13.3 Reflective Teaching, Action Research & Continuing Professional Development
Key Takeaways
Donald Schön's framework distinguishes between reflection-in-action (in-flight instructional adjustments made during live teaching) and reflection-on-action (retrospective post-lesson analysis).
Stephen Brookfield's Four Critical Lenses deepen pedagogical critique by analyzing classroom events through personal autobiography, learner eyes, peer perspectives, and theoretical SLA scholarship.
Teacher action research operates through Kemmis and McTaggart's participatory spiral (Plan, Act, Observe, Reflect) to systematically solve localized classroom problems using empirical data.
Ethical ELT practice rejects deficit perspectives in favor of asset-based approaches, honors learner autonomy and translanguaging repertoires, and actively advocates for English language learners.
Continuing Professional Development (CPD) sustains career-long vitality through professional association networks (TESOL, IATEFL), conference participation, collaborative study groups, and evolving professional portfolios.
13.3 Reflective Teaching, Action Research & Continuing Professional Development
Note
Professional excellence in TESOL is an ongoing process of reflective inquiry and ethical commitment rather than a static credential. Sustaining instructional vitality requires educators to question habitual practices through systematic reflection, classroom action research, and active professional engagement.
Donald Schön's Reflective Practice: Artistry in Action
In The Reflective Practitioner (1983), Donald Schön critiqued technical rationality—the view that teaching consists of mechanically applying pre-packaged formulas to unpredictable classroom problems. Effective educators operate as reflective practitioners across two temporal modes:
- Reflection-in-Action ('Thinking on Your Feet'): Occurs synchronously during live teaching. When students struggle with a task or unexpected errors arise, the teacher notices the breakdown, reframes the problem dynamically, and executes an immediate instructional adjustment (e.g., pivoting to board modeling or supplying visual scaffolds) without interrupting lesson flow.
- Reflection-on-Action (Retrospective Analysis): Occurs after the lesson concludes. The teacher systematically evaluates pedagogical decisions, student artifacts, and timing data to determine why specific stages succeeded or stalled.
- Reflection-for-Action (Anticipatory Planning): Later writers (for example, Killion and Todnem, 1991, and Farrell, 2015) added forward-looking reflection, where retrospective insights are actively channeled into subsequent lesson designs.
Donald Schön's Reflective Practice Model Comparative Matrix
| Dimension | Reflection-in-Action | Reflection-on-Action | Reflection-for-Action |
|---|---|---|---|
| Temporal Focus | During live teaching (in-flight) | After the lesson concludes (retrospective) | Before upcoming lessons (anticipatory) |
| Cognitive Process | Rapid reframing of immediate classroom events | Systematic analysis of decisions and learner outcomes | Strategic application of reflective insights to future teaching |
| Typical Triggers | Student confusion, unexpected errors, time shifts | Student artifacts, timing logs, mentor feedback | Upcoming lesson objectives, diagnosed learner needs |
| Operational Tools | On-the-spot pedagogical adjustments | Journaling, dialogic debriefs, critical incident logs | Differentiated lesson plans, targeted scaffolding tasks |
| Pedagogical Value | Responsive classroom agility and management | Deepened self-awareness and pedagogical reasoning | Iterative curricular refinement and sustained professional growth |
Critical Reflection Tools and Stephen Brookfield's Four Lenses
Unstructured self-reflection can easily become an uncritical echo chamber where teachers justify habitual routines. In Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher (1995), Stephen Brookfield warned against unexamined hegemonic assumptions—commonplace pedagogical dogmas (such as "A quiet classroom is a learning classroom" or "Native-like pronunciation is the primary measure of fluency") that seem natural but may hinder student development. Brookfield proposed evaluating practice through Four Critical Lenses:
- The Autobiographical Lens (Self as Learner and Teacher): Interrogating our own language-learning histories to uncover unconscious biases regarding how students "ought" to learn.
- The Students' Eyes (Learner Perspectives): Examining classroom dynamics through learner eyes using anonymous exit slips, surveys, and learning logs to discover how students experience pacing, directions, and affective safety.
- The Colleagues' Perceptions (Peer Lens): Engaging with colleagues and "critical friends" through peer observation to identify habits and blind spots that instructors cannot see themselves.
- The Theoretical Literature (Theoretical Lens): Consulting SLA literature and applied linguistics research to name classroom phenomena, challenge dogma, and provide evidence-based alternatives to trial-and-error.
Teacher Action Research: Kemmis & McTaggart's Inquiry Spiral
Action research is a systematic classroom inquiry addressing localized instructional challenges to enhance practice (Burns, 2010). Stephen Kemmis and Robin McTaggart conceptualized action research as an iterative, participatory spiral:
- Plan: Identify a classroom puzzle and design an intervention (e.g., structured role cards and prep time).
- Act: Implement the intervention consistently over a set timeframe (e.g., three weeks).
- Observe: Collect qualitative and quantitative data (e.g., speaking tallies, audio recordings, surveys).
- Reflect: Analyze findings against baseline data to evaluate efficacy and note unintended outcomes.
