The Relationship between Reflectivity of Foreign Language Teachers with Iranian Students Achievement

Transcription

1 Journal of Language Sciences & Linguistics. Vol., 1 (1), 9-02, 2013 Available online at ISSN The Relationship between Reflectivity of Foreign Language Teachers with Iranian Students Achievement Mahbubeh Rezaeyan, Jahanbakhsh Nikoopour Department of English Language, North Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran ABSTRACT: In the past ten years, a burgeoning research base has increasingly shown that teachers are the most important players influencing students achievement, holding the key to seal the gaps in students achievement outcomes. The fundamental purposes of this study were to see whether (1) there was a relationship between Iranian EFL teachers degree of reflectivity and their students language achievement in English classes, and (2) to explore whether there was a relationship between teachers degree of reflectivity and their teaching experience. Thirty EFL teachers from the three different Language schools in Gorgan, a city in the north of Iran, along with 275 students at intermediate level took part in the present study. Data were collected based on a questionnaire entitled Teacher Reflectivity which has been designed based on six factors: cognitive, metacognitive, affective, practical, critical and moral. The subsequent data analyses via correlation revealed that there was a significant relationship between teachers degree of reflectivity and students achievement. Meanwhile, the findings showed that correlation between teachers degree of reflectivity and years of teaching experience was not significant. Keywords: Language achievement, Teaching experience, Teacher reflectivity, Underlying factors. INTRODUCTION Reflective practice is the thoughtful skill of thinking; in other words, it helps learners develop critical thinking skills thereby enhancing their learning performance and is seen as key on the road to professional growth. For example, teachers can identify their strengths, enhance them, and thus affect student learning in an even greater way. Reflective teaching is a paradigm that dominates teacher education around the world and most professional development programs include it as a way to improve teachers' practice. In a nut shell, an important role of reflective thinking is to act as a means of prompting the thinker during problem solving situations because it provides an opportunity to step back and think of the best strategies to achieve goals (Rudd, 2007). Therefore teachers who are able to use reflective practices will themselves be more attuned to using this strategy to help students think critically (Shermis, 1999). Reflective teaching is, therefore, a notion that recognizes the thoughtful nature of teachers work. Research on teacher thinking has boosted reflective teaching since it seeks to understand this nature of teaching. The focus is on how teachers think about their work and what they think about. Teacher thinking has shown that teachers consciously monitor their teaching before, during and after the lesson. One of the main assumptions of initial research on teacher thinking was the recognition that teaching shares many aspects of other professions. According to this view, teachers have a body of specialized knowledge acquired through training and experience, they are goal-oriented, they make judgments and decisions when faced with complex and ambiguous information, and they construct knowledge through repeated practice and reflection on that practice (Calderhead & Gates, 1993). The History of Reflection As mentioned before, Reflection or critical reflection refers to an activity or process in which an experience is recalled, considered, and evaluated, usually in relation to a broader purpose. (Richards as cited in Corresponding Author: Address: [email protected] 9

2 Sanal-Erginel, 2006). It is a response to past experience and involves conscious recall and examination of the experience as a basis for evaluation and decision-making and as a source for planning and action. Bartlett (1990) points out that becoming a reflective teacher involves moving beyond a primary concern with instructional techniques and how to questions and asking what and why questions that regard instructions and managerial techniques not as ends in themselves, but as part of broader educational purposes. Asking what and why questions give us a certain power over our teaching. We could claim that the degree of autonomy and responsibility we have in our work as teachers is determined by the level of control we can exercise over our actions. In reflecting on the above kind of questions, we begin to exercise control and open up the possibility of transforming our everyday classroom life. In most of the articles and books dealing with reflective teaching, the roots of the term reflection are traced back to Dewey (1933) and his influential book How we think: a re-statement of the relation of reflective thinking to the educational process and Schon (1983, 1987). Dewey defines reflection as action based on the active, persistent and careful consideration of any belief or supposed form of knowledge in the light of the grounds that support it. Reflective action is contrasted with impulsive and routine actions. Impulsive action is based on trial and error, drawing on biological/instinctive principles, while routine