discovering expatriate reflective practitioners

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This article was downloaded by: [University of Stellenbosch] On: 29 August 2013, At: 14:03 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK Reflective Practice: International and Multidisciplinary Perspectives Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/crep20 Discovering expatriate reflective practitioners Ulas Kayapınar a a Royal Commission , Jubail , Saudi Arabia To cite this article: Ulas Kayapnar (2013) Discovering expatriate reflective practitioners, Reflective Practice: International and Multidisciplinary Perspectives, 14:4, 435-451, DOI: 10.1080/14623943.2013.806297 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14623943.2013.806297 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content. This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms- and-conditions

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Page 1: Discovering expatriate reflective practitioners

This article was downloaded by: [University of Stellenbosch]On: 29 August 2013, At: 14:03Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registeredoffice: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

Reflective Practice: International andMultidisciplinary PerspectivesPublication details, including instructions for authors andsubscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/crep20

Discovering expatriate reflectivepractitionersUlas Kayapınar a

a Royal Commission , Jubail , Saudi Arabia

To cite this article: Ulas Kayapnar (2013) Discovering expatriate reflective practitioners,Reflective Practice: International and Multidisciplinary Perspectives, 14:4, 435-451, DOI:10.1080/14623943.2013.806297

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14623943.2013.806297

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the“Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis,our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as tothe accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinionsand views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors,and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Contentshould not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sourcesof information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims,proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever orhowsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arisingout of the use of the Content.

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Anysubstantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing,systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms &Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

Page 2: Discovering expatriate reflective practitioners

Discovering expatriate reflective practitioners

Ulas Kayapınar*

Royal Commission, Jubail, Saudi Arabia

(Received 25 May 2012; final version received 4 April 2013)

Ignoring the effect that expatriate teachers have on English language teachingaround the world is impossible. When there are many people leaving their coun-tries each year to teach abroad, it seems essential to see whether those teachersare reflection-oriented or not as they are working throughout the world, andreflection plays a major role in teaching and professional development. The pur-pose of this study is to measure expatriate teachers’ reflection and to reveal towhat extent they are reflective practitioners. The results indicate that most of theteachers who participated in the study could be called reflective practitionerswithin their own classroom setting and few of them are never reflection-oriented. They usually attribute the problem to others (students, colleagues, ormanagement) or they have a lack of concern most of the time.

Keywords: expatriate; teacher; reflection; reflective practice; teaching

Introduction

Dewey’s (1933) ‘fork road’ situation (Roberts, 1998) which needs ‘active,persistent, and careful consideration of any belief or supposed form of knowledge’leads the way to the importance of professional growth with a lifelong commitment(Calderhead, 1989; Dewey, 1933). The need for lifelong commitment andprofessional growth of any teacher primarily depends on the ‘teacher thinkingparadigm’ (Marland, 1998). Teachers’ contextualized interpretations of any givenmethodological framework are actually put to use in the classroom (Gabrielatos,2002). Edge (1997) claimed ‘one aspect of becoming a teacher is the growth of acommitment to continuing self-development’ (p. 27). Similarly, Schön (1987)brought reflection into focus as an understanding of what professionals do. He sta-ted that an individual finds themself in an uncertain or unique situation which isexperienced by surprise, puzzlement or confusion. Thinking about that confusion orpuzzlement often brings conscience to bear on the actions we undertake (Greene,1984). Those actions need an adequate specification, a constant remarking and eval-uation of concerns, an evolving conception of the point of acting, and a reciprocalrelation between the individual and the world (Wiggins, 1978).

In this respect, reflection plays a major role because the nature of practice issuch that improvement can only be fostered by the professional’s own understand-ing of self and of the nature of the practical (Calderhead, 1987). Gilpin (1999)described the reflective process as noticing and observing, describing and analyzing,

*Email: [email protected]

Reflective Practice, 2013Vol. 14, No. 4, 435–451, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14623943.2013.806297

� 2013 Taylor & Francis

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and evaluating. In this way, it is apparent that reflection can take place in the midst,during or after an action as an individual’s thoughts turn back to the situation. Forthis reason, reflection deserves respect by those individuals who educate or teachothers. Moreover, the essentials of becoming a reflective teacher can be summarizedfrom Dewey (1933) to Rodgers (2002) as follows:

(1) Being aware of the experience; interpreting the experience;(2) Naming the problems or the questions that arise out of the experience;

describing the experience;(3) Generating possible explanations for the problems or questions posed, ana-

lyzing the experience, ramifying the explanations into full-blown hypotheses;and

(4) Experimenting or testing the selected hypotheses intelligently. (Lee, 2005)

