied drama in English language learning, language teaching and teacher training. He is also the assistant dean (External & Global Engagement) for the Faculty of Social Sciences & Humanities. His main research interest are drama in ESL/ELT and second language acquisition.