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The Impact of Pre-service Teachers’ Reflection

Scale and semi-structured interviews” (p.30) both at the very beginning and at the end of the practicum
in a form of a pre- and a post-test. As a result of the study, it was found that both before and after the
practicum experience senior ELT students’ teacher reflections were high; in other words, no mean-
ingful differences were found between the effect of gender and instruction types on teachers’ teacher
reflections. These findings indicate that reflection is a continuous process starting at the freshman year
through senior year. Finally, Odabaşı Çimer and Çimer (2012) tried to explore and analyze the current
practices of reflection in teacher education programs in Turkey. In this study, the researchers came to
the conclusion that, within the teacher education community, the views regarding being an effective
teacher have changed; traditional views have shifted to recognize the importance of reflection. They
also conclude that if there is a demand to increase the quality of education in schools, it is important to
develop reflective skills in student-teachers and make reflection part of their teaching experience and
part of the teacher education programs.

MAIN FOCUS OF THIS CHAPTER

Issues, Controversies, Problems

Methodology

The qualitative methodology for this study is positioned within critical research. According to Merriam
(2009), critical research is interpretive as is other forms of qualitative research which attempt to investi-
gate a phenomenon in which participants make meaning of the world. However, unlike basic qualitative
studies, critical research seeks not just to explore and understand but also to examine, challenge, and
transform the perceptions of the participants about themselves and others. Thus this study examined:

1. How participants interpret their experiences within a given context,
2. How participants construct their own meaning,
3. What meaning participants attribute to their experiences as a result of their reflections,
4. What kind of effects these reflections have on the participants’ instructional practices.

Participants
In this study, the participants were ten freshmen pre-service teachers (8 female and 2 male) aged 10-to-22
years who were enrolled in the English Language Teaching (ELT) undergraduate program at a private
university in Turkey. All participants were full-time students of Turkish nationality. They passed the
language proficiency exam before they started their freshman year at the department.

Data Collection Instruments

Data was collected from the reflections of the participating pre-service English teachers about their
recently-completed 15-hour field-based experience in a private kindergarten. As a part of this class re-
flection activity, the participants were prompted to keep a diary in one of their undergraduate courses in
which they received an observation task with specific topics: teaching activities, instructional materials,
and classroom management. They were asked to make observations in English kindergarten classrooms

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