The purpose of this action research study was to investigate undergraduate preservice student-teachers' interpretations of written reflections and how these written reflections impacted their thoughts about teaching practices. A second question was to investigate how preservice teachers talked about their processes of reflection beyond the…

Advocating dialogue between language teachers and learners has been an area of growing exploration, particularly in the area of reflective practice in second language teacher education. In this brief report, the authors detail the conceptualization and procedures of two online exchange projects conducted in 2008 and 2009, in which they tried to…

This paper explores the practice of teaching philosophy, and particularly philosophy of education, in a higher education context. Starting from a critical discussion of some of the literature on teaching and learning in higher education, I introduce the notions of philosophical style and temperament and suggest that exploring these notions, the…

Where courses have as an aim the promotion of reflective practice, it will enhance the achievement of the goal if the level of reflective thinking is assessed. To do this in a satisfactory way requires a reliable protocol for assessing the level of reflection in written work. This article presents a protocol that can be used to guide the…

Uses a personal perspective to reflect on the varieties of challenges and satisfactions in teaching social work in several different countries; discusses the role of the teacher and the danger of obsessive adherence to any specific "models" of teaching. Makes a case for the teacher's presentation of self rather than reliance of technological…

This paper examines tutor and peer post-teaching practice feedback in the context of short intensive TESOL certificate courses. Outcomes of recent research into such courses suggested that feedback was a contentious and problematic component. The outcomes were considered in the context of the syllabus, and in the light of recent research into…

Drawing on discussions within Composition and Rhetoric, this article examines information literacy pedagogy. It considers how academic librarians can work toward theorizing our profession in such a way that we may ask new questions of it and foster creative, reflective, and critical habits of mind regarding pedagogical praxis.

It is essential that teachers take a proactive look at their profession and themselves to strengthen areas of professionalism over which they have control. In this article, the author suggests strategies that include collaborative planning, reflectivity, growth in the profession, and the examination of certain personal characteristics.

The aim of this article is to respond to Kevin O'Grady's critique (in "BJRE", 27, 2005, pp. 227-37) of my interpretation and assessment of Ninian Smart's contribution to religious education. I begin by dealing with a range of issues that lend themselves to fairly summary discussion and then address two further aspects of his critique in more…

In this study, researchers qualitatively analyzed middle school teacher participant perceptions of qualities of teacher effectiveness across 3 years (2006-2009) through 66 focus group sessions by comparing the participants' identified qualities to Stronge's (2007) Teacher Skills Assessment Checklist. Surprisingly, a disproportionate number (42.6%)…

Results from research about language learners can be strengthened by including the learners themselves in the data analysis, and inviting them to check researcher interpretations to confirm the validity of the data, to search for alternative interpretations, and to delve deeper into their beliefs. Using critical participatory looping (CPL), the…

This article explores the case of a Vietnamese teacher whose conception of teaching changed greatly following a short but intensive series of lessons based on the Japanese experiences with atomic bombs. The following three issues are considered: 1) what types of efforts teachers should make to increase the depth of their lessons, on the basis of…

Background: This paper critically reviews the concept of "professional responsibility" in physical education. The paper is rooted in the belief that the physical education profession has, by virtue of its expertise in young people and physical activity, the potential to deliver a broad range of desirable educational and health-related…

This paper examines the reflective practices of integrating informational technology into English curriculum of an EFL (English as a foreign language) teacher in Taiwan over a decade. The teaching experiences have been reconstructed and represented through first person narrative inquiry, highlighting the conflicts the teacher encountered, the…

The purpose of this study was to examine to what extent a teacher education program prepares teacher candidates to be effective urban educators who are reflective, innovative, and committed to diversity based on the perceptions and insight from students. As the nation grapples with an extreme range of outputs from our public schools, an…