Developing reflective skills
among Arab student teachers
Ruwaida Abu Rass
July 7, 2015
The Influence of prior learning experiences
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Memorization & Learning by heart
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Transmission of material
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Authoritative instructors
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Students’ expectations-ready made recipes

Teacher’s guide
Living in two worlds

Exposure to the Jewish culture (Eilam, 2002)

Individualism, criticism & creative thinking

(Al-Haj, 1999; Azaiza & Ben Ari, 1997; Eilam, 2002)
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Society and culture-collectivism & tradition
Family system- hierarchical & patriarchal
Changes- opportunities for advancement

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(Torn & Iliyan, 2008)
Conceptual Change
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A process rather than an end
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A developmental process
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Trial, error & inquiry
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A wide variety of methods, activities, games,
stories, songs…
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Individual as well as co-teaching
Conceptual Change

Three dimensions:
1. Socio-psychological: Providing emotional
support

2. Professional & pedagogical support
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3. Reflective- developing reflective skills for
evaluating their developmental process
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Definition
Developing reflective thinking means helping
student teachers think about their experiences,
analyze their beliefs, values or knowledge in
relation to these experiences and consider options or
alternatives for action (Ferraro, 2000).

Promoting Autonomy

Autonomy-supportive education is
constructive and developmental in nature
(Perry, 1999).

The advisor’s role: Agent for change

Helping trainees develop critical thinking
skills (Emanuel, 2005).
Promoting Autonomy
Encouraging ample opportunities for practice,
inquiry and reflection and challenging students to
take responsibilities for making decisions and
choices (Kegan, 1994; Perry, 1999)
 Processes of exploration, interpretation, and
negotiation through which pre-service teachers
investigate the sources of their knowledge and
beliefs (Mori, 2003)

Promoting Autonomy
Supervising and evaluation of teacher learning
should be nonjugemental to encourage student
teachers take risks (Gebhard & Oprandy, 1999)

My role as an agent for change

Empowering

Encouraging them to believe in themselves
and their abilities

Trying to expand their horizons
Supportive, encouraging, welcoming and
approachable

Research Questions

1. How do the employed strategies and ways
of advising the students affect their
perception to my role as a pedagogical
adviser?

2. How does my way of advising the students
including providing feedback affect their
perception to themselves as independent
students who grow and develop
professionally?
Subjects
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

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
Third-year female Arab students
Majoring in EFL
The Academic Arab Teachers’ Training
Institute at College Beit Berl
2010-2011
6 students
Requirements




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Teaching a lesson once a week and five
lessons during the intensive practical work
week
Participating in the Didactic Seminar Course
Issues related to EFL theories and
methodology are discussed
Discussing articles related to professional
development at the end of the school year
The first day at school
Data Collection



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Three portfolios:
a) Lesson plans: Alternative Task & Reflection
b) three reflections
c) the observation notes of the student teachers
My observation notes
a) notes of observed lessons
b) staff meetings and individual conferences
Data Collection

Two questionnaires

Interviews

Video taped lessons
Data Analysis

Collected data - systematically organized,
coded and indexed.

Grouping and creating categories

Chronologically and thematically analyzed
Data analysis
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Two types of desired change

a) Developing reflective skills
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B) Experiencing trial and error
Categories and sub-categories
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Developing reflective skills


a) Critical self-evaluation
b) Accepting comments from the pedagogical
adviser and the trainers
c) Objective evaluation &

Experiencing trial and error

a) Employing different strategies, techniques…
b) Being exposed to different settings
c) Making mistakes and learning from them


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Results

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
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Developing Reflective Skills
Some improvement/ varied
Daboul & Nola- provided rationale for their
choices, (D) the need to be more creative
(D) Contradictions- having enough
experience
Didn’t consider the alternative task seriously
Results

Zuzu & Dobi- some improvement

At the beginning of the school year- focused
more on the activities, their performance and
blaming the pupils for not cooperating

By the end of the school year- focused more
on the activities, students’ interaction and
involvement
Results
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

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Salim & Cool
Improved the least
Brevity “good”, “useful”, “helpful”
Lack of consistency
Conflicting messages
Salim: Demanding adviser (1st questionnaire)
 2nd year-enough experience
Results

Critically evaluating their performance
through reasoning choices

Avoiding reporting about less pleasant
experiences

Very defensive

Differences
Daboul provided reasoning
Dobi expressed her satisfaction- employing
different strategies for teaching vocabulary

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Results



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Dobi & Zuzu
Positive as well as negative experiences
Appreciating employing different ways of
teaching including games, listening texts,
video segments
Salim & Cool
Their reflections and answers didn’t show
deep thinking
Results
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Experiencing trial and error
Hesitantly varied their ways at the beginning
Felt safe to follow the teacher’s guide
Frontal and traditional
Shift
Eager to apply activities related to the topics
of their seminar papers
Results

Repeated calls

Started to realize the importance of varying
their methods and activities at the end of the
school year
Satisfied, but felt the need of having more
experience to be fully competent and
confident
Salim & Cool- “important”, “helpful”, “useful”

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Results
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Showing resistance to being exposed to
different settings
Rejected the idea of accompanying different
teacher trainers (educators) totally
Compromise
Still reluctant
Contradicting opinions
Conclusions
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Shaping beliefs is a long process

One year is not sufficient to help EFL trainee
make conceptual change, develop
professionally and be more autonomous
Conclusions

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Preparing a three-stage program
A. The lesson plan in the first year should
include only two sections: Describing the
lesson and providing self-evaluation
Adding the alternative task section in the
second year
Adding the self-reflective section in the third
year
Conclusions

More attention should be paid to the
influence of the first culture, patterns of
thinking and behavior in teacher education
References
Al-Haj, M. 1999. Higher education among the Arabs in Israel: Situation, needs and recommendations. Haifa, Israel: Univeristy of Haifa, Center
for Multiculturalism and Educational Research.
Eilam, B. 2002. 'Passing through a western-democratic teacher education: The case of Israeli Arab Teachers'. Teachers College Record, 104 (8),
1656-1701.
Emmanuel, D. 2005. Role perception of the pedagogical advisor from three points of view: A renewed look at the program for specialization in
pedagogical advice. Position Paper 2. Tel Aviv: MOFET (in Hebrew).
Ferraro, J. M. (2000). Reflective practice and professional development. Retrieved from http://searcheric.org/digests/ed449120.html
Gebhard, J. G., Gaitan, S., & Oprandy, R. (1999). Reflecting through a teaching journal. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Kegan, R. (1994). In over our heads: The mental demands of modern life. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Mori, R. (2003). Knowledge/personhood dichotomy in TESOL. The Language Teacher, 27 (4), 14-15
.
Perry, W. (1999). Forms of ethical and intellectual development in the college years: A scheme. San Fransisco: Jossey-Bass. (Original work
published 1968).
Toren, Z., & Iliyan, S. (2008). The problems of the beginning teacher in the Arab schools in Israel. Teaching and Teacher Education, 24:
1041-1056.
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