| Summary: | Many researchers claim that reflective practice is an integral component of professional development and a necessary component for the development of professional competence, which involves both dispositional competencies (knowledge or awareness of) and capacity competencies (the skills and attitudes required to make reasoned judgments about professional practice). The lack of such reflective practice has been identified as an underlying reason why many teachers have difficulty applying formal learning in their classrooms post-training.
This qualitative research study examined the impact of introducing a reflective process into a 2007 Canadian teacher education programme for six Japanese secondary English as a foreign language teachers (EFL). It was hypothesized that introducing a reflective process around a contextually-based research project (also known as the Professional Development Dossier or PDD) would be instrumental in helping to bridge the theory practice gap so common in similar programmes. Data sources included reflective worksheets, classroom observation records, practice teaching summaries, research essays, and one-on-one pre and post-training programme interviews.
The results of this case study analysis indicate that the PDD research process was instrumental in developing the teachers’ knowledge of required second language teaching methodologies such as Communicative Language Teaching and raised their awareness of the important role teachers plays in creating a classroom environment that is conducive to learning (dispositional competencies). However, it was the reflective process supporting the research process that assisted the teachers in understanding how to apply this knowledge in their individual teaching contexts.
The reflective process promoted the development of reasoned judgments regarding the teaching theories, activities, and teaching practices best suited to their specific teaching challenges. This experience provided the Japanese English teachers with the skills needed to create a more balanced English language programme for their Japanese students (capacity competencies). The findings from this study suggest that teacher education programmes which include a contextually based research project that is supported by critical reflection, classroom observation, mentoring, and practice teaching can be instrumental in helping to bridge the theory-practice gap. This study also suggests that a longitudinal approach to research is needed to more clearly understand the interaction between teacher education and teaching context.
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