A Framework for Teacher Reflectivity

8/11/2019 A Framework for Teacher Reflectivity

1/9

Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Inc. (TESOL)

A Framework for Teacher ReflectivityAuthor(s): Claire StanleySource: TESOL Quarterly, Vol. 32, No. 3, Research and Practice in English Language TeacherEducation (Autumn, 1998), pp. 584-591Published by: Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Inc. (TESOL)Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3588129

Accessed: 07/01/2009 15:18

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at

http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless

you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you

may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use.

Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at

http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=tesol.

Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed

page of such transmission.

JSTOR is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1995 to build trusted digital archives for scholarship. We work with the

scholarly community to preserve their work and the materials they rely upon, and to build a common research platform that

promotes the discovery and use of these resources. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Inc. (TESOL)is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize,

preserve and extend access to TESOL Quarterly.

http://www.jstor.org
http://www.jstor.org/stable/3588129?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=tesolhttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=tesolhttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/stable/3588129?origin=JSTOR-pdf


2/9


3/9

describes what reflective

practitioners

do when

they

look

at their work

in

the moment or

in

retrospect

in order to examine

the reasons

and

beliefs

underlying

their actions

and

generate

alternative

actions

for the

future.

Such reflective

thinking

and examination either

during

or after

the

fact

can lead to

greater

awareness

on classroom teachers'

part

in

relation

to

their

knowledge-in-action,

or the

theories, ideas,

metaphors,

and

images

they

use as criteria for decision

making

in

their

teaching practice.

Some

teacher educators

(e.g.,

Duckworth, 1987; Perrone,

1989)

have

placed

their faith

in

the

belief that considerable

practice

with

reflection-on-

action

will lead to a

greater

capacity

for

reflection-in-action or

reflective

classroom

teaching, whereby

a

teacher's in-the-moment decision

making

and

practice

will be

increasingly

aware

and informed.

Given the

above definitions and

processes

of

reflection,

researchers

have sought to find evidence of reflection in teachers' thought and

speech

(Rodgers,

1993; Wallace,

1996).

Hatton and

Smith

(1995)

used

reflective

writing

texts as data from

which to

extract evidence

of

reflection-on- and

-in-action. The

results of their

study

describe techni-

cal,

descriptive,

dialogic,

critical,

and

contextual

qualities

of

reflection as

found in

the teachers'

writing.

A

LONGITUDINAL STUDY

OF TEACHER

REFLECTION

The

framework

I

propose

is based on

my

research

(Stanley,

1995;

in

press)

into

the

development

of

six

experienced

teachers

who were

attempting

to

implement

reflection and

reflective

action

into their

teaching

practice.

They

were

teaching

L2s

in

the

U.S. and

overseas in

public

and

private

schools

as

well

as in

refugee

and

immigrant

programs.

Data

sources

included

in-depth

interviews,

transcripts

of

supervisory

dialogues

from

the

teaching

practicum,

and

excerpts

from

reports,

reflectivejournals,

and

correspondence.

The

findings

of

the

research led

to the emergence of a conceptual framework that outlines the process of

the

development

of

a

reflective

teaching

practice

and is

grounded

in

the

direct

experience

of

classroom

teachers.

Phases

in

the

Development

of a

Reflective

Teaching

Practice

The

process

of

developing

of a

reflective

teaching practice

can be

represented

as a

series

of

phases:

(a)

engaging

with

reflection,

(b)

thinking

reflectively,

(c)

using

reflection,

(d)

sustaining

reflection,

and

(e)

practicing

reflection. The

phases

do not

represent

a

sequence

that is

followed

but

rather

moments in

time

and

particular

experiences

that

constitute a

particular

phase.

At

certain

points

in

time,

given

personal

and

contextual

circumstances,

teachers

may

find

themselves in

any

of

the

phases.

