Reflective Teaching and Professional Development of Middle School English Teachers

摘 要：The new curriculum reform advocates of reflective teaching， and teaching practice and reflection not only can improve the theoretical level， but also can improve teachers’ practical abilities. The reflective teaching is an effective way in teachers’ professional development.

關(guān)鍵詞：English Teaching； Teaching Reflections； Teachers’ Professional Development

中圖分類號：G642 文獻標識碼：A 文章編號：1002-7661（2012）21-008-03

Middle school English teachers’ professional development is a continuous， lifelong， dynamic process， and the development of teachers has provided the conditions for students’ development. As the qualified high school English teachers， they are not merely content with the status quo， but they should dare to abandon be inopportune or inappropriate for the traditional teaching concept， and learn how to use the guidance of new curriculum and teaching， especially the development of reflective teaching.

Ⅰ.Relationship between Reflective Teaching and Teacher Professional Development

ⅰ. Reflective teaching

“Reflections” is derived from the philosophy. In 1933， American educational philosopher Dewey was the first man who applied the reflective thinking into the education. He thought：“Reflective thinking is a thinking process， and also a process of thought into action. It is not a simple meditation， but an activity of which people is from the experience to the result， and get back to the original to try to conjecture and hypothesis.”

Reflective teaching or “teaching reflection” refers to the teacher in the teaching practice conduct a comprehensive review， analysis and thinking about their own teaching idea and teaching behavior process； then give themselves affirmation and negation， speculation and correction； and put “l(fā)earning how to teach” and “l(fā)earning” together to promote the teaching practice rationality， and solve the problems in the teaching.

ⅱ. Characteristics of Teaching Reflection

1. The English teaching reflection is the inquiry and reflection. It improves the English teaching ability， realize the self professional development， and ultimately improve the students’ English application ability.

2. The English teaching reflection has programmed and circulation.

The process for the investigation is： Found the problem -- The problem or the reflection of incident -- Action research -- Data collection and analysis -- Application. When an inquiry activity ended， a new round of activity began again. This is the circulation. Michad J.Wallace （1998） called the cycle as“reflection ring”.

3. The English teaching reflection is not depending on the teacher to realize closed-door contemplate， but by a certain language activity to obtain the information about events in teaching to be observed， recorded， analyzed， and thought， in order to improve the understanding about language teaching practice. High school English teaching is a kind of individual behavior， at the same time it is with the help of peer support， cooperation and school’s necessary condition.

4. An English teacher must have strong self-renewal orientation， strong self critical ability， high level of consciousness and self control ability. To continuously enhance himself， beyond himself， self-perfection consciousness. The self-consciousness of professional development is the motive power of reflective language teaching.

5. English teachers should not only have the general cultural knowledge， education subject knowledge， teaching professional knowledge， but also should have the deep linguistics， the knowledge of second language acquisition-theory and psychology， especially the knowledge of cognitive psychology， intercultural communication competence， and have healthy psychology which includes good mood， emotion condition， and so on.

ⅲ. Teacher professional development

Teaching is always evolving process of growth and change. It can be inferred that teacher professional development is a continual， endless， dynamic and ongoing process， during which teachers' teaching beliefs and practices as well both play a considerably decisive role. Only when teachers construct the ability to do self-reflection and self-education will they promote professional development.

ⅳ. Effects of reflective teaching on teacher professional development

According to the reform and research of present English education， people have gradually realized that English teachers’ professional development has become the key to improve the quality of English teaching， and it is also inseparable from reflection. In addition， in 2001July the State Ministry of Education issued the“English curriculum standard for middle school English teachers”what put forward clear requirements， and one of which focused on the reflection teaching， updating knowledge ceaselessly， improving and enriching the teaching method.

Reflective teaching is an effective way to promote teacher s’ professional development. In other words， without reflective teaching， professional development will not occur.

Ⅱ. The Current Situation of Reflective Teaching and Teacher Professional Development

ⅰ. Lack of self-awareness

Most college English teachers do not practice reflection on their teaching through themselves and students though selves and students are the two significant lenses for self-observation and self-monitoring in their teaching practice. Self -awareness is a necessary condition for teachers' professional growth， so in order to heighten self -awareness teachers should observe or monitor their own behavior for the purpose of achieving a better understanding and control over their behavior. The results of the study reveal that many college English teachers are not able to observe or monitor their own teaching behaviors， which implies that lack of self-awareness is one common problem preventing teachers to pursue professional development in the long run.

ⅱ.Lack of Ability to Do Independent Research

The study reveals that college English teachers lack the ability to do independent research in their teaching experience. Possessing independent research capacity is one important factor to teacher professional development. Teachers， only when they do research on their own teaching practice and take themselves as source， can promote their profession. Therefore， we may find that lacking the ability to do independent research is another serious problem in increasing teachers' profession. This problem is caused by two factors： First， traditional teacher training has created a great many teachers who focus merely on delivering knowledge to students rather than taking research -oriented approach in their practical teaching； second， many teachers lack self-awareness to do nation research during their daily teaching， and lack investigation skills， techniques and theory of methodology.

ⅲ. Lack of active cooperative learning

Collaborative learning with colleagues is a foundation for teachers to facilitate that professional growth. The research indicates that teachers do have access to doing cooperative learning with their colleagues. However， most teachers never invite their peers to attend their classroom lecture. All in all， lack of active cooperative learning with colleagues is another obstacle for teachers on their way to further professional development.

ⅳ. Lack of ability to combine teaching belief with practice

Data from the study imply that teachers' teaching practice remains almost the same though some of their teaching beliefs and attitudes are altered. In other words， not many of teachers in Xingjiang realize what a real effective practitioner is and let alone form the habit of reflecting and changing roles in the particular teaching practice.

Ⅲ. Suggestions for English Teachers

Senior high school English teachers’ professional development is a process of self reflection， and is also a very practical research about action. Whether there is a relationship between teaching reflection and professional ability， when it comes to high school English teachers’ professional development， is a reflective problem of English teachers on themselves professional development， namely the process of reflection. If English teachers get new experiences and new understanding by the teaching reflection， when the reflection accumulated to a certain degree， the teachers will have themselves mature understanding and experiences. This new knowledge and experiences can effect on the later teaching practice. At the time， the level of teaching as the core professional ability has improved. So there is no doubt that teachers’professional development is a practical exploration.

Teaching reflection generally includes：

Firstly English teachers should do critical reflective thinking in their teaching practice.Secondly， English teachers should try every means to adopt diverse approaches to do reflective teaching in a systematic way. Thirdly， English teachers should try to do cooperative learning actively.Finally， English teachers should spend time accumulating teaching experience.

While experience is a crucial component of teacher professional development， it in itself may be insufficient as basis for professional growth. Hence， in order for experience to play a productive part in teachers’ professional development， it is necessary to accumulate teaching experience consciously and examine such experience systematically.

Ⅳ.Summary

In conclusion， teaching reflection helps teachers in teaching constantly update their teaching philosophy， and gradually improve their teaching methods and skills. However， teaching reflection is not accomplished at one stroke， also not put things right once and for all. Teaching is novel， each reading has new feeling. Some problems can not be resolved completely， when we carry on the discussion and analysis， and a new round of reflection again. Higher levels of reflection will advance our teaching practice and teacher professional development.

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