action is based largely on authority and tradition. Undertaken in a passive, largely unthinking way (Griffiths, 2000). A reflective teacher, according to this definition, is one who critically examines his/her practices, comes up with some ideas as how to improve his/her performance to enhance students learning, and puts those ideas into practice, what Schon (1983) calls the cycle of appreciation, action, and re-appreciation. Schon makes a distinction between reflectionin-action and reflection-on-action. Reflection-in-action is the real life, online reflection that teachers get engaged in as they confront a problem in the classroom while teaching. It happens when professionals are faced with a situation which they experience as unique or containing an element of surprise. Rather than applying theory or past experience in a direct way, professionals draw on their repertoire of examples to reframe the situation and find new solutions (Griffiths, 2000). In fact, reflection is a purposeful act of thinking which seeks solutions to problems encountered in the process of teaching and learning (Loughran, 1996). According to Farrell (2008) teachers collect data about their teaching, examine their attitudes, beliefs, assumptions, and teaching practices, and use the information obtained as a basis for critical reflection about teaching. Several studies have tried to break the concept of reflection into its components. For example, Van Manen (1977) considered reflection as consisting of three elements of technical rationality, practical reflection and critical reflection, while Korthgen (2001) views reflection as comprised of organized, rational, language based decision making processes that include non-rational, gestalt type operation (Akbari, 2007). Jay and Johnson (2002) came up with a step by step description of reflective practice. They consider reflection as comprised of three important steps of description, comparison and criticism. The descriptive stage is the stage where problem is formulated. In this stage, the teacher decides to focus his reflective attention on a certain aspect of his practice. The comparison stage is the phase in which the teacher thinks about the subject for reflection from different frameworks. According to Schon (1983), it is during the comparison stage that the practitioner tries to understand other people s views. The critical stage is the last stage of reflection in which the practitioner assesses different alternatives and integrates the new information with what he knows from his experience. This is actually the decision making stage which will form the basis for designing alternative ways of teaching or approaching problems. Teacher Reflectivity The simple meaning of reflection is stepping back and thinking about one s actions or thoughts. A literature review of reflective teaching provides us with an array of definitions of what the construct means or entails. For instance, Dewey, 1933) sees reflection as active, persistent, and careful consideration of any belief or supposed form of knowledge in the light of the grounds that support it and the further conclusion to which it tends. Milrood (1999) also defines reflection as the process of mirroring the environment non-judgmentally or critically for the purpose of decision-making. Reflection, then, is a kind of self-examination to judge whether things have been done in an appropriate and realistic way and to go further and make meaning of one s actions by questioning motives and attitudes; in other words, reflection means engaging in deliberation and selfcriticism with the purpose of refining ones teaching practices. Although there is little, if any, empirical research investigating the link between this construct and student achievement outcomes (Akbari, 2007), numerous professionals in the field (Schon, 1987) have explored, mostly at the theoretical level, the benefits of reflective practices for teacher effectiveness; the construct is widely recognized as one of the most important schooling factors influencing student achievement gains (Goldhaber, 2002). To be reflective helps teachers to build their daily experiences, allows them to act in a deliberate critical and intentional manner, increases their awareness about teaching, enables deeper understanding and triggers positive change (Farrell, 2003). As Nolan & Huebner (as cited in Akbari, 2007) mentions as a result of engagement in reflection, teachers become better observers of classroom behavior, which stimulates an awareness of their teacherly decisions and 02

3 the reasons behind those decisions. This makes their practice increasingly explicit as they begin to understand the motivation for their more intuitive decisions. This understanding informs the teachers classroom approach and reduces their cognitive dissonance making them less inclined to rely on traditional practices if those practices do not produce the desired educational results (Deutsch, 1996). This lacks of reliance on conventional practices leads to the replacement of unsubstantiated opinion with grounded belief (LaBoskey as cited in Akbari, 2007) and makes teachers not only the consumers of knowledge, but also primary producers of new knowledge. It, in turn, leads to advances in teacher intellectualism, practitioner self-management, an increase in practitioners' ability to remain current in their field, and a constructivist paradigm of life-long