Exploring the Effect of Self-reflection through Awareness Raising on Novice and Experienced Iranian EFL Teachers’ Pedagogical Beliefs Enactment

Abstract

As the second phase of a larger-scale study, the present study attempted to explore the effect of self-reflection through an awareness raising technique on novice and experienced Iranian EFL teachers’ pedagogical beliefs enactment. To this end, a personal practical theorizing process was employed both as a method to make teachers’ practical beliefs explicit and as a consciousness-raising technique to increase teachers’ awareness of their beliefs, thereby stimulating the teachers to convert their beliefs into actual classroom practice. In the first phase of the study, the pedagogical beliefs and practices of the participants were examined and discrepancies were found in novice teachers’ pedagogical beliefs and practices. Within the domain of the qualitative research, a multi-case study design was utilized, employing eight novice and experienced teachers who were selected based on purposive sampling. The data were analyzed using a constant comparative method around common themes and categories, which were identified as distinctive features of teachers’ personal practical theories; these same categories were then compared with teachers’ practices. The results showed that, except for teachers’ content knowledge, the pedagogical beliefs of novice and experienced teachers were represented differently in their practices. However, after the theorizing technique, the teachers’ practices became more in line with their pedagogical beliefs. With respect to teachers’ professional development, the novice teachers who were initially concerned with maintaining order went through self-assessment and reflection, adopted new identities as real teachers, and entered into a state of maturity.