Integrated Reflection For Professional Development: A Case Study Of Four EFL Teachers

Since the early 1990s, the reflective teaching movement, the predominance of action research, and the teacher research movement have established the legitimacy of teachers' experiences and the necessity for inquiry into those experiences as a mechanism for change in teachers' classroom practices as well as a means for their professional development (Johnson & Golombek, 2002). Since then, a wide variety of ways have been employed to foster reflection for pre- and in-service teachers' professional development. However, not all of these ways appear to be appropriate for stimulating reflection, and there is no convincing research evidence to show how effective such reflective practice is for teacher development. Especially in China, there has been little inquiry into EFL teacher education and development.This is a case study conducted with four EFL teachers from the same rural junior high school, to explore their growth in reflective thinking and professional development over a twenty-week semester. Four ways of reflective practices, including diary writing, weekend dialog, monthly group meeting, and classroom action research, were combined to form a facilitating tool, which is called integrated reflection, to enable teachers' growth in reflective thinking and professional development. The following two research questions were addressed and answered: What changes occurred in the teachers' reflection over time? How did integrated reflection promote their professional development? Data were collected from the teachers' diary entries, transcriptions of weekend dialogs and monthly group meetings, documents pertaining to classroom action research, the semi-structured questionnaires at different stages, as well as the researcher's research journals. The data were presented using three methods: quantification, narrative, and cross-case analysis.The study found that reflection brought changes to the four teachers' focus and level of reflection in diary writing. Initially they focused on classroom teaching and student learning; and later they paid more attention to student-teacher interaction, teacher development, and schooling context. Over the twenty weeks, the four teachers' growth in reflective thinking was visible though individual teachers' paths were different. In addition, there was a significant correlation between the focus and level of reflection. The four teachers' professional development was reflected in changes in their beliefs and teaching practices; particular teachers have unique characteristics. Further analysis involved cross-case comparisons to explain similarities and differences in these changes.This thesis provides a detailed account of how the study was planned and implemented, and concludes with some implications for EFL teacher education and recommendations for further research.