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The Impact of Pre-service Teachers’ Reflection

on teachers’ beliefs, attitudes, and behaviours. They suggest that reflecting thinking should be a process
offered as a component of a teacher education program. In addition, they believe that reflection is a way
of developing critical thinking on education among pre-service teachers.
In their research, Fairbanks and Meritt (1998) tried to apply activity theory to the learning-to-learn
experiences of four pre-service teachers. They analyzed the products of the pre-service teachers’ reflec-
tive activities and observational data gathered during their year-long preparation. They looked into the
intersections between context and practice. The study found that reflection on the activities and the
teaching indicated the value of reflection in the teacher education program, and this affected their social
identity growth. Moreover, the reflections provided them with an understanding of the people and the
events they may encounter during their teaching. In brief, reflective activities helped the pre-service
teachers to construct their professional identity.
Pedro’s (2005) qualitative study using a descriptive and interpretive design, aimed to interpret the
pre-service teachers’ conceptions and understandings of reflective practice through the transcription and
analysis of three individual in-depth interviews and through the examination of the pre-service teach-
ers’ reflective journals. According to the findings, the pre-service teachers understood the concept of
reflection which they used as a conceptual device to help them think about their knowledge and better
their teaching skills. In a parallel study, Rodman (2010) attempted to learn how the reflective engage-
ment of pre-service teachers reinforces the application of the teaching-learning process in the classroom
and enables them to construct meaning from that application. The results of this study suggested that
repeated use of reflection throughout the teacher preparation experience can be useful for encouraging
growth and professional development.
Robichaux and Guarino (2012) examined the hypothesis that pre-service teachers who were required
to assemble portfolio assessment would promote greater scores on professional growth than the pre-
service teachers who were not required to assemble a portfolio assessment. The results of the study
revealed that even if pre-service teachers do not receive any formal training on how to reflect upon their
teaching and are not given reflection prompts, they still appear to reflect more on issues considered
important to becoming effective educators, which aids in their capacity to handle the complexities of
the teaching profession.
The findings of these studies support the notion that through reflection and reflective activities, pre-
service teachers have the ability to develop a better understanding of their teaching skills and practices.
They point the way to how pre-service teachers should be engaged in reflective practice and how reflec-
tion can be encouraged in different pedagogical contexts.
Apart from the research studies carried out in different ESL/EFL contexts, several studies in Turkey
revealed that pre-service teachers were limited in discussion and reflections on teaching practices in their
teacher education courses (Çakıroğlu and Çakıroğlu, 2003; Şahin-Taşkın, 2006; Armutcu and Yaman,
2010; Hacıömeroğlu, 2010). Hacıömeroğlu (2010), for example, examined the nature of pre-service
secondary teachers’ instructional strategies and views about teaching and learning with regard to teach-
ing mathematics in Turkey. The analysis of the pre-service teachers’ written reflections, activities, class
discussions and observations indicated that engagement in reflective activities helped the participating
teachers identify their major strengths and weaknesses in their lessons, and analyze issues in teaching.
As a result of reflective activities, collaboration between pre-service teachers increased which helped
them to refine and revise their lessons and improve their teaching. Moreover, Armutcu and Yaman
(2010) explored teacher reflection of senior ELT pre-service teachers during their practicum experience
in terms of “sex and instruction types”. The researchers collected the data through “Teacher Reflection

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