EFL teachers’ reactions to reflective interviews

Writer(s): 
Quint Oga-Baldwin

Teacher reflection has been shown to be a powerful form of feedback for improving self-efficacy. To date, the study of the development of teacher self-efficacy in second language education has been an underdeveloped area. This study outlines how reflection works with teacher beliefs to improve pedagogy, the ways in which reflective practice can influence teacher self-efficacy, and presents observational, longitudinal, qualitative data taken from in-service teachers. Six university level EFL teachers were interviewed ten times each during the 2009 Japanese school year. Each interview used a preset battery of questions to elicit statements about feelings of success and failure, attributions for those feelings, and changes in teaching in response to those experiences. In the final interview, teachers were asked about their reactions to the experience, and how they applied the experience to their teaching. Results indicate that the teachers studied believe reflection to be valuable, reporting that the interview process did indeed improve beliefs about their own effectiveness to differing extents; however, they may not necessarily want to continue to participate in a peer-supported reflection program.

教員自身による反省は自己効力感を向上させる効果的なフィードバックであることが示されている。しかしながら、今日において外国語教員の自己効力感の開発に関するの研究は未開発のままである。この研究では教員による反省の理論を定義し、反省と自己効力感の関係を示すことで大学教育現場の教員に行った長期的な質的研究の結果を提示する。2009年度において6人の大学外国語教員に各10回インタビューを行った。インタビューはあらかじめ決められた項目を用い、成功・失敗の信念とその理由、また信念や行為の変化について聞き出す質問を使用した。成果として、「教員自身が反省をするのは役に立つ」という意見があり、インタビューのプロセスが自己効力感を向上させたととらえることができる一方、教員達が同僚が互いにに支援し合う反省プログラムへ参加し続けるかどうかは疑問である。

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