learners (Nolan & Huebner, 1989). Reflectivity on the part of the teachers, besides its impacts on practitioners, is thought to have some effects on students too. It is argued in the literature that a teacher s engagement in reflective teaching promotes students ability to be critically reflective, an issue which has been at the heart of recent calls for educational reforms (Yost, Sentner, & Frolenza-Baily as cited in Akbari, 2007). As teachers become more aware of reflective practices, they begin to model this reflective behavior for their students. Consequently, they are more likely to encourage the same behavior in their students (Nolan & Huebner, 1989). A cursory look at the literature shows, although the theoretical discussions of the impacts of reflective practice on teachers and student reflection abounds (Yost et al., as cited in Akbari, 2007), what appears missing is the empirical investigation of the direct influences of teachers reflectivity on learners achievement outcomes (Stewart & Richardson as cited in Akbari, 2007). How Does Reflection Take Place? According to Richards (1990), many different approaches can be employed if one wishes to become a critically reflective teacher, including observation of oneself and others, team teaching, and exploring one s view of teaching through writing. Central to any approach used however a three- part process which involves is: Stage 1: The event itself The starting point is an actual teaching episode, such as a lesson or other instructional event. While the focus of critical reflection is usually the teacher s own teaching, self-reflection can also be stimulated by observation of another person s teaching. Stage 2: Recollection of the event The next stage in reflective examination of an experience is an account of what happened, without explanation or evaluation. Several different procedures are available during the recollection phase, including written descriptions of an event, a video or audio recording of an event, or the use of check lists or coding systems to capture details of the event. Stage 3: Review and response to the event Following a focus on objective description of the event, the participant returns to the event and reviews it. The event is now processed at a deeper level, and questions are asked about the experience. Let's examine approaches to critical reflection which reflect these processes. Peer observation Peer observation can provide opportunities for teachers to view each other s teaching in order to expose them to different teaching styles and to provide opportunities for critical reflection on their own teaching. In a peer observation project initiated in our own department, the following guidelines were developed. Written accounts of experiences Another useful way of engaging in the reflective process is through the use of written accounts of experiences. Personal accounts of experiences through writing are common in other disciplines (Powell, 1985) and their potential is increasingly being recognized in teacher education. A number of different approaches can be used. Self-reports Self-reporting involves completing an inventory or check list in which the teacher indicates which teaching practices were used within a lesson or within a specified time period and how often they were employed (Pak, 1985). The inventory may be completed individually or in group sessions. The accuracy of self-reports is found to increase when teachers focus on the teaching of specific skills in a particular classroom context and when the self-report instrument is carefully constructed to reflect a wide range of potential teaching practices and behaviors (Richards, 1990). Self-reporting allows teachers to make a regular assessment of what they are doing in the classroom. They can check to see to what extent their assumptions about their own teaching are reflected 00

4 in their actual teaching practices. For example a teacher could use self-reporting to find out the kinds of teaching activities being regularly used, whether all of the programme s goals are being addressed, the degree to which personal goals for a class are being met, and the kinds of activities which seem to work well or not to work well. Autobiographies Abbs (as cited in Powell, 1985) discusses the use of autobiographies in teacher preparation. These consist of small groups of around 12 student teachers who meet for an hour each week for at least 10 weeks. During this period of time each student works at creating a written account of his or her educational experience and the weekly meetings are used to enable each person to read a passage from his or her autobiography so that it can be supported, commented upon by peers and the teacher. Journal Writing A procedure which is becoming more widely acknowledged as a valuable tool for developing critical reflection is the journal or diary. The goal of journal writing is: 1. To provide a record of the significant learning experiences that have taken place. 