Teacher autonomy through reflective journals among teachers of English as a foreign language in Turkey

Abstract

This study explored the use of reflective journals to help develop the autonomy and decision‐making of in‐service teachers of English as a foreign language in Turkey. It investigated how teachers gained autonomy and decision‐making skills when they were given the opportunity to critically reflect on the classroom processes in their own contexts. The participants were six in‐service teachers teaching at various state schools in Bursa, Turkey. These teachers were restricted by the curriculum the Ministry of Education designed, and the pre‐service training they previously received about language teaching. They needed to go beyond these limitations. For this purpose, reflective journals were used to help develop teachers' autonomy and decision‐making skills. The data from the journals were analyzed by seeking themes in relation to their professional development. The results demonstrated that the teachers improved their vision by analyzing the teaching process in their contexts and started to make more informed decisions on different aspects of teaching.