- Re-Plan: Refine the intervention based on evidence and launch the next cycle.
Teacher Action Research Implementation Guide
| Cycle Phase | Core Methodological Actions | Practical Data Collection Tools | Potential Pitfalls & Mitigation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Identify & Plan | Formulate a focused classroom question; design an instructional intervention | Baseline diagnostic surveys, teacher reflective logs | Pitfall: Overly broad scope. Mitigation: Focus on one specific skill or routine. |
| 2. Act / Implement | Execute the intervention consistently across classroom sessions | Lesson plans, teaching fidelity checklist | Pitfall: Inconsistent delivery. Mitigation: Embed intervention into daily staging routines. |
| 3. Observe | Collect multi-sourced data to track learner output and behaviors | Speaking turn tallies, audio recordings, student exit slips | Pitfall: Excessive data collection. Mitigation: Triangulate 2–3 targeted, manageable sources. |
| 4. Reflect | Analyze data patterns against baseline metrics; identify successes and gaps | Data analysis matrices, peer debriefs with a critical friend | Pitfall: Confirmation bias. Mitigation: Actively look for disconfirming evidence in data. |
| 5. Re-Plan | Adjust intervention based on findings; launch the next inquiry cycle | Revised lesson templates, adapted scaffolding tools | Pitfall: Ending after one cycle. Mitigation: Treat inquiry as an ongoing developmental habit. |
Professional Ethics, Cultural Responsiveness, and ELT Advocacy
Language teaching carries profound cultural and ethical responsibilities. Professionalism in TESOL requires moving beyond instructional mechanics to champion ethical practice:
- Rejecting Deficit Models: Historically, English learners were viewed through a deficit lens. Ethical practice adopts an additive multilingualism framework, viewing home languages and cultural knowledge as intellectual assets.
- Supporting Translanguaging: Contemporary applied linguistics recognizes that multilingual individuals use an integrated linguistic repertoire (García & Wei). Educators avoid punitive "English-only" policies, permitting purposeful translanguaging for cognitive processing and peer support.
- Culturally Responsive Pedagogy (Geneva Gay): Instruction incorporates learners' cultural heritages and lived experiences into the curriculum, making learning validating and relevant.
- Advocacy for English Learners: Professional educators advocate for learners across institutions—defending fair accommodations, opposing inappropriate tracking, and engaging families as partners.
Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and the Professional Landscape
Lifelong professional growth requires active connection to the wider professional field:
- Professional Organizations: Joining TESOL International Association, IATEFL, or regional affiliates provides access to journals (TESOL Quarterly, ELT Journal) and conferences.
- PLCs & Special Interest Groups (SIGs): Collaborating in domain-specific groups (e.g., Adult Education, Young Learners) shares innovations and breaks isolation.
- Professional Teaching Portfolio: A curated collection documenting competence, including a teaching philosophy statement, annotated lesson plans, student work samples, video clips, and action research records.
Important
A statement of teaching philosophy should not be an abstract academic paper. It is an operational guide linking core beliefs about language acquisition to concrete classroom actions: how you balance talk time, address learner errors, respect student identities, and foster equitable participation.
During a communicative speaking activity, an ESL teacher notices that several student pairs are confused by the task rubric and have stopped conversing. Without ending the activity or showing frustration, the teacher immediately steps to the board, models the dialogue format with a student volunteer using color-coded sentence starters, checks understanding with two quick questions, and has pairs resume speaking with renewed confidence. According to Donald Schön, which reflective construct did the teacher demonstrate?
Technical rationality, because the teacher strictly executed a predefined textbook script without variation
Reflection-on-action, because the teacher analyzed student confusion in a journal after the school day ended
Reflection-in-action, because the teacher reframed the problem and adjusted instruction on the spot during the lesson
Summative assessment, because the teacher assigned evaluative letter grades based on student hesitation
An English language educator distributes an anonymous mid-semester feedback survey asking adult learners to evaluate lesson pacing, error correction comfort, and activity preferences. The teacher discovers that while they believed their error correction was gentle and encouraging, students felt anxious when corrected in front of the whole class. According to Stephen Brookfield's reflective framework, which critical lens revealed this instructional insight?
The peer observation lens, because a department colleague evaluated the teacher's classroom management
The students' eyes lens, because the teacher systematically collected and analyzed learner perceptions of the class
The theoretical literature lens, because the teacher consulted a published SLA journal article on corrective feedback
The autobiographical lens, because the teacher reflected on their childhood language learning memories
An adult ESL instructor identifies that learners struggle to participate in small-group discussions. The instructor designs a four-week intervention incorporating structured role cards, collects audio recordings and participation tallies during each session, analyzes the data with a colleague, and uses the findings to refine the role-card prompts for the subsequent unit. Which professional inquiry methodology does this process exemplify?
A deficit-based remediation model that attributes learner silence to intellectual inadequacy
Norm-referenced proficiency screening designed to rank student fluency along a comparative curve
Kemmis and McTaggart's action research spiral of planning, acting, observing, and reflecting on classroom data
Flanders Interaction Analysis Categories (FIAC) designed to record teacher direct influence every three seconds
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