Reflection-oriented English Teacher Preparation Program

This research studies the theory of reflective teaching first. It surveys the concept of reflection, levels of reflection, and reflective practice in teacher education and journal writing as an ideal tool for promoting reflective teaching. Then it outlines social constructivism associated with teacher education, for example, situated learning, socially shared cognition, the zone of proximal development, interdependence of language and thought, and related research and practices. Reflective teaching is a way that the educators, starting with their own concerns about a certain situation, through a series of reflection and research activities, find a solution to their problems. It is an effective method for the educators to foster their professional development. The pursuit of reflective teaching internationally has caused reform in student-teacher education programs. Furthermore, it has propelled the model of "teacher education". Some recent related researches are reviewed to examine how reflective practice works for student-teachers of English as a Foreign Language (EFL).The goal of this study is to explore the appropriate ways to improve the reflective thinking of student-teachers. The researcher uses qualitative methodology to follow up with the reflective and professional development of 97 EFL student-teachers within two years of the teacher preparation program. The research data mainly comes from written reflections, although other forms of data were also used, including interviews, questionnaires, documents, class observations, videotapes, etc. More than 200 reflective journals were collected, and 30 of them were analyzed. Analysis of the data reveals key findings which are then used to explore the impact of the different types of reflective thinking on the reflective teaching practices of the EFL student-teachers.During this research, the author mainly uses the following interventional measures:1)guided written reflection;2)peer collaboration; 3)mentor scaffolding. After reading and re-reading the data, consulting some existing categories developed by other scholars, using qualitative methodology, the researcher regroups and formulates the following six concepts: the theory of teaching, teaching methods and context, evaluating teaching, self awareness, classroom management, and affect. Those categories are used to describe what the student-teachers were reflecting on and their levels of reflection. The researcher points out that for student-teachers, reflection could be divided into two levels: descriptive reflection (low level) and critical reflection (high level).The student-teachers' written reflection shows that they wrote almost within the following six concepts:1)the theory of teaching: teachers and their roles, curriculum and instruction; 2)teaching methods and context: student-teachers' teaching methods, teaching methods in local school context; 3)evaluating teaching: positive evaluation, negative evaluation;4)self awareness: perception of themselves as teachers, personal goals;5)classroom management : student-teachers and classroom management, classroom management and teaching activities; 6)affect: rejoice/delight , anxiety/intensity. Data shows that levels of student-teachers' reflection also went up, and they started to reflect rnore-critically than merely description. The researcher then uses a vivid case, which illustrated the progress of a student teacher's reflective thinking and reflective practice during different periods of the program, to demonstrate that reflection under the supportive framework of social constructivism is more effective than the one without it, and it can be more helpful to promote the student-teachers' reflective ability.Implications and conclusion: to promote the student-teachers' development of reflective thinking in the normal schools, we have to focus on the following areas: guided written reflection, peer collaborating, mentor scaffolding and situated learning. These four methods are very useful and vital for the development of the student-teachers' reflective ability. It should become an important aspect of the future education program.