Novice Teachers and Reflective Teaching: Some Practical Suggestions

Abstract

The 21st century developments have reflected the need of the society to change. These changes have affected people’s perception of life. Education, one of the most important concepts in people’s life has developed rapidly and has changed the concept of traditional classroom in a more learner’s concept. The learner pre-counts what the priorities are and what to study. Then, it remains to the teacher to help learners meet the goals. In an EFL/ESL class, the teacher focuses on creating the right atmosphere of learning. All the teachers despite being senior or novice, time after time want to know if they are ‘good’ teachers, in other words if they are professional and effective. Teacher’s practice is directly connected to what happens in the class or in other words to reflective teaching. Reflection on what is taught and how is taught is something they they need to do. Observation, reflection, action research, analyzing, and evaluation are some steps through which the teaching process goes. However, What is reflective teaching? What are some concerns of novice teachers? How to improve teaching? What practical ways should teachers use to have reflective teaching¬? These are some research questions that this paper brings in focus, from theory to practice. The paper is based on observations of novice English teachers’ classes in the secondary and high schools in Vlora, Albania. It was found that novice teachers face some problems due to no-experience, no-reflection. This paper attempts to bring in focus the importance of reflective teaching. In this paper, some suggestions for foreign language teachers to practice reflective teaching will be presented. Reflective teaching is one of the keys to become a professional teacher. Keywords: novice teachers, effective teaching context, reflection, professional teacher, etc.