FIRST TASK

DIRECTIONS: Read the proposed syllabus for the Reflective Teaching Course, and jot down your comments about it.

1.       COURSE INFORMATION

COURSE TITLE:                Reflective teaching                                                                         

CODE:                                  BEEDLI28           NUMBER OF CREDITS: 2              WEEKLY HOURS: 2

REQUIREMENTS:            Intermediate English + Course Design and Assessment

        

AREA OF KNOWLEDGE:  Pedagogy and didactics

UNIT IN CHARGE OF CURRICULAR DESIGN:

English as a Foreign Language Teacher Education Program 

                                              

COMPONENT	COURSE FOCUS
	THEORETICAL	PRACTICAL	THEORETICAL -PRACTICAL
BASIC			X
COMPLEMENTARY

TIME OF STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC WORK:

ACTIVITIES	HOURS
	Theoretical	Practical
In-class work	16	16
Independent work	64
Total of semester hours	96

  

2.       COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course is intended to provide Foreign Language student-teachers with the basic principles and practical tools of Reflective Teaching (RT). They will be initially introduced to a wide diversity of concepts, rationales, models and research findings about RT. They will also have a field experience  with different RT frameworks and tools in the context of their teaching practicum. Particularly, Barlett´s reflective teaching cycle will be explored. As a result, student-teachers are expected to gain insights and practical tools to rearrange their teaching practice after “mapping what they do, unearthing the reasons and assumptions for these actions, subjecting these reasons to critical scrutiny, appraising alternative courses of action, and then acting”

3.        RATIONALE

Reflective teaching is an approach which has gained significant momentum in language teaching. In his personal reflection about thirty years of TEFL/TESL,  Richards (2012) contends that language teachers have moved away from a search of the perfect method and have shifted their attention to developing and exploring their own teaching through reflective teaching and action research.

Other scholars have over last few years advocated different rationales for the emergence and the worthiness of reflective teaching. Gore (1987) enhances collegiality as one of the outcomes of reflective teaching, since working in small groups to question and examine teaching behavior and provide honest feedback, students may develop trust and respect for each other as teachers and professionals. According to Smyth (1992), reflection places an emphasis on learning through questioning and investigation to lead to a development of understanding (34). As a matter of fact, exploring the nature of reflective practice, Calderhead (1993) and others found that reflective teaching contributes to professional development by encouraging teachers to analyze, discuss, and evaluate practice. From a constructivist point of view, teachers are expected to learn from their experiences by constructing mental representations of their personal meanings when they are stored in memory to be revised as experience dictates, according to Colton & Sparks-Langer (1993). As Burch (1999)  suggests, “reflection is a means to understanding how and why one acts in the classroom, a deepening of self-understanding and an impetus to self-confidence, traits important to novice teachers.”  Ferraro (2000) also perceived that teachers can improve their effectiveness in the classroom by gaining a better understanding of their own individual teaching styles through reflective practice.

Murphy (2001) points out that teachers can grow as professionals in different ways which let them look inward, both within themselves and within the courses they offer, to access information about what happens in their language classrooms.  He asserts that a central reason to be interested in reflective teaching is to “gain awareness of our teaching beliefs and practices” and to learn “to see teaching differently, and to learn to take action in order to enhance the quality of learning opportunities we are able to provide in our classrooms.” He also claims that we should spend time and energy to develop understandings if we consider our continuing needs as teachers and the needs of the language learners we serve. Murphy poses three main purposes of reflective teaching:

To expand one’s understanding of the teaching learning process.

To expand one’s repertoire of strategic options as a language teacher.

To enhance the quality of learning opportunities one is able to provide in language classrooms.

4.       GENERAL COMPETENCES

GENERAL COMPETENCES
KNOW/KNOWLEDGE (Savoir)	INTERPRETIVE	Students will become aware of the main theoretical tenets underlying RT. Students will develop metacognitive skills to constantly reflect on the what, the how, and the why of their teaching practice.
	ARGUMENTATIVE	Students will put into effect thoughtful reflection and professional dialogue on critical issues in education and language teaching
	CONSTRUCTIVE	Students will adopt courses of action to solve problems and to improve their teaching practices.
KNOW HOW/ SKILLS (Savoir faire)	Students will implement diverse RT tools as a way of exploring and keeping a record of their teaching experiences
BE/ EXISTENTIAL (Savoir être)	Students should be able to know themselves as teachers Students should demonstrate willingness to adjust their own teaching approach and practice in response to new educational trends and demands.

