Reflection In Student Teachers Research Articles

Using Memes to Facilitate TESOL Student Teachers' Reflections on Identity

AbstractWhile reflection on one's own developing language teacher identity is a valuable experience for TESOL student teachers, written reflections and concerns about evaluation make it challenging to engage in authentic reflection. This paper reports on a novel method—meme creation and collaborative analysis via a descriptive review process—to facilitate TESOL student teacher reflection on their identity development and practicum experiences. Creating and collaboratively analyzing memes created opportunities for the student teachers in this study to identify and begin to examine assumptions about what it means to be TESOL student teachers and do English language teaching. Suggestions are offered for using the meme creation and analysis process as both a research method and a pedagogical tool to support (student) teachers' identity reflections.

Examination of Reflective Practice Levels in Tailored Structured Observation Journals

Reflective practice (RP) is crucial in the professional development of teachers. This process enables them to critically analyse their teaching practices leading to informed decisions that help them progress as practitioners. However, the level of reflection may vary from one teacher to another. The analysis of documents such as classroom observation grids and reflective journals can reveal the different levels of reflection. Both tools are essential to trigger reflection in student teachers and stimulate them to seek ways to improve their teaching practice during and after the training phase. Following a qualitative research design that employed document analysis as a research instrument, this study examined the different levels of RP in tailored structured observation journals. The participants of the study were seventeen fourth- and fifth-year English as Foreign Language (EFL) preservice teachers at École Normale Supérieure de Constantine (ENSC), Algeria who filled in structured observation journals during the observation phase of the practical training. Following the framework of Larrivee (2008) where three levels of reflection were identified: surface, pedagogical, and critical, the structured observation journals were analysed. The results of the study showed that surface reflection was the most documented level with 183 instances (n=183) related to the different teaching methods and strategies followed by pedagogical reflection (n=99) and critical reflection (n=11). The study revealed that the structured observation journals assisted preservice teachers in being more reflective while observing lessons. However, they still needed to enhance their critical reflection skills to improve their reflective practice.

Practicum in teacher education: the role of psychological detachment and supervisors’ feedback and reflection in student teachers’ well-being

ABSTRACT Practicums allow student teachers to gain teaching experience, yet little research exists assessing the impact of recovery and supervisors’ feedback and reflection on students’ well-being during this phase. Based on the Job-Demands-Resources-Recovery model, this study investigated the mediating role of recovery in terms of psychological detachment in the relationship between workload and emotional exhaustion in student teachers during their practicum. Additionally, the impact of supervisors’ feedback and reflexion on psychological detachment was assessed. A structural equation modelling analysis with the data of 276 student teachers revealed that workload was positively related to emotional exhaustion and this relationship was mediated by psychological detachment. Feedback and reflection were negatively related to psychological detachment and, through this path, negatively affected emotional exhaustion. Hence, experiencing psychological detachment might be crucial in preventing early dropouts due to reduced mental health among student teachers. Methodological perspectives to consider the content of thinking about work are discussed.

A Dialogical Exploration of Student Teacher Reflections: From Notions of Insideness and Outsideness to Pedagogical Alongsideness

This article offers a dialogical exploration of student teachers’ reflections on notions of insideness and outsideness, the focal themes of an Erasmus+ ten-day intensive programme (IP). The arts-based, interdisciplinary IP involved 32 student participants and twelve members of staff from eight European universities hosted by the University of Jyväskylä, Finland. The data for this paper are based on the final written essays of student participants as they reflected on their understanding of outsideness and insideness at the end of the IP. The dialogic approach used in the analysis allows for a careful exploration of how the students attended to different experiences, surmised the meaning of insideness and outsideness, and used these reflections to develop their pedagogical response. The findings highlight how the participants drew on their own experiences and relationships within and beyond the IP to navigate and negotiate their pedagogical understanding. This study offers useful insights into the formation of pedagogical understanding as well as the role and responsibilities of teacher education in guiding this formative process, all the more important in times of emergencies.

I Want to Become a Teacher because…? Student-Teachers Change in Attitudes of Becoming Teachers in Austria and Kosovo

