From an Active Learner to a Reflective Practitioner: Learning to Become a Professional Indonesian EFL Instructor

Abstract

For teachers, professional development is a lifelong journey and a complex and multi-dimensional process. Effective professional development requires practitioners to engage not only in training but also in habitual reflection. However, research on reflective learning within the context of Indonesian English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teaching, at both secondary and tertiary levels, is limited. Using the-Self Study, Qualitative Inquiry this article explores my reflective practices in the Indonesian educational context. It is structured around a narration of my roles as an active EFL learner and instructor which have led me to become a reflective practitioner. The article starts with my first contact with English and then goes on to my later learning-teaching experiences. It highlights the process of my reflective learning experience and its influence on my practices as an EFL instructor. In doing so, it aims to encourage similar awareness and reflective professional development in Indonesian EFL teachers. My reflection reveals that learning from experience allows educational practitioners to improve professional competent.