2. To help the participant come into touch and keep in touch with the self-development process that is taking place for them. 3. To provide the participants with an opportunity to express, in a personal and dynamic way, their selfdevelopment 4. To foster a creative interaction: a. Between the participant and the self-development process that is taking place. b. Between the participant and other participants who are also in the process of self-development. c. Between the participant and the facilitator whose role it is to foster such development (Powell, 1985; Bailey, 1990). While procedures for diary keeping vary, the participant usually keeps a regular account of learning or teaching experiences, recording reflections on what he or she did as well as straight-forward descriptions of events, which may be used as a basis for later reflection. The diary serves as a means for interaction between the writer, the facilitator, and, sometimes, other participants. Collaborative diary keeping A group of teachers may also collaborate in journal writing. For example, throughout a week teaching term they keep diaries on their teaching, read each other s diaries, and discuss their teaching and diary keeping experiences on a weekly basis. They will also record and later transcribe their group discussions and subsequently analyze their diary entries, their written responses to each other s entries and the transcripts of their discussions, in order to posit how these three interacted and what issues occurred most frequently. According to a research by Brock, Yu and Wong in 1991 on the value of collaborative diary-keeping as a way of developing a critically reflective view of their teaching, Teachers reported that: Collaborative diary-keeping brought several benefits to our development as second language teachers. It raised our awareness of classroom processes and prompted us to consider those processes more deeply than we may otherwise have. Collaborative diary-keeping also provided encouragement and support; it served as a source of teaching ideas and suggestions; and in some sense it gave us a way to observe one another s teaching from a safe distance. By reading one another s diary entries, we were able to share our teaching experiences, and we often felt that we were learning as much from one another s entries as we were from our own. Reading and responding to the entries led us back to our own teaching to consider how and why we taught as we did. These teachers observed however that: 1. Collaborative diary-keeping is more effective if the scope of issues considered is focused more narrowly. 2. A large block of time is needed. 3. Participants must be comfortable in sharing both pleasant and unpleasant experiences and be committed to gaining a clearer picture of their teaching and their classrooms. Recording lessons For many aspects of teaching, audio or video recording of lessons can also provide a basis for reflection. While there are many useful insights to be gained from diaries and self-reports, they cannot capture the moment to moment processes of teaching. Many things happen concurrently and impulsively in a classroom, and some aspects of a lesson cannot be recalled. It would be of little value for example, to attempt to recall the proportion of Yes-No Questions to WH-Questions a teacher used during a lesson, or to estimate the degree to which teacher time was shared among higher and lower ability students. Many significant classroom events may not have been observed by the teacher, let alone remembered, hence the need to supplement diaries or self-reports with recordings of actual lessons. At its simplest, a tape recorder is located in a place where it can capture the exchanges which take place during a lesson. With the 00

5 microphone placed on the teacher s table, much of the teacher s language can be recorded as well as the exchanges of many of the students in the class. Pak (1985) recommends recording for a one or two week period and then randomly selecting a cassette for closer analysis. This recording could be used as the basis for an initial assessment. Where video facilities are available in a school, the teacher can request to have a lesson recorded, or with access to video equipment, students themselves can be assigned this responsibility. A 30 minute recording usually provides more than sufficient data for analysis. The major goal is to capture as much of the interaction of the class as possible, both teacher to students and student to student interaction. Once the initial novelty wears off, both students and teacher accept the presence of the technician with the camera, and the class proceeds with minimum disruption. METHODOLOGY Participants The data were collected at three language schools including Sina, Sama and Giti in Golestan Province, Iran. The population of this study consisted of 30 EFL teachers along with 275 of their students. The majority of teachers were the researchers' colleagues from different socio-economic backgrounds who kindly accepted to participate in the study. Teachers had majored in the different branches of English; that is, they had degrees in English literature, TEFL, and translation Studies. The latter group of participants was 275 intermediate English students with different socio-economic backgrounds, because of the paucity of students both genders used in the current study. Participants Demographics Among 30 teachers 18 of them were females (60%) and 12 of them were males (40%).Their age ranged from 20 to 45, with a mean of (29). Teachers who answered the questionnaires majored in the different branches of English. They had BA (53.3), MA (43.3), PhD (3.3) degrees in English literature, TEFL, and translation Studies. 