A Practitioner Inquiry Into Pre-service Efl Reflective Practicum Of Haramaya University A Condition Of Inability To Reflect And Determinants Of Effective Reflection
Teaching English As Foreign Language Project Topics
The thrust of this study was experiential observatioll of pre-service EFL student teachers'rninability to reflect in/on their practices at Haramaya University practicum context. Thernoverall aim of the study was to, firstly, critically analyze the problem in its context withrnthe intention to understand the facts of the situation of the problem and, secondly, makernan mqUIry into ways for maximizing the student teachers' ability to reflect in theirrncontext.rnA qualitative paradigm and practitioner inquiry design were adopted. Grounded TheoryrnMethod of data analysis was employed to systematically thematize, categorize andrndiscover patterns and processes in the data. Ten student teachers, as respondents andrnpractitioners, as well as four of their teacher educators, as informants, were selected byrnmeans of purposeful sampling, to take part in the study. Participant observation methodsrnthat involve unobtrusive observation, complete classroom observation, unstructuredrninterview reflective journaling and discussions and practicum document gathering werernused to collect qualitative data.rnThe findings of the Contextual Analysis showed that the core factor for the EFL studentrnteachers' inability to reflect is mainly their lack of effective reflection tools for reflectionforlon/rnabout-actions and lack of effective time for reflection-in-action. The data suggestsrnthat, consequently, the central strategy of reflective practice they adopted wasrnoverdependence on and replication of the existing school syllabi without criticalrnreflection. Based on these Contextual Analysis findings an Inquiry was next conducted,rnwhereby participant student teachers were engaged on reflective journaling for twornsemesters. The findings of the Inquiry showed significant levels of improvement in theirrnability to reflect for/in/on action. For instance, the data analysis showed that they steadilyrnbegan to reduce non-reflective behaviors sllch as over-advocating own actions,rnprotectionism of self and peers, and exchange of distorted information, each of whichrninitially blocked reflectivity. Gradually, they began to take such reflective actions asrnreflective observation of pupils' behaviors, reflective planning of lessons and actions,reflective classroom acts such as appreciative judgments of pupils' behavior, revision ofrnsome taken for granted assumptions, promotion of sharing of information in classroomsrnand effective time management. Yet, some non-reflectivity behaviors such as contextrndilemma continued to persist due to influence of macro factors. All the domains of EFLrnreflective skills- Engli sh, teaching and inquiry- improved.rnFrom the findings, a conclusion has been reached that the student teachers' inability torneffectively reflect related to their lack of effective reflection tools and control over lessonrntimes and materials. By providing these conditions, student teachers' potential torneffectively reflect and reconstruct new skills and knowledge from their experience can bernprompted. Studies on conditions for cross-institutional and interdi sciplinary practitioners'rnreflection are suggested as a major further area to be researched.