A Study On The Influence Of School-based Mentors On Teaching Reflective Competence Of Preservice English Teachers

Teaching reflection,as an important part of the professional development of teachers and a significant way to improve the comprehensive quality of teachers,has attracted more and more attention of scholars at home and abroad.Pre-service teachers are also paying more and more attention to cultivating their teaching reflective competence.Moreover,teaching practicums,as a critical part of teacher education today,provides pre-service teachers with opportunities to participate in real classrooms and actual students,helping pre-service teachers to combine theoretical learning with teaching practice,so that they can be more prepared for future work.During this process,school-based mentors act as models for pre-service teachers,help them improve their professional skills,and play an indispensable role in teacher education.The previous domestic research mainly focused on the teaching reflective competence,reflection strategies and reflective contents of in-service teachers,but there are few researches on the special group of pre-service English teachers,and the research methods are mostly theoretical analysis and qualitative research targeted at a small number of samples.In view of this,it is necessary to deepen the investigation of the status quo of pre-service English teachers’ teaching reflection level and to research the influence of instructors on pre-service teachers’ teaching reflection ability.Based on previous researches,this article aims to study the influence of school-based mentors on pre-service English teachers’ reflective competence,and the mentoring strategies adopted by school-based mentors to promote pre-service teachers’reflective competence.The research is aimed to address through the following three questions:(1)What teaching reflective competence do preservice teachers have before teaching practicums?(2)After the practicums,does the reflective competence of preservice English teachers change?If yes,at which levels are the changes more obvious?(3)How do school-based mentors-affect presevice teachers’reflective competence?In this study,40 preservice English teachers from a normal university were selected as the research objects,8 of whom were chosen for interviews.Their reflective journals were collected after their interviews.It is found that before the practicums,preservice English teachers’ reflective competence was at a medium level.They had higher reflective ability at the affective and meta-cognitive levels,and needed to make more efforts at the practical,cognitive and critical reflective level.After the teaching practice,the teaching reflection ability of preservice English teachers has been improved in the practical and meta-cognitive level,but there is no obvious change in other aspects.The influence of school-based mentors on preservice English teachers’ reflective competence is also mainly concentrated at the practical,affective,and meta-cognitive level.They mainly use open conversation,experience sharing,and feedback after classes to improve the reflective competence of preservice English teachers.This research provides some suggestions for improving the reflective competence of preservice teachers during the practicums.The schools should make arrangements in advance and pay attention to the selection and training of school-based mentors.School-based mentors should communicate and negotiate with preservice teachers in advance to clarify requirements and expectations,and guide preservice teachers to reflect on more levels.For preservice English teachers,they should form a correct understanding of teaching reflection,so that they can reflect more at the cognitive and critical levels.