CONCEPTUAL

ANALYSIS

585


4/9

Engaging

with

reflection. Deciding

to

engage

with

Dewey's

"active,

persist-

ent,

and

careful consideration of

any

belief or

practice"

in

one's

teaching

is not

as

simple

as it

may

seem. The amount of

energy

and

commitment

needed

to

put

one's

teaching

to

scrutiny,

let alone the time

and

space

needed

to

do

so,

can

be

daunting.

Personal,

professional,

and contextual

factors

may

limit and even inhibit a teacher's

ability

to

engage

with

reflection.

Personal issues of self-esteem

may trigger responses

of

guilt, pain,

and

self-doubt when teachers

examine

their

teaching.

Childhood

experi-

ences,

adult

traumas,

and even

cultural

conditioning may

be

strongly

embedded

in

a

teacher's

psyche

and create a fear of

looking

too

closely

at oneself

and one's work.

If

the

experience

of reflection

is too

painful,

a teacher

may

consciously

or

unconsciously

resist

learning

to reflect. It

takes a healthy degree of ego development to put oneself and one's work

under

the

microscope.

Therefore,

some teachers

may

not become

reflective

for reasons

that are

beyond

the

scope

of the field of teacher

education.

To

date,

this

reality

seems

to

have

been

ignored

in

the

literature on

reflection.

Similarly, professional

and contextual factors can

influence a teacher's

capacity

to

engage

with

reflection.

If

a teacher needs

to

work

many

hours

a

week

to

barely

make a

living,

there

may

be little

time left for

reflective

thinking

or

writing.

The

contexts

in

which

teachers

work

may

not be

reflective

if

colleagues

are interested

only

in a

paycheck

and not

in

professional

growth

and

development.

Stable

professional

and contex-

tual factors

seem

to be

prerequisites

to reflection

and,

indeed,

influence

a

teacher's

capacity

to

engage

with

reflection.

When

basic

personal,

professional,

and contextual

factors

are stable

and teachers

are

curious

about

learning

the

process

of

reflecting

on

their

teaching, they

can

engage

with

reflection.

This will

require

a

continuous

commitment

to the

process

and

a mobilization

of will

that

may need to be renewed on an ongoing basis.

Thinking

reflectively.

Learning

to

think

reflectively

is a skill that

some

teachers

may

have

acquired previously.

However,

many

teachers'

initial

reaction

to reflection

is

simply

to

think back

on a

classroom

situation

and

describe

what

happened

and how

they

felt

about

it. The

following

excerpt,

which

is taken

from

my

research

(Stanley,

1995,

in

press),

is

a

good

example

of

a teacher's

spontaneous

effort

to think

reflectively:

I didn't feel nervous but somehow I didn't know where I was

heading.

And I

should

have

taken

that sentence

and

written

it on

the

blackboard

and started

from

there.

But

I

don't

know

why

I left

it.

I

didn't

take

advantage

of

that

sentence.

Instead

I

kept

on

talking....

Well,

starting

from there

everything,

well

I think it was

a mess

although

I tried

to sort

of

organize

things

later.

But

again,

somehow

I felt it was

not

working.

TESOL

QUARTERLY86


5/9

What had been written

on

the board?

Why

did she need

to

go

back to

it?

How did it

connect

to

the rest of the lesson? What

data did she

observe

in

order to

come

to the conclusion that "it was a mess"? Where are

the

students and their reactions?

How does this lesson fit

within

a

larger

whole or

syllabus?

What

possible

alternative actions could

she have

taken

in

the lesson? What

will

she do the

next

time she

teaches

this

particular

lesson or this

group

of students? These

questions

and

many

others

would

help

this

teacher

develop

the skill of

thinking

reflectively.

Using

reflection.

When teachers

have understood what

reflection is

and

how to think

reflectively, they

can use it as a tool.

Just

as in

learning

any

new

skill,

there is a

phase

of

experimentation

and

joy

in

seeing

how

many

different

shapes

reflection can

take and

when,

how,

and

with whom it

can be done. Is it an activity best done alone and through writing, or is it

also

beneficial

to

shape

reflective

dialogues

with

colleagues,

friends,

and

supervisors?

