reflective practice

The present study aimed at investigating English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers’ level of reflection and the barriers to their reflection. To do so, based on an experimental research method, 98 EFL teachers were recruited and the English language teacher reflection inventory (ELTRI) was distributed among them. To consolidate the findings of the inventory, 20 volunteers from the same pool were interviewed. As the next phase of the study, to investigate the barriers to the teachers’ reflectivity, the same participants were given an open-ended questionnaire to probe their ideas about barriers to reflective practice. Based on the obtained data and the related literature, a Barriers to Reflective Practice Questionnaire (BRPQ) was developed and distributed among the participants. To analyze the data, descriptive statistics, one sample t-test, and content analysis were employed. The findings revealed that EFL teachers did not practice reflection at high levels. They considered top-down curriculum, disrespect for teachers’ authority, teachers’ inclination to the conventional teaching practice, lack of appropriate context for reflection, teachers’ workload, and lack of appropriate training courses as the most important factors which bar their reflection. Teacher education programs should raise EFL teachers’ awareness regarding the concept and use of reflective practice.

Reflective practice and noticing can be regarded as two essential concerns for novice teachers’ survival and development in their first practices. Therefore, this study was an attempt to explore how reflective practices activate novice English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers’ noticing. To that end, we conducted an instrumental case study to explore the role of reflective practice among Iranian novice EFL teachers in activating their noticing. An inductive-deductive thematic analysis of the data collected through teachers’ portfolios and semi-structured interviews indicated that novice teachers’ noticing could be activated and sharpened through teachers’ personal, cognitive, and professional developments addressed by reflective practice. Furthermore, the findings showed that there are relationships among novice teachers’ personal, cognitive, and professional developments and the components of teacher noticing, including framing, perceptual activities and exploration, and interaction, leading to sharpening novice EFL teachers’ noticing. Hence, it can be concluded reflective practice can activate novice EFL teachers' noticing, impacting their professional development through framing, interaction, perceptual activities, and exploration. The study has implications for EFL teacher education programs, where teacher educators can help teachers develop critical reflection skills to address problems in their classrooms.

This study aims to investigate the effect of implementing self-reflection training on Iranian in-service EFL teachers’ beliefs and performance development. From all available participants teaching at the International College of Tehran University of Medical Sciences in Tehran, 20 in-service EFL teachers were involved in this study. The teacher’s belief questionnaire, observation checklist, and Skype app were used as the instruments to collect data. Before the training phase, the pre-tests, i.e., observation checklist and teacher’s belief questionnaire, were used for all the participants. The researchers utilized Skype App to instruct the participants in an online setting. During the training phase, participants were exposed to self-reflection practice. The instruction was done in 16 sessions twice a week for two months. After the training phase, the post-tests were run, i.e., the observation checklist and teachers’ belief questionnaire. The data analysis revealed that implementing the principles of self-reflective instruction had a statistically significant effect on Iranian in-service EFL teachers’ beliefs about their teaching practice efficacy and teaching performance development. This study has some implications that may help language teacher educators, English instructors, EFL/ESL learners, students, language curriculum program policymakers, and educational syllabus designers.