Reflection enables teachers to form a habit of continually learning from their ownexperiences by framing problems of practice in light of various perspectives,critiquing and reframing problems within broader perspectives, and taking actionthat is fostered by such reframing. In this sense, teachers may be encouraged to bereflective practitioners and they may adopt a reflective stance to practice as a meansof on-going professional development (Reis-Jorge, 2007). Teachers’ reflectiveabilities can then develop, and their awareness of the potential of engaging inproblem identification can be raised through noticing and questioning events ofeveryday practice (Kemmis & McTaggart, 1982). Highly structured forms ofresearch may be prompted, and the consequent demands of time and expertise maybe imposed on teachers (Allwright, 1992, 1995, 1997; Wallace, 1996).

Given the importance of reflection, its measurement can hold a power forschooling. It can also be an indicator of teachers’ commitment to teaching, prob-lem solving and professional growth because commitment is seen as a nestedphenomenon emerging from personal beliefs, self-images, role and identity (Day,Elliot, & Kington, 2005). There are several elaborately tailored studies on reflec-tion and reflective practice which could create change and lead to growth andcommitment in professional development. Although each study is held in a dif-ferent context with different data gathering and analysis instruments such asonline discussions, storytelling, written records and transcript analysis, the sourcebehaviour and processes in professional development and teaching context basi-cally emerge from similar problematic classroom contexts and teaching environ-ment in a global sense (Bulpitt & Martin, 2005; Chiu, 2006; Clarke, 2006;Conway, 2001; Dinkelman, 2000; Garcia, Sanchez, & Escudero, 2006; Lee,2005; Reiman, 1999; Ticha & Hospesova, 2006; Tillema, 2000; Whipp, 2003).While there have been a number of studies undertaken in a variety of differentcontexts that have investigated teachers’ ability to reflect, to date there is noresearch, especially using quantitative data, related to expatriate teachers. Itseems that employing a study on reflection for expatriate teachers is stronglyneeded because they might be the teachers who most need reflection throughouttheir professional lives since they are continuously evaluated. Various criteria ofprofessional development are used to examine an expatriate’s success periodicallyon particular assessment criteria such as teaching performance, institutional com-mitment, professional development, collegiality and personality characteristics,which are similar to the selection criteria of ‘international assignees’ by global

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organizations (Caligiuri, Tarique, & Jacobs, 2009). The criteria indicate that con-tinuous improvement is expected in the quality of instruction. This mostly pavesthe way for expatriate teachers to become reflective practitioners consciously orunconsciously because they have to form a habit of self-inquiry, continuouslearning and professional commitment to self-improvement from their experiencesby framing problems of practice in light of various perspectives, critiquing andreframing problems within broader perspectives, and taking action that is fosteredby such reframing.

Because reflection emerges from personal beliefs, self-images, role, noticing andquestioning, personality or personal characteristics of a teacher could be an imped-ing or developing factor for it. The identity or commitment of a teacher plays animportant role here. In a study administered to reveal the possible relationshipbetween reflection and responsibility, a significant correlation (0.233, p < 0.006)was found (Erkuş & Sünbül, 2007). This means reflection is closely correlated toresponsibility and this can be one of the problematic natures of reflection. Inanother study undertaken by Kayapinar and Erkus (2009), the relationship betweenreflection and internal-external locus of control was examined. The results of thestudy showed that reflection scores of the teachers who had internal locus of controlwere higher than the reflection scores of the teachers who had external locus ofcontrol (r = �0.448).

In this sense, teachers may be encouraged to be reflective practitioners and theymay adopt a reflective stance to practice as a means of on-going professional devel-opment (Reis-Jorge, 2007). Teachers’ reflective abilities can then develop, and theirawareness of the potential of engaging in problem identification can be raisedthrough noticing and questioning events of everyday practice (Kemmis &McTaggart, 1982). Highly structured forms of research may be prompted, and theconsequent demands of time and expertise may be imposed on teachers (Allwright1992, 1995, 1997; Wallace, 1996).

Therefore, the purpose of this study is to measure expatriate teacher reflection inschool and classroom settings and to clarify expatriate teachers’ thoughts andfeelings on reflection by using quantitative and qualitative data considering whetheror not they are reflective practitioners. The study also tries to find out whetherteachers attribute the problems or confusions in the professional environment toexternal causes or whether they have a lack of concern for those problems occurringin teaching and learning environment.

