The role of collaborative inquiry in Iranian EFL teachers’ reflective teaching: the case of teaching experience

Abstract

ABSTRACT Teachers’ collaborative inquiry is a process of learning through which teams of teachers evaluate and analyze their teaching practice, and reflective practice contributes to teachers’ professionalism. The present descriptive survey study aimed to investigate the role of collaborative inquiry in Iranian EFL teachers’ reflective teaching and whether teaching experience (novice and experienced teachers) affects collaborative inquiry and reflective teaching. For this purpose, 185 Iranian female and male language institute EFL teachers were randomly selected and responded to the survey instruments. The data were collected by the Survey of Reflective Practice and Collaborative Inquiry Survey and were analyzed by multivariate analysis of variance and Pearson correlation. The findings demonstrated a significant positive correlation between pedagogical reflection and collaborative inquiry and a significant negative correlation between critical reflection and collaborative inquiry. Furthermore, novice teachers obtained higher scores in pedagogical reflection whilst their experienced counterparts were more critically reflective. The present study findings contribute to further uncovering the links between reflective teaching practices and collaborative inquiry of EFL teachers. Therefore, school principals can design collaborative learning experiences, especially for novice teachers, to foster reflection. Furthermore, teachers should regard collaboration as a self-growth opportunity and help their colleagues develop and improve their teaching practices.