50% of teachers had teaching experience less than 5 years, 40% of teachers had been teaching between 5 up to 10 years and just 10 % of participants in the present study had been teaching for 10 years. As noted above, the second group of participants was 275 intermediate English learners because there was no possibility to change or modify the students, the age and gender of them were not controlled and investigated by researchers; thus, both girls and boys in different proportions with age range of 16 to 22 took part in the present study. Research Questions The research questions have been investigated in the present study are: 1. Is there any significant relationship between Iranian EFL teachers degree of reflectivity and their students language achievement in English classes? 2. Is there any significant relationship between Iranian EFL teachers degree of reflectivity and their teaching experience? In order to investigate the above-mentioned research questions, the following null hypotheses were proposed: H0. There is no significant relationship between Iranian EFL teachers degree of reflectivity and their students language achievement. H0. There is no significant relationship between Iranian EFL teachers degree of reflectivity and their teaching experience. Procedure In order to find answers to the research questions, the following procedures were adopted: Firstly, in order to make sure of students homogeneity and to show whether they were homogeneous in terms of their language proficiency, the researcher used the students language achievement s based on their previous semester final exam. The students GPA grade point showed that all the students were homogeneous at the beginning of the study. Secondly, the researcher asked the teachers to fill in the questionnaire including Teacher Reflectivity questionnaire by Akbari (2007) on a 5-point Likert format. Thirdly, the students achievement which served as the dependent variable of the study measured by a teacher made achievement test. Then the s of the teachers in the questionnaire were matched against their students' final English s and the required statistical procedure including Pearson was used to analyze the data in order to test the first null hypothesis. Lastly, In order to see whether there was relationship between teacher s reflectivity and their teaching experience, demographic information was extracted from the questionnaire filled by teachers, then Pearson correlation was measured in order to test the second null hypothesis. 01

6 RESULTS The analyses done on the measure has yielded some underlying factors of the teacher reflectivity construct in it, including Affective, Cognitive, Metacognitive, Practical and Critical dimensions.besides investigating the correlations of the main variable (reflectivity) with student achievement, another level of analysis, that of investigating the correlations among the constructs of teacher reflectivity and the students achievement was carried out. The results are presented and discussed as follows: a. Practical element This component includes those items that deal with the tools and the actual practice of reflection. Different tools/ procedures for the reflective practice include journal writing, lesson reports, surveys and questionnaires, audio and video recordings, observation, action research, teaching portfolios, group discussions, analyzing critical incidents (Farrell, 2003; Richards & Farrell, 2005). Some item samples of practical element are as follows: I write about my teaching experiences in a diary or a notebook and I observe other teachers classrooms to learn about their efficient practices (See appendix I). As it can be seen in Table (1), the correlation reveals interesting positive relationships between practical reflectivity with students achievement, which is worthy of attention. The correlation is reported to be 0.73 which is the highest degree of correlation with students achievement. Table1. of Practical Element with Students Achievement. practical Practical Pearson correlation Sig(2-tailed) Pearson correlation Sig(2-tailed) b. Learner element (affective) This component includes those items that deal with a teacher s reflecting on his/her students, how they are learning and how learners responded or behaved emotionally in their classes. According to Zeichner & Liston (1996), this tendency emphasizes reflection about students, their cultural and linguistic backgrounds, thinking and understandings, their interests, and their developmental readiness for particular tasks. This element concentrates also on teachers reflecting on their students emotional responses in their classes (Richards & Farrell, 2005). As Table (2) manifests clearly, affective element has the second highest degree of correlation which is estimated to be The relationship is relatively positive and meaningful among other underlying factors. Table 2. of Learner Element with Students Achievement. learner Learner Pearson correlation Sig(2-tailed) Pearson correlation Sig(2-tailed) C. Cognitive element This element is concerned with teachers attempts aimed at professional development. Conducting smallscale classroom research projects (action research), attending conferences and workshops related to one s field of study, and reading the professional literature are among the behaviors included in this domain (Richards & Farrell, 2005). As it can be observed from the analysis of Pearson correlation, cognitive reflectivity is occupied the third place which is reported to be The correlation is fairly strong. 01