Method

Participants

A study group of 137 expatriate teachers, including instructors, lecturers and seniorlecturers, was randomly selected and employed. Their range of experience was 2–34 years. They all taught English – from beginner to upper-intermediate level – inpreparatory classes in four different colleges. While most of the participants werenative speakers of English (82%), from the USA, England, Canada, Australia, NewZealand, Ireland and South Africa, others were from countries such as Germany,Greece, Turkey, India, Pakistan, Jordan, Sudan and the Philippines. Among the par-ticipants, seven were randomly selected by an open sampling technique (Strauss &Corbin, 1998).

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Research instruments

Teacher Reflection Scale (TRS)

The scale is a standardized one developed by Kayapinar and Erkus (2009) in orderto measure teacher reflection and includes 22 items. It covers two settings of prob-lematic scenarios which are reflections for classroom settings (RCS) and reflectionfor colleagues and management settings (RCMS). The correlation coefficientsbetween total subscale scores and total scale scores (0.953 for RCS and 0.838 forRCMS) prove that the scale can be used as a whole and/or as independent parts fordifferent settings (RCS and RCMS).

Standardized open-ended interviews

Teachers’ views on reflection and reflective practice were taken by using standard-ized open-ended interviews (Patton, 2002) with seven of the volunteers chosen onthe basis of convenience by an open sampling technique (Strauss & Corbin, 1998)in order to explore reflection in greater depth. The interview questions were devel-oped through careful deliberation to ensure that nothing essential was missed, andthey were examined and tested in practice by two experts of measurement and eval-uation. Participants were asked questions in the same way and the same order,which was determined in advance (Patton, 2002) in order to provide the samestimuli for the interviewees. The interview questions were as follows:

(1) Who is a reflective teacher?(2) Give an example of a solution you made for a difficulty/problem/confusion,

considering the students?(3) Give an example of a solution you made for a difficulty/problem/confusion,

considering the colleagues?(4) Give an example of a solution you made for a difficulty/problem/confusion,

considering the management?

The participants were asked to give an example of a solution they found for adifficulty/problem/confusion in order to discover practical evidence of reflection in theprocess, such as interpreting the experience, naming the problems or the questionsthat arose from the experience, generating possible explanations for the problems orquestions posed, analyzing the experience, and taking action or experimenting.

The interview transcripts were analyzed line by line and memos were written(Glesne, 1999; Strauss & Corbin, 1998). The strategy of probing was used to getthe respondents to achieve depth in terms of penetration, exploration and explana-tion (Lichtman, 2006; Patton, 2002; Ritchie & Lewis, 2003). For example, furtherquestions such as ‘Can you tell me some more about that?’, ‘What do you meanby …?’, and ‘Can you explain more fully?’ were used. Categories or labels werereviewed and recurring themes, core consistencies and meanings were identified byusing pattern codes (Miles & Huberman, 1994; Patton, 2002).

Data analysis

In order to analyze quantitative data and obtain descriptive statistics for the itemresults, SPSS 16.0 was employed. To investigate the correlation between RCS andRCMS scores, Pearson Product Moments Correlation Analysis was used. The

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relationship between scores of reflection and scores of attribution of the problem toexternal causes, and the relationship between scores of reflection and the scores ofa lack of concern for the problem were also computed by using Pearson ProductMoments Correlation Analysis. An independent sample t-test was used to examinethe difference between the total scores of reflective teachers and non-reflectiveteachers.

The first step in analyzing the qualitative data was to organize the data in orderto describe the assessment processes because distinguishing those processes the rat-ers experienced is the key to illuminating the change in each assessment. In orderto do this, the interview transcripts were analyzed line by line and some memoswere written (Glesne, 1999; Strauss & Corbin, 1998) for a manageable classifica-tion. After categories were reviewed, recurring themes, core consistencies andmeanings were identified by using pattern codes. Those codes were then identifiedas smaller sets, themes or constructs with content analysis (Miles & Hubermas,1994; Patton, 2002). The process was as follows:

(a) underlying key terms in the responses;(b) restating key phrases;(c) coding key terms;(d) pattern coding;(e) constructing themes;(f) summarizing themes; and(g) integrating theories in an explanatory framework

Results

Expatriate teachers as reflective practitioners

The analysis of the scale results considered the teachers who were reflection-oriented in a classroom setting and in both colleagues and management settings. Asshown in Table 1, among the teachers who participated in the study, 86.33% usedreflection in all settings. Within this percentage, most of the teachers reported thatthey used reflection for their own teaching (87.18%) and for management issues(84.62%). However, almost half of them reported that they did not use it for issueswith colleagues (48.72%).