Can it

be done

in

the mind's

eye

in

unconventional

settings,

such as

during

a

daily

jogging

routine?

How

many

books

or

articles or

people

is it

useful to

consult

in

reframing

a

situation

or

a

problem?

One

of the

teachers who

participated

in

my

study (Stanley,

1995)

had

been

writing

a

reflective

journal,

but

in

a

conversation with her

supervi-

sor she

noted,

And it's

very

important

to the

activity

we are

doing

now to talk about what

happened

because

I

was

writing

and

I

wrote

things

in

my

notebook last

week

but

somehow

I

tend

to

be

too

polite

with

myself

or

sometimes too

rude with

myself.

But

talking

and

listening

to

you

and

listening

to

myself

is

very

important.

This

teacher

was

exploring

and

testing

the

usefulness

of her

attitudes

toward herself

when

critiquing

her work in

a

reflective

journal.

By being

too

polite,

was she not

wholehearted

enough

in her

reflections?

By

beingtoo

rude,

was she not

accepting

and

open-minded

enough?

What inner

climates and

outer

forms,

such as

journals,

conversations,

or

cassette or

video

recordings,

serve

teachers best

at

different

points

in

their

develop-

ment as

reflective

practitioners?

In

the

phase

of

using

reflection,

teachers

begin

to sort

out the

forms

and

feelings

of

the

process

that

are

most

beneficial

to their

practice.

Sustaining reflection.

In

the

midst

of

using

and

experimenting

with

reflection, teachers encounter difficulties that they need to overcome in

order

to

sustain

their

commitment to

developing

a

reflective

teaching

practice.

One

of

the

greatest

difficulties is

usually

emotional

reactions to

what is

uncovered

through

the

investigation

of

classroom

teaching.

In

going

deeper

into

reflection on

one's

teaching,

it

is not

unusual

to

begin

to find

issues of

prejudice

or

favoritism

toward certain

students,

learning

CONCEPTUAL

ANALYSIS

587


6/9

styles,

or

theories of

teaching

and

learning.

In

fact,

it is

precisely

to this

end that critical

reflection must

come.

However,

teachers

can

find it difficult

to

accept

evidence in

their

classroom

teaching

of

pedagogical

issues,

such

as

a

high

percentage

of

teacher talk or

lack of

clarity

in

classroom

'procedures,

or of

political

issues,

such as

gender

bias,

racism,

and

power inequalities.

At

this

point,

they may

want to retreat to a

safe

haven

of

distance and

choose not to

reflect at

this

more

introspective

level

for

a while until

they

have sorted

out the

emotions

of

fear,

anger,

or

shame

triggered by

these

discoveries.

Teachers

may,

however,

be

able to

sustain reflection at a more

externally

oriented

level

at this

time

through

readings, workshops,

or

dialogues

with

other

teachers

or

professionals.

The most

important aspect

of this

phase

is to

maintain contact with

reflection in forms that are workable without abandoning a commitment

to the

development

of a

reflective

teaching

practice

and to a

continuing

investigation

of

the

difficult

findings.

By sustaining

reflection

in

ways

that

are feasible

when

difficult emotions and

insights

arise,

teachers

maintain

the

link

to

a

reflective

teaching practice.

With

time,

new

input,

and a

sense

of

distance,

it is

usually

easier to look at the

findings

with

greater

understanding

and

clarity

and

with

some

compassion

toward

oneself and

one's students.

Practicing reflection.

With

time and

practice,

as

in

the

development

of

any

skill,

reflection

becomes an

integral

part

of

practice.

Contextual

factors,

such

as

having

at least

one

other

person

with

whom

reflective

conversa-

tions

are

possible

or

having

time

for

reflective

writing

on a

weekly

if

not

daily

basis,

are

important

for further

development

of

a

reflective

teach-

ing

practice.