7 Table 3. of Cognitive Element with Students Achievement. Cognitive Cognitive Pearson correlation Sig(2-tailed) Pearson correlation Sig(2-tailed) d. Metacognitive element This component deals with teachers and their reflections on their own beliefs and personality, the way they define their practice, their own emotional make up (Hillier, 2005). As Akbari (2007) states, Teachers personality, and more specifically their affective make up, can influence their tendency to get involved in reflection and will affect their reaction to their own image resulting from reflection. Table (4) shows a correlation of Table 4. of Metacognitive Element with Students Achievement. Metacognitive Metacognitive Pearson correlation Sig(2-tailed) Pearson correlation Sig(2-tailed) e. Critical element This component consists of items that refer to the socio-political aspects of pedagogy and reflections upon those. Items falling in this category deal with teachers reflecting on the political significance of their practice and introducing topics related to race, gender and social class, exploring ways for student empowerment (Bartlett, 1997; Day,1993; Jay & Johnson, 2002). By contrast, the critical factor hits the lowest level of correlation with students achievement which is shown in the following Table as Table 5. of Critical Element with Students Achievement. Critical Critical Pearson correlation Sig(2-tailed) Pearson correlation Sig(2-tailed) Teachers reflectivity After investigating the relationship between underlying constructs of teachers reflectivity with students' achievement, now it is reasonable to explore the relationship between teachers reflectivity with students achievement. As Table (6) postulates, the results of the present study showed a high correlation between teachers reflectivity and students achievement which is calculated to be 0.71, meanwhile, the relationship is strongly positive; that is, the higher the degree of teacher s reflectivity, the more the students achievement language. Therefore, the first null hypothesis as stated: There is no significant relationship between Iranian EFL teachers degree of reflectivity and their students language achievement there is rejected. 01

8 Table 6. of Teachers Reflectivity with Students Achievement in Language Schools. Reflectivity Reflectivity Pearson correlation Sig(2-tailed) Pearson correlation Sig(2-tailed) To examine the relationships between teachers' degree of reflectivity and teaching experience, Pearson productmoment correlation was run. According to Table (7), correlation (r =0.283, p<.05) between teachers degree of reflectivity and years of teaching experience is not significant. Table 7. between Teachers' Years of Teaching Experience & Teachers' Degree of Reflectivity in Language Schools. Teachers reflectivity Teachers reflectivity Pearson correlation Sig(2-tailed) Pearson correlation Sig(2-tailed) CONCLUSION First of all, the outcome of the study showed that a significant relationship between teachers degree of reflectivity and students achievement which was consistent with previous theoretical and empirical studies. Indeed, effective reflection in teaching takes students out of educational ruts and makes them more motivated towards learning (Akbari, 2007). Through reflection, teachers can react, examine and evaluate their teaching to make rational decisions on necessary changes to improve attitudes, beliefs and teaching practices which lead to better student performance and achievement. Also, reflective teaching comes to facilitate meaningful thought and discussion among peers about teaching and learning that will inspire appropriate change in curriculum and pedagogy. These judgmental practices can impact positively the understanding of what is going on in our classrooms and in producing changes in methodology, assessment, and instruction, which would naturally bring in higher student achievement in the wake of itself (Pacheco as cited in Akbari, Kiany, Naeeni, & Allvar, 2008). The results of the study imply that teacher education programs should familiarize pre-service and even in-service teachers with the components of reflective approach to teaching if they want to educate effective teachers, who, in turn enhance student achievement gains (Goldhaber, 2002). Furthermore, according to the results presented, it can be claimed that there are some underlying factors of the teacher reflectivity including affective, cognitive, metacognitive, practical and critical dimensions. Practical element has the highest degree of correlation with students achievement; whereas, the critical factor hits the lowest level of correlation with students achievement. was found between teachers degree of reflectivity and years of teaching experience was not significant (See Table 7). In other words, young teachers with few teaching years can be reflective on their own teaching as the experienced teachers can be. Therefore, there is no need to worry about selecting teachers in English schools based on their teaching experience and it can be good news for administrators as well. In closing, we hope to have shed some light on this important and sophisticated issue and to enhance your interest for further research in this field. REFERENCES Akbari R, Reflections on reflective teaching; a critical appraisal reflective practices in L2 teacher education. System. 35(2):