In Table 1, the highest percentage was in reflections for classroom settings, fol-lowed by management settings. The lowest was for colleague settings. The correla-tions in Table 2 give further information about the relationship between RCS andRCMS.

Table 1. Teacher reflection in RCS and RCMS.

%

Reflection 86.33Reflection (Classroom setting) 87.18Reflection (Management setting) 84.62Reflection (Colleague setting) 48.72

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As shown in Table 2, although the percentage for the colleague settings was thelowest, the correlation between reflection scores for the classroom setting and thecolleague settings is significant. The relationship between reflection for the class-room settings and management settings is shown in Table 3.

The results in Table 3 indicate that the teachers who used reflection for theclassroom settings also used it for the management settings. There is a more of arelationship between reflection for the classroom settings and management settingsthan the relationship between reflection for the classroom settings and colleague set-tings.

In Table 4, it can be seen that a teacher mentioned that they used reflection formanagement settings if they used it for colleague settings in a sense because thecorrelation between reflection scores for colleague settings and reflection scores formanagement settings is significant.

Non-reflective teachers’ behaviour

The results in Table 5 show that 13.67% of the teachers who participated in thestudy mentioned that they did not use reflection at all, not only in RCS but also in

Table 2. The relationship between reflection scores for classroom and colleague settings.

Reflection classroomsetting

Reflection colleaguesetting

Reflection (Classroom setting) 1 0.567⁄⁄N 117 117Reflection (Colleague setting) 0.567⁄⁄ 1N 117 117

Note: ⁄⁄Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level.

Table 3. The relationship between reflection scores for classroom and management settings.

Reflection classroomsetting

Reflection managementsetting

Reflection (Classroom setting) 1 0.656⁄⁄N 117 117Reflection (Management setting) 0.656⁄⁄ 1N 117 117

Note: ⁄⁄Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level.

Table 4. The relationship between reflection scores for colleague and management settings.

Reflection colleaguesetting

Reflection managementsetting

Reflection (Colleague setting) 1 0.559⁄⁄N 117 117Reflection (Management setting) 0.559⁄⁄ 1N 117 117

Note: ⁄⁄Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level.

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RCMS. Within this percentage, 12.82% reported that they did not use reflection forclassroom settings, 15.8% stated they did not use reflection for management set-tings, while the highest percentage (51.28%) stated that they did not use reflectionfor colleague settings.

The analyses of the responses to the scale items indicate that these teachersbelong to two different groups. One group attributed the problem to external causesand the other had a lack of concern for the problem. Table 6 shows the percentagesof non-reflective teachers, considering the group attributing the problem to externalcauses and the group with a lack of concern for the problem. As can be seen, ahigher number attributed the problem to external causes rather than just a lack ofconcern.

As shown in Table 7, the results indicate that there is a negative correlationbetween reflection and non-reflection by attributing the problem to an externalcause.

The results in Table 8 indicate that there is a negative correlation between reflec-tion and non-reflection in having a lack of concern for the problem. For a betterunderstanding, the correlation of non-reflection scores between external causes andlack of concern can be seen in Table 9. As shown, the correlation between non-reflection scores of attribution to external causes and non-reflection scores of a lackof concern for the problem is significant.

The difference between reflective and non-reflective teachers

As evidence of the difference between reflection and non-reflection, a correlationcoefficient between the total scores of the teachers who used reflection and the totalscores of the teachers who did not use reflection in their practice was computed byusing an independent sample t-test, the results of which are shown in Table 10.

Table 10 indicates a significant and meaningful difference (t = 20.045, p =0.001) in favour of the practice of teachers who have reflection-oriented teachingand can be called reflective practitioners.

Table 6. Tendency of non-reflective teachers.

%

Non-reflection 13.67Non-reflection (External cause) 69.23Non-reflection (Lack of concern) 30.77

Table 5. Teacher non-reflection in RCS and RCMS.

%

Non-reflection 13.67Non-reflection (Classroom setting) 12.82Non-reflection (Management setting) 15.38Non-reflection (Colleague setting) 51.28

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Expatriate teachers’ views on reflective practice

In order to find out answers to the interview questions, standardized open-endedinterviewing was used for the instrumentation. The interview transcripts were ana-lyzed line by line and memos were written (Glesne, 1999; Strauss & Corbin, 1998).Recurring themes, core consistencies and meanings were identified by using patterncodes after the categories or labels were reviewed (Miles & Huberman, 1994; Pat-ton, 2002). The following themes were found:

• Commitment to self-development• Construction of analytic strategies• Feedback

Table 7. The relationship between reflection total scores and non-reflection (external cause)scores.

