Exploring MATESOL student ‘resistance’ to reflection

Abstract

Many teacher training programs, including MATESOL programs, encourage their trainees to be reflective practitioners. The MATESOL program at The American University of Sharjah (AUS) is no exception and offers the students many opportunities for reflection. This article discusses my experience with a recent cohort’s reaction to being asked to reflect on their own teaching and learning in the final course of the program ‘ELT 619: Practicum in TESOL’. Unlike other cohorts, several students in the class were showing what seemed on the surface to me as resistance to keeping a reflective journal and to examining their beliefs about teaching in learning in their lesson plans. Rather than deduct grades and otherwise force students into reflecting as per the course objective and assignments, I decided to conduct an Exploratory Practice investigation of this situation and search for a greater understanding of the students’ reactions and apparent resistance to the reflective assignments I gave them.

El diario del estudiante de enfermería en la práctica clínica frente a los diarios realizados en otras disciplinas. Una revisión integradora

“…• Reflexión sobre los propios valores, pensamientos, creencias y actitudes, ya sea en el aula o en la práctica clínica en el caso de enfermería (25,39,(43)(44)(45).…”

“…Otra preocupación general es la referida a la confidencialidad de lo escrito en el diario (29,43,56,57) y que podría condicionar su contenido, aspecto que se agrava cuando lo escrito es público, como es el caso de blogs compartidos para este fin (43,57).…”

“…• No querer que lo expuesto en el diario revele un mal trabajo y que influya en su nota (29,36,43,58). Para evitar esto, hay autores que pactan con el estudiante no leer sus entradas del diario hasta que se tenga la calificación final de la asignatura (32).…”

Structured Reflective Communication as a Meta-Genre in Teacher Education: Creative Uses of Critique in a Teacher Education Program

“…Gunn (2010, 217) believes repeated reflection is a necessary step in lesson planning. Gunn (2010) argues that to become able to engage in "framing and reframing" (p. 218), students need more practice, because many do not "completely understand what reflection is" or "see the benefits of it" (p. 221). We argue that structured reflective communication provides a means for beginning teachers to engage in the practice of framing and reframing their practice and decision-making through acts of communicating (writing).…”

“…Writing critiques of lesson plans may help beginning teachers' ways of thinking about lessons, but in and of itself, writing a critique does not help with Gunn's (2010) view that students need to frame and reframe their ideas. Enabling students to take up Beyer and Davis' (2009) belief that when critiquing lesson plans, we need to both critique and adapt entails that we elaborate a way of thinking and acting that connects the reflections in the academic institution to the teachers' domains of professional action outside their learning institution.…”