9 Akbari R, Kiany GHR, Imani Naeeni M, Karimi Allvar N, Teachers Teaching Styles, Sense of Efficacy and Reflectivity as Correlates of Students Achievement Outcomes. IJAL. 11(1): Bartlett L, Teacher development through reflective teaching. In: Richards JC, Nunan D., (Eds.), Second Language Teacher. New York: Cambridge University Press. Bartlett L, Teacher development through reflective teaching. In: Richards JC, Nunan D., (Eds.), Second Language Teacher Education. Cambridge University Press, New York. Brock M, Yu B, Wong M, Journal-ing together: Collaborative diary-keeping and teacher development. In: Flow-erdew J, Brock M, Hsia S., (Eds.), Perspectives on second language teacher development. Hong Kong: City University of Hong Kong. Calderhead J, Gates P, Conceptualizing Reflection in Teacher Development. London: Falmer Press. Day C, Reflection: a necessary but not sufficient condition for teacher development. British Educational Research Journal. 19(1): Deutsch GL, Influencing factors along the road to reflective practice. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Hartford. Dewey J, How we think: A restatement of the relation of reflective thinking to the educative process. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. Farrell TS, Reflective Teaching: Principles and Practice. English Teaching Forum. 41(4): Farrell TS, Reflective Practice in the Professional Development of Teachers of Adult English Language Learners. Retrieved February 9, 2011 from: Goldhaber D, The Mystery of Good Teaching: Surveying the Evidence on Student Achievement and Teachers Characteristics. Education Next. 2(1): Griffiths V, The reflective dimension in teacher education. International Journal of Educational Research. 33: Hillier Y, Reflective Teaching in Further and Adult Education. Continuum, London. Jay JK, Johnson KL, Capturing complexity: a typology of reflective practice for teacher education. Teaching and Teacher Education. 18: Johnson KE, The role of theory in l2 teacher education. TESOL Quarterly. 30: Korthagen FAJ, Linking practice and theory: the pedagogy of realistic teacher education. Lawrence Erlbaum, Mahwah, NJ. Loughran J, Developing reflective practice: Learning about teaching and learning through modeling. London: Falmer. Milrood R, A Module for English language teacher trainers. British Council: Moscow. Nolan J, Huebner T, Nurturing the reflective practitioner through instructional supervision: A review of the literature. Journal of Curriculum and Supervision, 4(2), Pacheco AQ, Reflective teaching and its impact on foreign language teaching. Revista Electrónica Actualidades Investigativas en Educación. 5: Pak J, Find Out How You Teach. Adelaide, Australia: National Curriculum Resource Centre. Powell JP, Autobiographical learning'. In: Boud D, Keogh R, Walker D., (Eds). Reflection: Turning Experience into Learning, London: Kogan. Richard JC, Beyond training: Approaches to teacher education in language teaching. Language Teacher. 14(2): 3-8. Richard JC, Farrell T, Professional development for language teachers. New York: Cambridge University Press. Rudd RD, Defining Critical Thinking. Techniques. 82(7): Sanal-Erginel S, Developing reflective teachers: A study on perception and improvement of reflection in pre-service teacher education. Schon DA, The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action. Basic Books Inc, New York. Schon DA, Educating the Reflective Practitioner. Jossey-Bass, San Fransico. Shermis S, Reflective Thought, Critical Thinking. ERIC Digest, ED Retrieved May 16, 2011, from Van Manen M, Linking ways of knowing with ways of being practical. Curriculum Inquiry. 6: Yost D, Sentner S, Frolenza-Baily A, An examination of the construct of critical reflection: Implications for teacher education programming in the 21st century. Journal of education.51(1): Zeichner KM, Liston DP, Reflective teaching: An introduction. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. 01

10 APPENDIX I Items of Practical Element 1. I write about my teaching experiences in a diary or a notebook. 2. I have a file where I keep my accounts of my teaching for reviewing purposes. 3. I talk about my classroom experiences with my colleagues and seek their advice/feedback. 4. After each lesson, I write about the accomplishments/failures of that lesson or I talk about the lesson to a colleague. 5. I discuss practical/theoretical issues with my colleagues. 6. I observe other teachers classrooms to learn about their efficient practices. 7. I ask my peers to observe my teaching and comment on my teaching performance. Items of Learner Element 15. I think about my students emotional responses to my instructions. 16. When a student is having an emotional problem or is neglected by his/her peers, I try to spend more time with him/her. 17. Before and after teaching, I think about aspects of my lessons my students liked/disliked. 18. I ask my students to write/talk about their perceptions of my classes and the things they liked/disliked about it. 19. I talk to my students to learn about their learning styles and preferences. 20. I talk to my students to learn about their family backgrounds, hobbies, interests and abilities. 21. I ask my students whether they like a teaching task or not. Items of Cognitive Element 8. I think of using/introducing new teaching techniques in my classes. 9. I read books/articles related to effective teaching to improve my classroom performance. 