Reflection External cause

Reflection 1 �0.893⁄⁄N 117 117Non-reflection (External cause) �0.893⁄⁄ 1N 117 117

Note: ⁄⁄Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level.

Table 8. The relationship between reflection total scores and non-reflection (lack ofconcern) scores.

Reflection Lack of concern

Reflection 1 �0.815⁄⁄N 117 117Non-reflection (External cause) �0.815⁄⁄ 1N 117 117

Note: ⁄⁄Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level.

Table 9. The relationship between scores of external cause and lack of concern.

External cause Lack of concern

Non-reflection (External cause) 1 0.467⁄⁄N 117 117Non-reflection (Lack of concern) 0.467⁄⁄ 1N 117 117

Note: ⁄⁄Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level.

Table 10. The difference between scores of reflection and non-reflection oriented teaching.

F Sig. t df Sig. (2-tailed) Mean difference Std. error difference

11.255 0.001 20.045 232 0.000 12.1034 0.60382

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Discussion

Scale results

The results in Table 1 might mean that teachers feel more responsible for their ownteaching environment and students. Reflection within the management setting fol-lows this. The teachers here questioned themselves more for management settingthan they did for colleague setting. It seems that the majority of teachers stated thatthey used reflection in most cases, although some of them did not use it all in theirpractice. This might mean that some teachers are not aware of their experience,which is the first step of reflection, or they cannot interpret the experience and theythink they do not need to question anything or to develop, which should not benegligible for any educational system.

The results in Table 2 indicate that the teachers who used reflection for theclassroom setting also used it for the colleague settings. In addition, the results sup-port the idea that teachers usually report that they do not reflect on a problematicsituation in a colleague setting. They usually ignore their colleagues or try toquestion them in order to generate possible explanations for the problems or thequestions posed instead of questioning themselves for any reason. The cause forthis might be the implication that some teachers believe they will be seen asunqualified or inadequate among others in such a competitive environment in whichteachers are evaluated periodically and there might be no job guarantee for thefollowing year.

In fact, it seems that teachers feel more responsible to management for theirteaching than they feel to colleagues and they are aware of the experience they haveat the management level, as shown in Table 3. There is a self-questioning and eval-uation process employed in this respect because management for expatriates meansmore in the sense that they are evaluated by the management periodically and theydo not have a clear idea if they will be hired for another year. The pressure felt byteachers is becoming increasingly important because the environment is gettingmore and more competitive. In such an environment, teachers should reflect on theirpractice, they should feel responsibility to management, and should produce soundsolutions for the problems or questions posed. Moreover, if a teacher is reflectivewithin a classroom setting, they will also be relatively reflective for the managementsettings.

Table 4 implies that a reflective teacher usually reflects on classroom settings,management settings and colleague settings. This might refer to the idea that reflec-tion has a relationship with personal characteristics. Most teachers in this studyreported that they did not reflect on their relationships with colleagues, they ignoredor they blamed others, as they did with the management. However, if they werereflective, they did so with colleagues and management in the same way as in theirown teaching practice, which might be an indicator of some personal characteristics,learning ability to reflect and develop.

The results seen in Table 5 might indicate that more than half of the teacherswho mentioned that they did not use reflection at all were mostly not interested inwhat their colleagues thought about their performance and they did not feel anyresponsibility to them. It also appeared that these teachers usually did not reflect onany problematic area at the management level as well. Those who ignored problemswere usually the experienced teachers who had been working in the same institutionfor many years. This made them more stable, confident and more comfortable with

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their practice among their colleagues and those at the management level. Itappeared to be difficult for those teachers to feel any need to describe or interpret aproblem and generate possible solutions or explanations analyzing the experience,and to reflect especially on colleagues and management settings.

In Table 6, the tendency to attribute a problem to external causes seemed to bethe main cause of non-reflection. Here, the individual seemed to be aware of theexperience and described it by questioning others so that there was no need to gen-erate possible solutions or explanations for the problems or questions posed. Thismight support the idea that reflection emerges from personal characteristics of a tea-cher as an individual. In addition, lack of concern can be seen as another factor fornon-reflection. So, it could be said that if teachers are not reflective they attributethe problem to an external cause and do not feel any need to analyze the experienceand question themselves, or just ignore what has happened in the professionalenvironment.

The results in Table 7 might mean that there is a meaningful negative relationshipbetween the two, and as teachers do not use reflection at all, they have a tendency toattribute the problem to external causes. To discover an external cause or to pass theresponsibility to another person or something else in any problematic situation orconfusion seems to be the first reaction of any teacher who does not reflect at all. Inthe same vein, if teachers usually discover an external cause for any problematic sit-uation or confusion in the professional environment, it is not surprising that they arenot usually reflective and cannot be called reflective practitioners.