The motivation for career choice motivation of student-teachers is a well-studied topic with a representative theoretical basis in teacher education research that has a long-standing tradition in the international research landscape. However, in understanding the pressing questions of why young people choose to become teachers, only a few longitudinal and comparative studies have been carried out that focus on the development of motivation for choosing a teaching career. This longitudinal study reports on the effects of time within initial teacher education and how it influences student-teacher attitudes and motives about the teaching profession. This article is a product of a larger study that aims at addressing the existing literature gap by examining student-teacher change in attitudes of becoming teachers in Austria and Kosovo starting from initial teacher education, during early stages of their teaching career as novice teachers, and to more advanced stages of their teaching career. This is a panel study located within a longitudinal design. In this study, a questionnaire and student-teacher reflection texts were used as instruments. Data were collected in three phases during which 673 student-teachers participated in face-to-face administered questionnaire as follows: 341 (phase 1), 185 (phase 2), and 147 (phase 3), as well as 19 student-teacher reflections. Questionnaire data were analysed using the general linear model (GLM) with repeated measures test, whereas the reflection text data were analysed using thematic analysis. The findings in this longitudinal study provide evidence that student-teacher attitudes and motives for becoming teachers can change over time during the initial teacher education in Austria and Kosovo, and they can be influenced by in-school experiences during teaching practice. The study concludes that motives for choosing a teaching career are primarily intrinsic, are not time-stable, and change over the course of studies. The study findings have clear implications for initial teacher education programs in addressing changes in student-teachers’ attitudes of becoming teachers. The insights gained from the findings of this study lead to recommendations that initial teacher education programs should strengthen teaching practice to better manage the preparation of students and teachers and their entry into the teaching profession.

Perfect disguises

Dutch secondary school pupils seldom speak the foreign language in class, citing anxiety as a primary factor (Haijma, 2013). Implementing improvisational drama techniques (IDTs), however, could help ameliorate this situation by generating positive affective reactions, such as confidence and joy, and in turn stimulate pupils to speak. The concept IDT in this study contains two key elements. Firstly, participants take on roles in fictitious situations. Secondly, the activities must elicit spontaneous speech as to offer language learners opportunities to practice real-life communication, which is central to the goal of this research. The question driving this study was: What types of IDTs induce positive affective reactions among pupils and, as such, have the potential to stimulate spoken interaction in FL classrooms? The study yielded 77 IDTs associated with positive affective reactions through a literature review and an analysis of student teacher reflections on their IDT use in their English classrooms. This combined evidence lends credence to the conception that it could be the essence of improvisational drama that generates positive reactions, rather than the type of activity—the essence being an invitation to enter a fictional world, combined with the improvisational element that readies learners for spontaneous interactions.

Levels of reflection in student teacher digital portfolios: a matter of sociocultural context?

ABSTRACT Reflection is recognised as a significant goal in teacher education. Digital portfolios have considerable potential for developing teacher reflective capacities, but more research is needed for documenting the content and quality of the reflections within it and for understanding the factors related to its occurrence. Many schemes of analyses have been developed. However, they do not accord sufficient attention to the situated nature of reflection and the sociocultural context within which reflection occurs. In this study, we seek to analyse and understand student teacher reflections as captured in digital portfolios. We propose using a lens that combines a framework on types of reflection with a situative perspective. Results suggest that student teachers do not typically reflect at deep levels, unless the situation legitimizes or privileges it, even if they may be able to do so. Findings are discussed in relation to contextual factors. It is surmised that student teacher reflections may be tied to the sociocultural context in which they learn and in which reflection is enacted.

Feedback in Reflective Journals Fosters Reflection Skills of Student Teachers

The main goal of this study was to test whether feedback from a lecturer and tutor on an initial reflective journal entry fosters reflection quality in a subsequent journal entry and reflection skills in student teachers. To address these questions, we, a team of educators and psychologists, conducted a field experiment during the practical semester. Student teachers ( N = 54; 40 female) wrote two reflective journals about their own classroom teachings on an online-platform and were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: (a) reflective journaling with feedback (experimental condition, n = 27) or (b) reflective journaling without feedback (control condition, n = 27). Feedback in reflective journaling fostered reflection quality in the subsequent journal entry and conceptual knowledge about reflection. These findings indicate that feedback in reflective journal-keeping exerts a powerful influence in fostering reflection in student teachers during their practical semester.

Guided reflection procedure as a method to facilitate student teachers’ perception of their teaching to support the construction of practical knowledge

ABSTRACT This study investigates meaningful events that student teachers identified from video recordings of their teaching practice that were used to improve their knowledge base. Data were collected from 21 student teachers at an Estonian university using a guided reflection procedure. Deductive qualitative content analysis was performed on meaningful events and student teacher reflections. Pearson’s chi-square test was used to compare the differences in types of practical knowledge that student teachers communicated when reflecting on meaningful events. Results indicate that video recordings facilitated the selection of meaningful events related to various aspects of teaching. Moreover, reflecting on empowering events advanced theoretical reasoning, while reflecting on challenging events advanced artefacts: i.e. knowledge that could guide student teacher actions in various teaching situations. Therefore, this study offers valuable insight into the kinds of knowledge student teachers construct in their teaching practice.

