Developing efl instructors' reflective teaching through collaborative action research and peer observation

This study is specifically concerned with the contributions of involving in collaborative action research and peer observation program to EFL instructors' reflective practice. The fact that many teacher development programs have started to highlight the importance of educators' analyzing their classroom practices and making necessary changes in their teaching has made it inevitable to look closely on reflective teaching. To this end, rather than providing instructors with professional development activities isolated from their everyday teaching practices, we suggested a program which has direct relation to their present teaching contexts. One male, six female EFL instructors participated in the study. Data collected from the semi-structured interviews, the reflections forms, the collaborative journals and the researcher's field notes were exposed to content analysis and they were analyzed under the categories of self-reflection, self-awareness and self-development. Results revealed that these tools contributed to the reflective practice of instructors by encouraging them to think about certain situations in their natural setting to offer "both a window of the past and a gateway to the future".