The Impact of Pre-service Teachers' Reflection on their Instructional Practices

Abstract

This chapter aims to investigate the impact of reflection on freshmen pre-service English teachers' classroom practices. Specifically, it explores how the participating student teachers' perceptions influenced their instructional practices as a result of participation in reflection activities. The participants of the study were ten freshmen student teachers enrolled in the English Language Teaching undergraduate program at a foundation (non-profit private) university in Turkey. Data came from the reflections of the participating student teachers about their recently-completed 15-hour field-based experience at the pre-school level. As a part of this class reflection activity, the participants were prompted to keep a diary in one of their undergraduate courses and respond to a series of statements or questions related to their classroom observation tasks. They were also engaged in class discussions and were required to write their overall feedback based on their field-based experience. The findings of the study revealed that reflective activities helped the prospective student teachers identify their strengths and weaknesses related to classroom activities, use of materials (use of technology and visuals) and classroom management, leading to self-awareness about their understanding and application of teaching skills and strategies.

How Do Female Preservice Teachers Experience Learning Using the Learning Blog, Recorded lectures and Reflective Assignment and Feedback in Educational Technology courses?

“…17 education (Black et al, 2000;Costa & Kallick, 2000;Dollar & Mede, 2016;Pedro, 2005). Some the students reported an extra workload when using reflective writing activity for every module in the course.…”

“…Self-reflection individually with the learning content can increase learners engagement (Black et al, 2000;Costa & Kallick, 2000). One of the most significant impact of reflective writing is the ability of the pre-service teachers to increase their self-awareness through practicing this activity (Dollar & Mede, 2016;Pedro, 2005). Pre-service teachers' reflective writing can include elements such as describing, analysing, associating, feeling, assessing or developing (Yee et al, 2022).…”