In both Australia and Malaysia where there is strong central oversight of education, reflective thinking is promoted as integral to an effective pedagogy that leads to good quality learner outcomes. Besides providing tools and resources for teachers and pre-service teachers to use, increasing the systemic procedures for teacher advancement and…

In 1998 I had been teaching science for 13 years. I was a good teacher: I had the plaques and certificates to prove it. But often I felt like an impostor (which I have since learned is not unusual--70% of all people feel like a fake at one time or another). While my students could solve problems and ace tests, every June when I sat down to look at…

This book has been structured to build a framework to guide the practitioner and to encourage their creation of tools that can be effective in guiding practice. It has been written and organized to prepare critically reflective teachers to take their place in society and to do that with the knowledge, personal framework and tools to be successful.…

This study investigated the changing feedback practices of teachers in an elite university in China. Drawing on teacher cognition theory and recent research developments in effective feedback practices, fourteen teachers were invited to reflect and explain their feedback practices in semi-structured interviews. Which identified three trends: their…

Preservice teachers (PSTs) must be able to link content, effective teaching practices, and student learning; thus, it is critical for teacher educators to emphasize connections between research and practice in methods courses. Reflection plays an important role in this process. In this article, the authors discuss and illustrate a vignette…

This qualitative research reports findings on whether students' reflective writings during the course of one semester produced qualitative differences in several courses offered online and on-ground at two different universities. Eighty-six students from two universities responded to Brookfield's (1995, 1998) critical incident questionnaire.…

Recently a dichotomy has developed in the field of TESOL between native English speaker teachers (NESTs) and non-native English speaker teachers (NNESTs) with some in each camp promoting one over the other, but this only separates rather than unifies our profession. In this article I suggest that it is not in anybody's interests to continue with…

Is distance learning transformational? The author heard this question posed to a panel of faculty members during Distance Education Week activities. After reflecting upon her own students' reaction to her syllabus, her answer to the question changed from an initial, enthusiastic "yes" to a reflective "maybe," given the most favorable environment.…

During my English Language Arts methods class, I noticed that my discussion patterns were teacher-focused and in an Initiation-Response-Evaluation format. Because I wanted to model dialogic methods of whole-class discussions for my preservice teachers, I recoiled from this finding and began a self-study using an action research method to examine…

When school systems and administrations provide educators with opportunities to engage in transformative learning through reflective practice and provide opportunities to challenge their beliefs, educator pedagogy for inclusive education can be enhanced (Evans, 1997; Pyha¨lto¨ et al., 2012; Richardson, 1998). Our research examined the experiences…

Since the author began work in reflective practice, at first informally in the late 1970s and then more formally in the mid-1980s, he has always looked at reflective practice as a compass of sorts to guide teachers when they may be seeking direction as to what they are doing in their classrooms. The metaphor of reflection as a compass enables…

This is a conceptual review of the literature variously referred to as faculty development, educational development, instructional development, and academic development in higher education. Previous empirical reviews covering more than 30 years of published literature could draw only tentative and weak conclusions about the effectiveness of…

Russell Tufts University This study examines the potential of designing and teaching online courses to prompt university faculty members to reflect on the essence of good teaching, and as a result reconsider their beliefs concerning effective pedagogy. A phenomenological investigation was conducted based on interviews with six long-time university…

When teachers are overly focused on the teaching of grammar instead of the teaching of writing, students' quality of work suffers. Teachers should provide examples of writer's craft and author's voice to help students learn how to write their own stories.

United Arab Emirates (UAE) is currently undergoing massive educational reform, especially in the teaching and assessment methods of all subject-matter areas. In Abu Dhabi, the capital of UAE, the Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC) has mandated the revamping of English language teaching and assessment in grades 6-12 through the introduction of…