10. I participate in workshops/conferences related to teaching/learning issues. 11. I think of writing articles based on my classroom experiences. 12. I look at journal articles or search the internet to see what the recent developments in my profession are. 13. I carry out small scale research activities in my classes to become better informed of learning/teaching processes. 14. I think of classroom events as potential research topics and think of finding a method for investigating them. Items of Metacognitive Element 22. As a teacher, I think about my teaching philosophy and the way it is affecting my teaching. 23. I think of the ways my biography or my background affects the way I define myself as a teacher. 24. I think of the meaning or significance of my job as a teacher. 25. I try to find out which aspects of my teaching provide me with a sense of satisfaction. 26. I think about my strengths and weaknesses as a teacher. 27. I think of the positive/negative role models I have had as a student and the way they have affected me in my practice. 28. I think of inconsistencies and contradictions that occur in my classroom practice. Items of Critical Element 29. I think about instances of social injustice in my own surroundings and try to discuss them in my classes. 30. I think of ways to enable my students to change their social lives in fighting poverty, discrimination, and gender bias. 31. In my teaching, I include less-discussed topics, such as old age, AIDS, discrimination against women and minorities, and poverty. 32. I think about the political aspects of my teaching and the way I may affect my students political views. 33. I think of ways through which I can promote tolerance and democracy in my classes and in the society in general. 34. I think about the ways gender, social class, and race influence my students achievements. 35. I think of outside social events that can influence my teaching inside the class. 01

11 APPENDIX II Teacher Reflectivity Questionnaire (In English) Name: Gender: Female Male Teaching Experience years: Degree: No Degree BA in English MA in English PhD in English Degree in other fields of study (please specify): 1. Dear respondent: This questionnaire is devised with the aim of looking into your actual teaching practices as a professional teacher. To that end, your careful completion of the questionnaire will definitely contribute to obtaining real data which is crucial for more accurate findings. Therefore, please check the box which best describes your actual teaching practices. The information will be kept confidential and will be used just for research purposes. Thank you very much in advance for your time and cooperation. 1. Never 2.Rarely 3.Sometimes 4.often 5.always Items Never Rarely Sometimes often always 1. I have a file where I keep my account of my teaching for reviewing purposes 2. I talk about my classroom experiences with my collogues and seek their advise/feedback. 3. After each lesson, I write about accomplishments & failure of that lesson or I talk about it to a collogue. 4. I discuss practical/theoretical issues with my collogues. 5. I observe the other teacher classrooms to learn about their efficient practices. 6. I ask my peers to observe my teaching and comments on my teaching performance. 7. I read books/articles related to effective teaching to improve my classroom performance. 8. I practice in workshops/conferences related to teaching/learning issues. 9. I think of writing articles based on my classroom experiences. 10. I look at journals articles or search the net to see what the recent developments in my profession are. 11. I carry out small scale research activities in my class to become better informed of learning& teaching processes. 12. I think of outside social events that can influence my teaching inside the class. 13. I talk to my student to learn about their learning styles and preferences. 14. I talk to my student to learn about their family backgrounds, hobbies, I interests and abilities. 15. I ask my student whether they like a teaching task or not. 16. As a teacher, I think about my teaching philosophy and the way it is affecting my teaching. 17. I think of the ways my biography and my background affects the way I define m self as a teacher. 18. I think of meaning or significance of my job as a teacher. 19. I try to find out which aspects of my teaching provide me with a sense of satisfaction. 09

12 20. I think of my strengths and weaknesses as a teacher. 21. I think of positive or negative models I have had as a student and the way they affected me in my practice. 22. I think of inconsistencies and contradiction that occur in my classroom practice. 23. I think about instances in social injustice in my surroundings and try to discuss them in my class I think of the ways to able my students to change their social lives in fighting poverty, discrimination and gender bias. 25. In my teaching, I include less-discussed topics such as old age, AIDS, discrimination against women, minorities and poverty. 26. I think about political aspects of my teaching and the way I may affect my students political views. 27. I think of ways through which I can promote tolerance and democracy in my class and in society in general. 28. I think about the ways gender, social class and race influence my students achievements. 29. I think of outside social events that can influence my teaching inside the class