List of Contents

Acknowledgements / 9

Preface / 11

Chapter 1

Teachers as a professional group / 15

1.1 Introduction / 15

1.2 Stages in teacher professional and career development / 16

1.3 Motivation to teach / 19

1.3.1 Defining motivation to teach and its components / 19

1.3.2 A sample study of pre-service teachers’ motivations / 25

1.4 Individual differences and systems of beliefs / 30

1.4.1 Teachers’ beliefs about teaching / 30

1.4.2 Self-concept and teacher identity / 32

Defining the concepts / 32

The process of professional identity development / 36

1.4.3 Pre-service teachers’ sense of the teaching profession / 41

Metaphors of teaching in teachers’ narratives / 41

A sample study of pre-service teachers’ metaphoric categorisation of teaching / 42

Pre-service vs in-service teachers’ professional identities / 48

1.5 Pre-service teachers’ initial development / 51

1.5.1 Challenges faced and thematic concerns expressed / 51

1.5.2 A sample study of pre-service teachers’ challenges and areas of concerns / 53

The study group /  53

The thematic areas of concerns / 53

The pre-service teachers’ comments on project theme choices / 57

1.6 Pre-service teachers in the period of school placement / 58

1.6.1 Teaching practice: its functions and learning dimensions / 58

1.6.2 A sample study of trainees’ evaluation of school-based experiences / 64

1.7 Summary: The profile of a pre-service teacher / 68

Chapter 2

Reflectivity in teacher development / 71

2.1 Introduction / 71

2.2 Reflection and reflectivity / 74

2.2.1 Defining reflectivity (an overview of different perspectives) / 74

2.2.2 Different levels of reflection / 75

2.2.3 Teachers in action: levels of reflection / 78

2.2.4 Reflection in teaching / 79

2.2.5 Domains in teachers’ reflectivity (empirical data) / 80

2.3 Teaching as a knowledge-constructing process / 84

2.3.1 Knowledge construction as a process / 84

2.3.2 Expert vs novice knowledge / 86

2.3.3 Critical thinking and problem solving as attributes of knowledge construction / 87

2.3.4 Experiential learning as learning about teaching / 90

2.4 Reflective practice in learning to teach / 93

2.4.1 Defining reflective practice and its characteristics / 93

2.4.2 Diagnosing pre-service teachers’ reflectivity (empirical data) / 98

2.5 Pre-service teachers’ training in reflective teaching / 99

2.5.1 Areas and focus of reflection development / 99

2.5.2 Classroom research as a form of reflectivity development / 102

Action research as reflection on FL teaching and learning / 102

The stages of AR projects / 105

Difficulties in carrying out AR projects at the pre-service level / 108

2.6 Summary: Creating a new reflective practitioner / 109

Chapter 3

From critical incidents to critical events in classroom practice / 112

3.1 Introduction / 112

3.2 The nature of attention and consciousness / 114

3.3 Teacher presence and classroom awareness / 117

3.4 Critical incidents (CIs) / 119

3.4.1 Defining a critical incident / 119

3.4.2 I dentifying, describing and analysing critical incidents / 126

3.4.3 Studies of critical incidents in teaching / 131

An experienced vs a novice teacher (a case study on CIs) / 131

The impact of critical incidents / 132

Affect-triggering occurences as critical incidents / 134

“Seeking satisfaction” / 135

“Bumpy moments” in teaching / 137

3.5 The cognitive focus of CI analysis: thinking skills / 139

3.6 The affective focus of CI analysis: appraisal systems in teaching / 140

3.6.1 The nature of appraisal values / 140

3.6.2 Tools of appraisal measurement / 143

3.6.3 A sample study of appraisal systems in teaching / 144

3.7 Summary: From a critical incident to a critical event / 148

Chapter 4

Diary studies in developing teachers’ reflectivity / 151

4.1 Introduction / 151

4.2 Teacher narratives as a way of constructing professional knowledge / 152

4.3 Teacher diaries (journals) as tools of professional development / 158

4.3.1 F unctionalities of diaries / 158

4.3.2 Characteristics of diaries / 160

4.3.3 How to write a diary / 162

General guidelines / 162

Structuring and analysing a diary entry (an example) / 164

Pre-service teachers’ diary writing / 166

4.4 Sample studies / 167

4.4.1 The thematic concerns of diaries: an overview of focus areas / 167

4.4.2 Stages in teacher development / 168

4.4.3 Journal writing as a way of developing reflective thinking / 171

4.4.4 The major diary concerns of pre-service teachers / 172

4.4.5 Emotional and cognitive dissonance in L2 teachers’ development / 174

4.4.6 Affectivity in language learning experiences / 178

4.4.7 Diary as a self-assessment tool / 179

4.4.8 Teacher learning – student learning / 181

4.4.9 Pre-service teachers’ perceptions of diary writing / 183

4.5 Summary: Teacher stories in diaries / 186

Chapter 5

A study of pre-service teachers’ development through diary use / 190

5.1 Introduction / 190

5.2 Project design / 193

5.2.1 Research focus / 193

5.2.2 Pre-service teachers as a study sample and the teaching context / 195

5.2.3 Data collection tools / 197

The one-year teacher diary / 197

Narrative text / 199

5.2.4 Procedures / 200

5.3 Data presentation and analysis / 201

5.3.1 Narrative texts on perceptions of oneself as a pre-service teacher / 201

5.3.2 I dentification of CIs and their topic focus / 204

Topic concerns of pre-service teachers / 204

My beginnings / 208

In the middle / 210

Towards the end / 211

Shifts in concerns: a comparison / 212

5.3.3 Analysing critical incidents / 214

Ways of reflecting / 214

Examples of the trainees’ diary entries and their own analysis / 215

My beginnings / 215

In the middle / 219

Towards the end / 223

A comment on trainees’ ways of reflecting across the three stages / 226

5.3.4 Self-evaluation: successes and failures / 228

My beginnings / 228

In the middle / 232

Towards the end / 236

Success vs failure rate at different stages: a comparison / 239

5.3.5 My year at school – trainees’ final evaluation of themselves / 240

Conceptualising teaching / 240

Self-evaluation: strong and weak points / 241

A way forward / 244

5.4 Summary: Becoming reflective as an evolving process / 245

Epilogue: On improving teacher training paradigms / 250

Appendix: Unedited sample diary entries / 263

References / 271

Index of names / 293

Subject index / 301

Streszczenie / 307

Zusammenfassung / 308

• Title: Reflectivity in Pre-Service Teacher Education: A Survey of Theory and Practice
• Author: Danuta Gabryś-Barker
• ISBN: 978-8-3801-2556-8, 9788380125568
• Date of issue: 2015-09-02
• Format: Ebook
• Item ID: e_1p12
• Publisher: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego