Ghounaim, Samiah Hesham (2021) “It takes time to build the habit”: a data-led approach to developing reflective practices for in-service EFL teachers. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

This thesis aimed to investigate the role of reflective practice (RP) in the professional development (CPD) of EFL teachers, specifically emphasizing interpersonal and intercultural competencies. This involved the researcher in designing an intervention to raise teachers’ awareness of the value of RP for their CPD and intercultural communicative competence (ICC) in their classrooms. The study is underpinned by co-constructivist theories of learning that emphasise the importance of dialogue for learning, focusing on learner autonomy, critical incident theory, sociocultural theory of learning, and experiential learning. The study was motivated by the perception that CPD for EFL teachers rarely utilizes RP and tends to underemphasize the importance of interpersonal/intercultural dimensions of classroom teaching, despite the intrinsic relationship of RP to learning and CPD.

Based on established value of critical incident analysis and dialogic reflection on experience, this intervention comprised of two parts: co-constructing 3D vignettes, and collaborative RP (CRP) sessions; the latter included dialogic reflection on experiential learning activities and co-constructed 3D vignettes. The analysis found that the co-construction processes provided a space for internal dialogic reflection, and an opportunity to decentre themselves from their CIs breaking down the reflection separating emotion from cognition. Thus, this thesis offers 3D vignettes as an example of CPD strategy. As for the CRP sessions, the analysis detected trajectories of dialogic reflection that explored emotions and cognition, scaffolded learner agency, and presented anonymity as a mitigation strategy.

As a whole, the data established the significance of experiential engagement for effective RP where EFL teachers in KSA underwent the process of experiencing in several forms and engaged in reflection and meta-reflection dialogically −internal and external− focusing on ICC in their classrooms. The data, also, demonstrated a dynamic interplay between experiential engagement and reflective engagement as the former facilitated perplexity and dissonance −emotional and cognitive− which, in turn, stimulated the latter. This interplay amplified the impact of experience and deepened the reflection.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Subjects:	L Education > LB Theory and practice of education P Language and Literature > P Philology. Linguistics P Language and Literature > PE English
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	English language -- Study and teaching -- Foreign speakers, Reflective teaching, Career development, Teachers -- In-service training
Official Date:	December 2021
Dates:	Date Event December 2021 UNSPECIFIED
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Centre for Applied Linguistics
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Mann, Steve, 1960- ; McConachy, Troy, 1980-
Format of File:	pdf
Extent:	xii, 298 pages : illustrations (colour)
Language:	eng

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