Perceptions and Practices of EFL Pre-service Teachers about Reflective Teaching

Current theories of teacher education and teaching expertise as a process consider teacher/ student teacher reflection one of the main ways of learning how to teach effectively. Such theories of teacher expertise reinforce the claim that teachers who engage in reflective practices can develop a deeper understanding of their teaching, assess their professional growth, develop informed decision-making skills, and become proactive and confident in their teaching. Given the importance of reflective teaching, this case study focused on exploring pre-service teachers' perceptions and practices of reflection in teaching. Three student teachers took part in the study. Portfolios, reflective journals, observations and discussions were used to collect the data. The qualitative analysis showed that pre-service teachers generally believed that reflection was useful and helpful, particularly at the beginning of their teaching experience. Then, it became just a repetitive routine act. Analyzing pre-service teachers' practices, the study indicated that student teachers’ reflection was general, brief, and mostly descriptive in nature. Pre-service teachers did not really engage in effective reflection practices. The study suggested that there is a need for reconsidering reflective teaching in undergraduate courses of Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL).

To see ourselves as others see us: student teacher reflections as articulations of ideology

ABSTRACTWithin teacher education in England, self-reflective practices commonly function as a tool for student development. However, with current philosophical thought tending towards social-constructivism whereby understanding is deeply influenced by social context, the extent to which student teachers can objectively express ‘themselves’ must be carefully considered. This paper presents a philosophical and empirical account of student teacher self-reflection, exploring the extent to which these are personally or contextually defined. Through a discussion of theoretical debates surrounding discourse, I draw on Žižek’s notion of ideology as subjectively maintained and apply a Critical Discourse Analysis to analyse this within individual texts. Student reflections from two contexts are thus analysed and findings highlight stark differences in the educational priorities expressed in these different settings. This implies that students simultaneously adopt conflicting and therefore untenable sets of professional values. By drawing attention to this, I aim to encourage individual resistance where necessary towards healthier future professional practice.

Perceptions and Practices of EFL Pre-service Teachers about Reflective Teaching

Current theories of teacher education and teaching expertise as a process consider teacher/ student teacher reflection one of the main ways of learning how to teach effectively. Such theories of teacher expertise reinforce the claim that teachers who engage in reflective practices can develop a deeper understanding of their teaching, assess their professional growth, develop informed decision-making skills, and become proactive and confident in their teaching. Given the importance of reflective teaching, this case study focused on exploring pre-service teachers' perceptions and practices of reflection in teaching. Three student teachers took part in the study. Portfolios, reflective journals, observations and discussions were used to collect the data. The qualitative analysis showed that pre-service teachers generally believed that reflection was useful and helpful, particularly at the beginning of their teaching experience. Then, it became just a repetitive routine act. Analyzing pre-service teachers' practices, the study indicated that student teachers’ reflection was general, brief, and mostly descriptive in nature. Pre-service teachers did not really engage in effective reflection practices. The study suggested that there is a need for reconsidering reflective teaching in undergraduate courses of Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL).

From Pedagogical Knowledge to Pedagogical Content Knowledge: Development in Mentor and Student-Teacher Group Conversations

This case study focuses on mentor group conversation meetings with primary student-teachers, demonstrating how student- teachers´ reflections on classroom experiences might influence their understanding of the complicated relationship between teaching, subject matter content and the context. The aim is to study how mentors´ and student-teachers´ reflections affect (or not) the student-teachers´ development of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). The theoretical framework derives from a sociocultural perspective, emphasising the collective character of teaching and learning. The empirical material consists of video documented mentor group conversations during one semester within an academic school context. Findings show development of PCK, highlighting a transition from pedagogical knowledge and contextual knowledge, to a blending of subject matter knowledge, pedagogical knowledge and contextual knowledge. This blending only occurred when the student teachers reflected on their teaching. Findings demonstrate the need to systematically explore student-teacher reflections of their teaching in practice to discern how different knowledge bases integrate into PCK. https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.18.10.15

Developing reflective trainee teacher practice with 360-degree video

Video self-reflections can be an effective self-development tool for student teachers; however, its value is often limited as video provides only one perspective of the classroom. This project, an interpretive case study, used think-aloud protocol and interviews to explore how the use of 360-degree video can support student teacher reflection. Results suggest that the immersive, embodied experience of reflecting using 360-degree video develops a more nuanced understanding of microteaching practice, as well as supporting student teachers’ self-efficacy towards teaching. This has the potential to facilitate a more active and student-centred approach to initial teacher education within Higher Education.

Mentoring: Reflections of Student Teachers in One South African University

This paper captures the voices of mentees on their experiences of mentoring during teaching practice. The study adopted an interpretivist paradigm. A case study design was used. Data was gathered f...

