‘Write it down and then what?’: Promoting pre-service teachers’ language awareness, metacognitive development and pedagogical skills through reflections on vocabulary acquisition and teaching

Abstract

This is the second of two articles based on a study of the contribution of vocabulary notebooks to the development of second language vocabulary, language awareness, metacognitive skills and pedagogical skills of non-native English-speaking pre-service teachers. In this article, the impact of reflections on non-native pre-service teachers’ language awareness and knowledge of foreign language pedagogy is explored. The data collection included examination of each participant’s vocabulary notebook reflections, individual questionnaires and in-depth interviews. Findings show that reflective learning is conducive to non-native pre-service teachers’ pedagogical and metacognitive development. Reflections also enhanced participants’ understanding of vocabulary acquisition processes. This investigation adds to the body of research on the use reflective learning for language awareness, vocabulary acquisition and language teacher education.