Although

this

was

not true at the

time of

the

study,

recent

graduate

students

in the

MAT

program

at the School

for International

Training

have established

reflective

learning

communities

on the

Internet,

which are evidence of the creative

practice

of reflection.

After

experimenting

with the use of

reflection for some

time,

teachers

often

develop

frameworks

and

procedures

for

continuing

reflective

thinking

that

leads

to

reflective

action

in

their classrooms.

One

such

framework

is

examining

a

class

through

the

multiple

lens

of its

compo-

nents:

the

teacher,

the

students,

and

their

relationship;

the

materials or

activities

of the

lesson;

the

processes

that the

students

are

asked to

use;

and the

context

of the school

or

program

and the wider

cultural

society.

Working with this kind of analytical framework, a teacher can begin to

see the

multiple

influences

on

any

one lesson

in a

way

that allows for

greater

clarity

as to the

source

of

problems

in

the

classroom.

TESOL

QUARTERLY

88


7/9

Implications

for

the Field of

Teacher

Education

By

understanding

the

concept

of

phases

in the

development

of a

reflective

teaching practice,

a

teacher educator

may

be more skilled

in

responding

to

particular

teachers who

are

trying

to

implement

reflection

and reflective action in their teaching. Teachers need to work on

different

aspects

of

reflection,

reflective

thinking,

and

action

depending

on

which

phase

of

development they

are in. Table

1

serves as

a

point

of

reference for the

phases.

If

a teacher is

struggling

to

engage

with

reflection,

it is

helpful

to

examine

personal

and contextual factors

that could be detrimental to

reflection. Or

if

the teacher's reflective

thinking

is

mostly descriptive,

it

is

useful to

work with

a

transcript

or

videotape

of a class in order

to

examine all the data

present

in

a

teaching

moment.

This

can lead to an

investigation

of

the

decisions made at the time and the values and beliefs

that

supported

those decisions.

When a

teacher is

actually using

reflection with

some

degree

of

ease,

the teacher educator can

inquire

into

values

and

assumptions

that drive

the teacher's

practice.

It

may

also be

possible

to

uncover

pedagogical

or

political

issues that teachers cannot see on

their own.

It is

very

useful

for

the teacher educator

to know that

painful

emotions can be

triggered

as

a result

of

this

investigation.

Reflective conversations with a

teacher

educator or other teachers in which there is a great deal of listening and

understanding

can be

particularly helpful

at this time.

In

talking

with

other

teachers about the

issue,

teachers

may

be able to

see that

they

are

not the

only

ones

dealing

with this

issue,

that others

can and

do

encounter

similar issues

in

their

classrooms.

Clearly,

written accounts

from

classroom-based research or

the broader literature on

the

specific

issue would also be

useful at this time.

CONCLUSION

The

conceptual

framework of

the

phases

and

the

suggestions

for

responses

to teachers

in

the

different

phases

of

developing

a

reflective

teaching

practice

can be of

particular

use to

university

professors

teaching

courses on

reflection,

supervisors

of

teaching

practica,

school-

based

administrators and

supervisors,

and

practicing

teachers

who are

using

reflection

for

professional

growth

and

development.

To

date,

no

other

framework

in

the

literature

describes the

process

of

learning

how

to reflect and can then be used in

educating

teachers to reflect. Just as

conceptual

frameworks from

the

fields of

linguistics,

language acquisi-

tion,

and

intercultural

communication

have

informed

teachers and

teacher

educators in

their

work,

it is

hoped

that the

framework

pre-

sented

in

this

article will

begin

a

conversation

among

teacher

educators

CONCEPTUAL

ANALYSIS

589


8/9

TABLE

1

oCS~~~~~~~~ ~~~~Phases

of

Reflective

Teaching

Phase

Characteristic

Engaging

With

Reflection

Thinking

Reflectively

Using

Reflection

Contextual

Requires

interest,

factors

psychological

strength,

and

contextual

support

Approaches Partly

or

totally

lacks skill in

reflective

thinking

Struggles

to find time

to

reflect

Is unclear as to what

reflective

thinking

is

and

is

not;