The Impact of Action Research on the Professional Development of Foreign Language Teaching Educators

<p>In this article we report the final results of a multiple case study that brought together the experiences and reflections of student teachers, cooperating teachers and advisors about action research and its effect on their professional development. Through observations, interviews, focus groups, and research reports analyses, the researchers recognized the personal, professional, and political dimensions that guide participants’ teaching and research actions. Findings shed some light on issues such as collaboration and engagement to keep conversations that actually connect life in schools and life at the university, and to support continuous learning for teachers. The insights we gained evidenced that the teachers, students, and administrators in the teaching program and their colleagues in the public schools need to strengthen their links through proposals of experiential learning which promote joint efforts, symmetric relationships, and expertise co-construction; thus, enabling all participants to validate their process as individuals, as members of educational institutions, and as key actors in promoting and sustaining a better society. </p>

Reflections on an informal learning environment with invocations for classroom learning in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates

This article explores postgraduate student-teacher perceptions of the educational value of learning in informal environments through a well-known global edutainment centre – KidZania – in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It provides an interpretive analysis of student-teacher reflections in online reflective discourse communities, which followed a connect–extend–challenge format. Findings show that students identified benefits and some limitations to learning in the informal environment. Students were keen to subsequently transfer good practices modelled in the informal setting to the classroom, but reflected on how their practicum experiences had uncovered some factors that may affect progress. Recommendations are made to alleviate the limitations expressed, to open up both progressive informal and formal learning experiences for children within the context of the findings.

REFLECTIONS OF TEACHING APPROACH-RELATED KNOWLEDGE, BELIEFS AND HABITS ON TEACHING PRACTICE

The present study aims to investigate the reflections of student teachers’ knowledge, beliefs, and habits about the teaching approach on their teaching practice. The student teachers cannot apply teaching approaches they know and believe both in their lesson scenarios and micro-teachings. This inconsistency observed between the knowledge, beliefs, and practice mostly stems from the old learning-teaching habits. Changing the system alone is not enough to throw off the old habits. We can only “assume” that the radical changes taking place in teacher training programs or education system are adopted by the teachers even if they do not change the knowledge base, beliefs and more importantly applications of the actors responsible for implementing the changes. Key words: beliefs, curriculum revisions, habits, student teachers.

The Importance of Being Aware: Developing professional identities in educators and researchers

In a Dutch self-study project, five teacher educators studied their own practices with three experienced researchers as the facilitators of the group. These facilitators also conducted a self-study of the whole project, particularly focusing on helping and hindering aspects of the facilitation process. In this article, we report two of the teacher educators' self-studies, one in the context of foreign language teaching and the other in the context of deepening student teacher reflection. In addition, we describe the design and outcomes of the self-study carried out by the facilitators. We discuss what we have learnt from each of the three studies, but we also emphasize going beyond the story, drawing conclusions that may be of interest to the broader community of teacher educators. We work to deepen the awareness of the people we work with, but an important outcome of the self-studies is also deepening our own awareness of certain phenomena in our practices, which are elaborated in this article. Another common thread in each of the studies is the impact a self-study can have on the professional identity of the individual researchers.

Teaching Ms. Kerbin: A Unique Approach to Student Teacher Reflections and Their Use With Preservice Candidates

This article examines a unique approach and a new tradition to encouraging student teacher reflection over time. The concept is based on a collection of vignettes titled Teaching Ms. Kerbin, which represent the collective reflections of a group of three student teachers. Seven major points of concern are addressed: (1) the first day, (2) working as a team with the cooperating teacher, (3) classroom behavior management, (4) sensitivity to the needs of children with difficult home circumstances, (5) observations by the university supervisor, (6) inclusion practices, and (7) breaking through with a difficult student. These vignettes were presented to a group of candidates just before their methods practicum and student-teaching experiences, and the candidates' comments regarding the usefulness of the vignettes were collected. The same candidates provided additional comments after completion of their student teaching, indicating that several vignettes helped to instill confidence and better prepare them for some challenges that occurred during the student-teaching experience. Approximately 1 year after the writing and sharing of the Teaching Ms. Kerbin narrative, the authors of the vignettes expressed the vital role of ongoing reflection as a mind-set that enabled them to broaden their lenses for more clearly seeing their students, the context of teaching, and themselves. Although they acknowledged the importance of reflection in and on action, they articulated the importance of creating intentional spaces for continued reflection and dialogue with peers after student teaching to further the process of making sense of their experiences and exploring their teaching identities. Through the process of reflection and making public what they had come to know, these authors gained confidence to live amid the tensions of teaching with a greater sense of resiliency and efficacy as they became more comfortable in their roles as teachers. The article concludes with suggestions for teacher educators.