There is a meaningful negative relationship between the two in Table 8 and theyhave a tendency to ignore the problem. In another way, if teachers just ignore whatis going on or what has happened in the professional environment, this might meanthat they are usually neither aware of the experience or they do not look at the spe-cific problems or questions that arise out of the experience, and they do not reflecton their teaching practice, colleagues, or management settings.

The results in Table 9 might indicate that teachers who do not reflect and whoattribute the problem to external causes might have a tendency to have a lack ofconcern. Teachers who do not reflect and show a lack of concern have a tendencyto attribute the problem to external causes in the meantime. Basically, blaming oth-ers or ignoring any problem seem to be indicators of non-reflection. The teacherswho are not reflective practitioners are usually those who blame others and/orignore the problems or confusions in the professional environment. Taking noticewould generate possible explanations for the problems or questions posed, so ana-lyzing the experience and ramifying the explanations into full-blown hypotheses.

The results in Table 10 might mean there is a meaningful difference betweenreflective teachers who have developed a sense that reflective teaching is a part oftheir practice, and non-reflective teachers who are not interested in encouragingreflection in different settings, such as teaching, with colleagues or management,and can be identified by any observation of their practice. As mentioned above,blaming others or ignoring any problem seem to be the indicators of non-reflection.These teachers usually behave in a similar manner within their teaching practiceand it can be obviously seen when they are asked to reflect on it after any regularobservation session. They are usually not aware of their experience or they do notspecity the problems or the questions that arise out of the experience. They ignorethe problematic situation or confusion in the classroom and behave as if it does notexist, and they do not reflect on it by analyzing the experience, generating possible

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explanations or solutions for problems or questions that arise out of the experience,or they usually blame the students or any other element in the environment otherthan themselves or their practice.

Interview results

The interviews focused on four central issues: ‘Who is a reflective teacher?’, withexamples of solutions teachers made for a difficulty/problem/confusion consideringtheir students, their colleagues and the management. The major purpose of the anal-ysis was to organize participants’ responses in such a way that their reflective ornon-reflective practices became clear.

It is apparent from the participants’ responses to the interview question ‘Who isa reflective teacher?’ that the most prominent characteristic of a reflective teacher iscommitment to self-development. The extent and nature of this commitment thatthey mentioned is clear evidence of reflective practice which might be seen as avaluable aspect of teaching, as supported in most of the transcripts. Some commentsfrom the respondents follow:

A reflective teacher demonstrates commitment to self-development in some ways suchas continuous education, professional readings, and exposure to seminars so that theydo not zigzag in different directions.

The interview indicated that this teacher thinks that commitment to self-develop-ment is an indicator of reflective practice. If a teacher believes in continuouseducation and continuously educates themself, then it can be said that they are areflective practitioner. Professional readings are also another indicator of commit-ment to self-development. A reflective teacher usually deals with professionalreadings such as theoretical and practical support to develop their practice becausea reflective teacher is aware of the experience, and they can interpret that experi-ence in order to name the problems or the questions that arise out of that experienceand generate solutions. Academic seminars are also helpful for generating possibleexplanations for the problems or questions posed, therefore analyzing the experi-ence or ramifying the explanations into full-blown hypotheses which are needed forcontinuous self-development and reflective practice as they provide theoretical andpractical input, so teachers do not get confused and do not draw unreliable conclu-sions in different situations.

Teaching is a lifelong commitment to form people who can be the best of themselvesafter leaving the four corners of the four-walled room and it is important for a teacherto develop thereby staying abreast with changes.

Another element of reflection that this teacher states about teaching is forming peo-ple. It is a lifelong commitment to be prepared for any confusion or problem andbe ready for possible changes in the most unexpected ways. In such an environ-ment, it is important that a teacher should describe and analyze the experience, andbe reflective with a continuous commitment to change and development by produc-ing possible solutions for the problems or the questions that appear.

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A reflective practitioner knows if his students are learning and teaching cannot beviewed from a single framework. An uncommitted teacher is someone whom you can-not trust to give his best.

This quote is another perspective, that reflective practitioners know who theirstudents are and they can describe the experience or learning they have with theirstudents. They should evaluate students’ learning, generate possible explanations forthe problems or questions that have occurred, and develop themselves in differentways to do their best for learning because teaching cannot be seen from a singlepoint of view. It must make use of different ways to do the best for students tolearn. This is done by a committed reflective practitioner who generates possibleexplanations for the problems or questions that arise out of the experience. Anuncommitted teacher is never reflective and nobody can trust their practice andwork because they do not give their best for students’ learning.