engages

in

seemingly

random

reflective

thinking;

possibly holds positivist

view of

education

Can make time for

consistent reflection-on-

action

Engages

in clear

reflective

thinking

at

will;

is

mostly

engaged

with

reflection-on-

action;

has

greater

awareness of moments of

reflection-in-action

Can examine

larger

systemic

issues

as

well as

classroom realities

Initially

has

descriptive

thinking

and

feeling

responses

Responds

creatively

and

appropriately

to situations

reflected

on;

can

generate

multiple

reasons for

actions

Issues

Responses

H

tt

cr

0

H

Actions


9/9

on the

development

of useful tools that will

guide

them in the

education

of

reflective

practitioners.

On a

practical

level,

by

using

the

framework

of

the

phases,

teachers and teacher educators will be able to more

accu-

rately

assess their

development

of

a reflective

teaching

practice

and

then

respond

in

more

precise

ways

in

order to sustain and

internalize

that

practice.

THE AUTHOR

Claire

Stanley

is

Associate Professor at the

School for International

Training

and

is

the

Chair of the

Department

of

Language

Teacher Education. She

is

continuing

her

research in

teacher

reflectivity through

an on-line reflective

teaching

project

with

ESL and EFL

teachers

in

the U.S.

and overseas.

REFERENCES

Dewey,

J.

(1933).

How we think.

Chicago: Henry

Regnery. (Original

work

published

1910)

Duckworth,

E.

(1987).

The

having of

wonderful

deas. New

York: Teacher's

College

Press.

Greene,

M.

(1986).

Reflection

and

passion

in

teaching. Journal of

Curriculum

and

Supervision,

2,

68-81.

Hatton, N.,

&

Smith,

D.

(1995).

Reflection

in

teacher

education:

towards

definition

and implementation. Teachingand TeacherEducation, 11, 33-49.

Korthagen,

F.

(1985).

Two

modes of

reflection.

Teaching

and

Teacher

Education, 9,

317-326.

Perrone,

V.

(1989).

Working

apers:Reflections

n

teachers,

choolsand

community.

New

York:

Teachers

College

Press.

Rodgers,

C.

(1993).

The

ncidence

and

nature

of

reflection-in-community

monggraduates

of

the

summer

MAT

program

at

the School

for

International

Training.

Unpublished

doctoral

paper,

Harvard

University,

Cambridge,

MA.

Sch6n,

D. A.

(1983).

The

reflective

ractitioner:

How

professionals

hink in

action.

New

York:

Basic

Books.

Schon, D. A. (1987). Educatingthereflective ractitioner. an Francisco:Jossey-Bass.

Smyth, J.

(1989).

Developing

and

sustaining

critical

reflection in

teacher

education.

Journal

of

Teacher

Education,

40(2),

2-8.

Stanley,

C.

(1995).

Teacher

supervision

and

reflectivity:

A

relational and

interactional

process.

Unpublished

doctoral

dissertation,

Lesley

College,

Cambridge,

MA.

Stanley,

C.

(in

press).

Learning

to

think,

feel

and teach

reflectively.

In

J.

Arnold

(Ed.),

Affect

n

language

learning.

New York:

Cambridge

University

Press.

Valli,

L.

(1992).

Reflective

eacher

ducation:

cases and

critiques.

Albany:

SUNY

Press.

Wallace,

M.

J.

(1996).

Structured

reflection: The

role

of the

professional

project

in

training

ESL

teachers. In D.

Freeman

&

J.

Richards

(Eds.),

Teacher

learning

in

languageteaching(pp. 281-294). New York:Cambridge University Press.

Zeichner,

K.

M.,

&

Liston,

D. P.

(1996).

Reflective

eaching:

An

introduction.

Mahwah,

NJ:

Erlbaum.

CONCEPTUAL

ANALYSIS

591

A Framework for Teacher Reflectivity

Documents

Transcript of A Framework for Teacher Reflectivity