Reflective foreign language teacher development: A case study

This dissertation describes a piece of action research conducted with three English Language Teaching university instructors looking for a way to develop themselves professionally while continuing with their normal workload. The data, which consisted of the transcribed post-observation conferences held between pairs of participants and the entries in the personal reflective journals, were coded by the researcher; and the sections relevant to the research questions were analysed statistically to find how the reflective codes identified by the researcher clustered around the variables of role and context of reflection. There were three types of findings that emerged from this study: those of the qualitative analysis, those of the statistical analysis, and those of the action research process. The qualitative analysis produced a list of reflective modes that each participant was engaged in, and a list of categories that describe the content of their reflection. The findings of the statistical analysis show that certain reflective categories occurred more frequently in particular contexts, that each participant had different patterns of reflection, and that there was no linear relationship between their private and collaborative reflections. The findings of the action research process shows that each participant achieved change mostly at the level of awareness, although one participant noticeably changed. The findings are significant in that they show how and on what aspects of their practice instructors reflect; that collaborative reflection can provide alternative reflection patterns to private reflection; and that they present a simple framework for instructors to engage in self and collaborative development.