Plenary Session - International Conference 2016
Professional Development of 21st Century Language Teachers Through Reflective Practice
Professional development for language teachers in 21st century classrooms entails encouraging teachers to engage in reflective practice in order to maintain the curiosity of teaching, identify significant interests in the teaching and learning processes, and value and seek dialogue with experienced colleagues as a source of support in the analysis of situations. But what is reflective practice, and what research has been conducted on the practices that encourage 21st century language teachers to reflect on their practice? Also, how is reflective practice defined, and anyway, does engaging in reflection lead to improved teaching? In addition, is reflective practice not the same as language teacher research or teacher cognition research?
In this plenary session, I attempt to answer these questions by operationalizing reflective practice according to five levels/stages of teacher reflection. This framework shifts the analytic lens of reflection according to the following: philosophy (teacher-as-person), principles (assumptions, beliefs, and conceptions of teaching and learning), theory (theories-in-use), practice (actual teaching), and beyond practice (sociocultural and political consequences). After explaining the framework, I apply it to 116 research studies that focus on practices that encourage teacher reflection from 58 journals over a five-year period. The results of this survey/review are overwhelmingly positive: clearly, teachers, whether reflecting on their identities, beliefs, theories, or their own teaching, do recognize the developmental value and transformative potential in the activities of reflection for 21st century language teachers.
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Invited Second Session (Workshop)
Standing Up for Your Principles: The Power of Reflective Practice
Principles, the second stage/level of the framework for reflecting on practice (Farrell, 2015), include reflections on teachers’ assumptions, beliefs, and conceptions of teaching and learning. Teachers’ practices and their instructional decisions are often formulated and implemented (for the most part, subconsciously) on the basis of their underlying assumptions, beliefs, and conceptions because these are the driving force (along with philosophy) behind many of their classroom actions. This workshop will help teachers explore and reflect on their principles (assumptions, beliefs, and conceptions).
Reference
Farrell, T.S.C. (2015). Promoting reflection in second language education: A framework for TESOL professionals. New York, NY: Routledge.
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Biographical Sketch
Thomas S.C. Farrell is Professor of Applied Linguistics at Brock University, Canada. His professional interests include reflective practice, and language teacher education anddevelopment. Professor Farrell has published widely in academic journals and has presented at major conferences worldwide on these topics. His latest books are Promoting Teacher Reflection in Language Education: A Framework for TESOL Professionals (Routledge, 2015), and From Trainee to Teacher: Reflective Practice for Novice Teachers (Equinox, 2016). His webpage is: www.reflectiveinquiry.ca
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Resources on the Web: Thomas S.C. Farrell
Article: Meet Thomas S.C. Farrell
https://blog.nus.edu.sg/eltwo/2010/01/08/meet-thomas-s-c-farrell-2/
Research Paper: The Teacher Is a Facilitator (Jan. 2016)
http://www.urmia.ac.ir/sites/www.urmia.ac.ir/files/(1)_0.pdf
Personal Webpage: Reflective Inquiry
http://www.reflectiveinquiry.ca/
Video: Reflecting on Reflective Practice
Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0_STY6kNqU
Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dy00siZEwnE
Part 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-eFcvhOS60
Part 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-uZCa71XTI
See the full list of Major Speakers at the KOTESOL International Conference at https://koreatesol.org/ic2016/Major-Speakers
