Tailoring Reflection to Individual Needs: A TESOL case study

Reflection in teaching refers generally to teachers learning to subject their own beliefs of teaching and learning to a critical analysis, and taking more responsibility for their actions. In order for reflective teaching to happen, opportunities must be created for teachers to use conscious reflection. This paper reports on the reflections of one non-native speaker, a teacher of English as a foreign language in Korea, during a 16-week period. Specifically, this paper tells (1) what the teacher talked about in the three modes of reflection: group meetings, individual meetings and what she wrote about in her journal; and (2) what was the level of her reflection in each activity: descriptive or critical. Results indicate that the teacher shows a clear preference for group discussions as her method of reflection over the other two activities: journal writing and classroom observations.