From what the respondents stated here, it seems that reflective teachers shouldbe committed to continuous learning, professional development, and take responsi-bility for their own learning and development through a process of professionalreadings and seminars in order to find solutions or ways to deal with the problemsor questions that arise out of experience in the teaching and learning environment.This will help them to construct personal theories so they know how to react in dif-ferent situations and how not to move in a random manner. The respondents alsoemphasized the importance of commitment and development in the teaching processby updating themselves in their profession and believed that this commitmentshould be lifelong, therefore making the best of themselves by the end of the teach-ing and learning process. As Edge (1997) stated that one aspect of becoming a tea-cher is the growth of a commitment to continuing self-development, Schön (1987)similarly brought reflection into focus as an understanding of what professionals doby saying an individual’s thinking serves to reshape what they are doing.

The responses to the question that asked for an example of a difficulty in theclassroom environment revealed that teachers should have some conceptual toolsand strategies to be used in the classroom. These strategies differ from authoritarianto reflective, as seen in the following quotes:

I try to engage them in interactive activities and discussions about real life languagesituations that bear a personal connection. Because I don’t want to lose their interest, Itry to maintain their interest and attention.

By using these strategies, it is clear that this teacher was trying to be reflectivebecause he named the problem from the experience with the students, described it,analyzed it, and experimented this hypothesis by trying not to lose the learners’interest and to maintain their interest and attention. This might mean that if he losttheir interest he would also try to find other new ways to cope with the problem.

You have to establish your authority in order to have a conducive teaching environ-ment. The students must see that you can direct the learning activities and you alsohave to be consistent with your rules not to encounter any problem, impose any disci-plinary measures, and to make them quiet.

In this quote the teacher seems to be authoritarian and self-centered as heovertly says that a teacher should establish his authority and direct the learning

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environment by being consistent with the rules set. In this way, no problems willbe encountered and there will be silence. It is difficult to expect this teacher tobe reflective because he does not appear to reflect on his practice in the class-room as he mentions that he makes the rules and directs the students’ learningactivities in a consistent way. This also gives the idea that he names the prob-lems by questioning the students and attributing any problem or confusion thatoccurs in the learning and teaching environment to the students as they need tobe quiet.

Teaching in multicultural environment can have its share of difficulties/problems. Theteacher has to set clear guidelines and encourage mutual questioning, respect and toler-ance. You should be sensitive.

In a sense, this teacher seems reflective because he admits that there are difficultiesand problems in a multicultural environment and the teacher should have clearguidelines. In order to have clear guidelines, the teacher should name the problem,describe it, and generate possible questions and explanations. With these guidelines,he should question himself and make the students question themselves, be respect-ful and tolerant. It might mean that teachers should be sensitive to any confusion orproblem in the learning and teaching environment.

I have to spend time if a student does not want to learn. As a teacher, you have tocheck out the root cause and find it out. It maybe you, maybe someone else or some-thing else.

Here the teacher seems to be reflective because he says a teacher should findout the cause of the difficulty, problem or confusion in the learning environ-ment. The cause should not always be because of someone else; it might bebecause of the teacher. For this reason, a teacher should spend time looking atany learning irregularities or motivational issues. Most of the teachers hereappear to be reflective as they are aware of the experience and name the prob-lems or the questions that arise in the teaching environment. They generatesome possible explanations and solutions by trying to apply some guidelines andconceptual tools or strategies to understand, question or assess these problematicsituations or confusions in order to experiment their hypothesis and find a solu-tion. In a situation which can be called difficult or problematic in the teachingenvironment, teachers usually say that they should have clear guidelines andstrategies to monitor the problem and find out the cause and the solution in aconsistent manner in order to maintain students’ motivation, interest and atten-tion. Teachers also have the idea, emerging from attributing the problem to oth-ers or a lack of concern, that they should have authority in such a way that thestudents should be well-behaved and silent. Then they do not need to take anydisciplinary actions.

The views of the teachers for the colleague settings are seen in the followingquotes:

I have to sincerely talk to my colleague if I have any problem.

I try to listen to my colleague and ignore the ideas which I do not agree.

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I respectfully tell him to end the problem.

I would listen to my colleague and I would agree what he says if it is important.

