While complaining is ubiquitous in everyday interactions, it can seem out of place when a teacher complains within a setting devoted to reflective practice and professional development. In this article, we show examples of a novice teacher's complaints to her mentor within post-observation meetings, making the case that these complaints raise…

Within the ELT profession there has been some discussion regarding the appropriateness of one-month pre-service teacher training courses such as CELTA. These courses are designed on the assumption that graduates will need further support and professional development in their first post. This paper examines the extent to which 115 newly qualified…

Teachers play a crucial role in the implementation of an English as a lingua franca (ELF) perspective in the classroom. However, little research has been conducted on what challenges teachers might encounter and what types of support are needed to teach English from an ELF perspective. This study thus explores the experiences of seven primary…

This article makes the case for an approach to reflective practice (RP) that is both evidence-based and data-led. We argue that, while RP within the field of TESOL enjoys a relatively high level of acceptance and status (perhaps even an orthodoxy), it has little corresponding knowledge base that demonstrates how RP "gets done". We…

The research reported here outlines how an emphasis on dialogic interaction and exploratory talk during post-teaching practice discussions can be beneficial to pre-service second language teacher education. The article examines the ways in which such an approach may help promote long-term reflective practice and how enquiry-based talk raises…

In this article, I describe how an EFL teacher engaged in a process of reflective practice. As she looked back on her teaching career, she explored the critical incidents, principles, and practices that have informed her present teaching identity. I focus on how a taped monologue narrative technique was used, and on the rationale, practice, and…

This research study discusses the importance of "reflection training" in teacher education programmes. The main premise of the study is that although teachers are constantly encouraged to "reflect" on their teaching, they are unable to do so effectively unless they are specifically trained in how to reflect (they tend to "react" rather than…

Educationalist Fred Korthagen elaborated a model in the 1980s for the relationship between the teacher educator and the teacher which embraces reflective practice as its guiding principle. In the present study, research was carried out into teacher development among a small group of language teachers working in continuing education in France.…

In recent years there have been persistent calls for teachers to explore their teaching contexts in order to become more aware of them and to understand them. Doing so would enable teachers to make more informed decisions about their practice and their students' learning. This article outlines a narrative approach for exploring context. A…

This paper examines tutor and peer post-teaching practice feedback in the context of short intensive TESOL certificate courses. Outcomes of recent research into such courses suggested that feedback was a contentious and problematic component. The outcomes were considered in the context of the syllabus, and in the light of recent research into…

This article describes a strategy employed on a teacher training course in Hong Kong involving the use of lesson transcriptions. Transcriptions from two course participants' English lessons were used to arouse greater classroom language awareness and promote reflection in one of the teachers, who was initially very reluctant to accept comments and…

Current in-service education and training programmes (INSET) are often found to be unsatisfactory due to the fact that they do not provide the teachers with opportunities to be actively involved in their development and to reflect on their teaching experiences. This study presents an INSET programme in which Turkish EFL teachers were provided with…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of the peer coaching model as a professional development tool for pre-service ESL/EFL teachers, and its possible applicability to the Binational Centres in Brazil, as well as to teacher development programmes in general. Peer coaching, a reflective approach to teacher development,…

This article explores how dialogue journals and response journals can be used to encourage reflection among pre-service teachers. Thirty-one pre-service English teachers from two Hong Kong universities participated in the study. One group wrote dialogue journals and the other group wrote response journals throughout two semesters on two separate…

Teachers' ways of knowing tend to be understood through academic ways of thinking and writing. This article sets out to take a closer look at the way seven school teachers understand and describe how they know, reflect, and act in the midst of teaching. In particular, through the combined voices of these teachers I aim to take a closer look at the…