5.       AN OVERVIEW OF COURSE TOPICS, TIME ALLOTMENT AND PEDAGOGIC STRATEGIES

THEMATIC UNITS	IN-CLASS HOURS		INDEPENDENT WORK	QUESTION OR PROBLEM SITUATION	INTERDISCIPLINARY ÁREAS	PEDAGOGIC STRATEGIES
	TH	PH
Concepts and importance of Reflective Teaching	2		4	How does reflective teaching contribute to the integral education of a foreign language teacher? In what ways does the teacher solve previously identified problems and transform the educational context by means of innovation proposals? What disciplines enhance the development of the researcher´s critical and reflective skills in the ELT field? In what ways can the pre-service English teachers be empowered as reflective professionals, researchers and intelectual transformers?	Linguistics Psycholinguistics Sociolinguistics	Literature review – Class discussion – Blogging
Reflective Teaching frameworks and Reflective teaching tools	4		8			Journal keeping Focus group
Exploring teachers´ beliefs: autobiography and teaching metaphors	2		4
Field experience: Reflecting through a teaching journal		4	8
Field experience: Exploring teaching through other RT tools: five-minute papers, student focus groups, stimulated recall, formative feedback from in-class observer		4	8
Field experience: Problem posing		2	4
Field experience: Teacher decision making		2	4
Field experience: Classroom action and classroom monitoring		6	12
Student-teachers talking about teaching	2		4
Writing a reflective essay	4		8

TH = Theoretical hours

PH = Practical hours

6.       ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING

The assessment of this course will be done according to the institutional evaluation policies and by means of tests, blogging tasks,, debates, reflective journals and a final argumentative essay.

THEMATIC UNIT	ASSESSMENT STRATEGY	PERCENTAGE (%)
1-2-3-4-5-8-10	Blog participation	20%
5-6-7-8-9-10	Journal keeping	20%
3-5-6-7	Focus group	15%
1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10	Class participation	15%
10	Reflective essay	30%

7.       BIBLIOGRAPHY

BARTLETT, Leo. Teacher development through reflective teaching. In: RICHARDS,  Jack and NUNAN, David. Second Language Teacher Education.  New York: Cambridge University Press, 1994. p. 202-214.

FARRELL,Thomas. Reflective Teaching: the principles and practices.  Washington: English Teaching FORUM.  4, 4,  2003. p. 14-40.

MURPHY, John. Reflective Teaching in ELT. In CELCE-MURCIA, Marianne (Ed.), Teaching English as a second or foreign language.  United States: Heinle & Heinle, 2001. p. 499-514

RICHARDS, Jack & LOCKHART, Charles. Reflective Teaching in Second Language Classroom. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004.

WALLACE, Michael. Training foreign language teachers: A reflective approach. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1991.

Complementary Bibliography:       

AMOBI, Funmi. Beyond the Call:  Preserving reflection in the preparation of "Highly Qualified" Teachers. California:Teacher Education Quarterly, 33, 2,   2006, p. 23-25

BAILEY, Kathleen. The Use of Diary Studies in Teacher Education Programs. In RICHARDS Jack. and NUNAN, David. (Eds.). Second Language Teacher Education. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1994. p. 215-226

BURCH,  Beth. When Students (Who Are Pre-service Teachers) Don't Want to Engage. Journal of Teacher Education, 50, 3, 1999. p. 165-172.

CALDERHEAD, J. Dilemmas in developing reflective teaching. Teacher Education Quarterly, 20, 1, 1993, p. 93-100.

COLTON, Amy and SPARKS-LANGER, Georgea. A Conceptual Framework to Guide the Development of Teacher Reflection and Decision Making. Journal of Teacher Education,  44, 1, 1993. p. 45-54

FERRARO, J. M. Reflective Practice and Professional Development.. ERIC Clearinghouse on Teaching and Teacher Education Washington DC.  Retrieved from http://www.ericdigests.org/2001-3/reflective.htm on April 30th, 2008.

GORE, Jennifer. Reflecting on Reflective Teaching. Journal of Teacher Education, 38, 2, 1987. p. 33-39

RICHARDS, Jack. Towards reflective teaching [online] cited 10 August, 2012.  Available from internet:

http://www.tttjournal.co.uk/uploads/File/back_articles/Towards_Reflective_Teaching.pdf

SMYTH, W. J. Teacher’s work and the politics of reflection. American Educational Research Journal, 29, 2, 1992, p. 267-300