As can be seen, most of the respondents show a tendency for a lack of concern andto attribute problems to their colleagues. They seem to talk to their colleague or tellthem to end the problem before considering the cause of it because most probablythey think the problem is caused by their colleagues and they ignore the idea thatthey might be the cause of the problem. Only one of them said he would listen andagree with what was being said if it was important. This shows a degree of reflectionbecause there is awareness and analysis of the experience, but again only if it is seenas important by the teacher himself. It is also difficult to find a self-questioningprocess in this sense; it is more likely wanting to blame and question others. Theresponses have a similar tendency when the management is considered, but are notthe same.

I would give the management feedback and suggest solutions.

I would try to clarify the issue and let them know what I feel about the mistake.

I would tactfully inform them of errors, offer solutions, and hope they correct them.These are usually errors which are recoverable and they do not have direct conse-quences.

I respectfully bring the mistake to their attention.

I would try to have a talk with my immediate supervisor.

The respondents seem to have a tendency for discussion to find a solution whenthere is a problem or confusion with the management. Some want to describe andclarify the issue, and inform the management. Others would try to analyze the expe-rience, talk about the issue and suggest solutions to the problems. However,although they do not seem to have a lack of concern or ignore problems, none ofthem accept the idea that they could be the cause of the problem and include them-selves in it. Instead, they attribute the problem to the management, in another sense,they question and blame others.

Given the importance of reflection in different settings of the teaching environ-ment, the teachers here tend to apply their personal theories and strategies todescribe, evaluate and put forward possible solutions for the problems by using dif-ferent strategies if the problem occurs in their own classroom setting. However,they attribute the problem or confusion to others when it is about their colleaguesas the transcripts infer that they have a certain amount of ignorance or a lack ofconcern. Supporting the results of the quantitative data, with regard to the manage-ment, they do not ignore problems or have a lack of concern, but they have a ten-dency to attribute the problem to others or the management itself because most ofthe teachers do not want to be seen as the cause of any problem to those at themanagement level. However, it is clear that they are eager to solve the problem bygiving feedback, discussing the problem and clarifying the issues. In this respect,most of the teachers interviewed engaged in reflective practice regarding their own

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classroom setting, which agrees with the results of the quantitative data. However,teaching is a broad concept and the professional environment has many variables.Teachers might be affected by colleagues, management and extraneous factors, andtheir reactions or attitudes in various educational situations can lead them to reachdifferent conclusions or create new personal strategies or theories to protectthemselves.

Conclusion

Reflection can be developed via education and experience, especially by teachereducators who are aware of teacher roles, commitment and development. Measure-ment of reflection can be a powerful tool for education as teachers’ educationalpractices might be an expression of their beliefs and images (Ben-Peretz, 2001).Reflection can also be an indicator of teachers’ commitment to teaching, problemsolving and professional growth because commitment is seen as a nested phenom-ena emerging from personal beliefs, self-images, role and identity. As seen in thisstudy, expatriate teachers mostly have their own theories and strategies to generateexplanations for the problems they face in the classroom environment and to findsolutions to those problems. Most of them seem to have a tendency for reflection-oriented teaching and they can be called reflective practitioners in their own teach-ing environment. However, it cannot be said that they are reflection-oriented whenthere is a problem with their colleagues. They usually attribute the problem to oth-ers or they have a lack of concern. On the other hand, when there is a problematicsituation or confusion in the management setting, they usually try to give or getfeedback about the problem. This might mean that they are likely to be reflection-oriented when there is a problem which can directly affect their teaching or workingenvironment. However, they do not usually consider it to be a crucial issue whenthere is a problem with their colleagues in the professional environment.

In addition to the fact that the data obtained from the current study arevaluable, there are some limitations which could be considered in future studiesusing the scale used in this study in order to make comparisons. First, observationsessions could be realized to support or compare the findings and the resultsbecause observation is the only way to have concrete evidence about the teacher’spractice and to observe what is happening in the classroom. Observations couldbe done by the researcher or by using video cameras which could help obtainmore accurate results. This would help teachers feel more confident because noone else would be physically in the classroom observing them. Second, therecould be further comparisons between genders. In most countries, females preferteaching jobs more than males. Some schools/colleges prefer to hire femalesrather than male teachers in order not to show discrimination. Reflection could beanother indicator for them to have valid measures and see how reflective theyare. Finally, the study could be carried out with a larger population or sample inorder to obtain more reliable and valid results, especially by using both quantita-tive and qualitative data.

Note on contributor

Ulas Kayapınar is currently head/academic coordinator of McGill University-RCJYSpecial (ELT) Projects in KSA. He holds a PhD in English Language Teaching

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from Mersin University, Mersin, Turkey. His research interests include teacherdevelopment and language testing (measurement and evaluation).

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