Reflective Practice and Action Research

“I’ve been teaching for ten years, but do I have ten years of experience, or one year of experience repeated ten times?” This famous question highlights the danger of teaching purely on autopilot. Without systematic reflection, initial habits solidify into unquestioned routines. Professional growth requires stepping back, critically examining classroom evidence, and conducting systematic action research.

Core Theory & Terminology

1. Donald Schön’s Reflective Practice Model

Donald Schön (The Reflective Practitioner) established the foundational distinction in professional reflection:

• Reflection-IN-Action: Real-time cognitive adjustments made on your feet during a lesson (e.g., realizing an activity is failing and adjusting pairwork instructions mid-stream).
• Reflection-ON-Action: Systematic, retrospective analysis conducted after the lesson to evaluate outcomes, diagnose issues, and plan future changes.

2. The Action Research Cycle (Anne Burns)

Action Research is a systematic, self-reflective inquiry conducted by teachers in their own classrooms to solve specific pedagogical problems:

1. Plan: Identify a specific classroom problem (e.g., Low participation during group discussions) and design a targeted intervention.
2. Act: Implement the new strategy in class over a set period.
3. Observe: Collect data (audio recordings, peer observation, student questionnaires).
4. Reflect: Analyze data to evaluate impact, refine the strategy, and start a new cycle.

3. Peer Observation & Critical Friends

Peer observation is a collaborative, non-evaluative tool where colleagues observe each other with a specific focus (e.g., tracking TTT or gender interaction balance) to foster mutual growth.

In the classroom

Teacher educators emphasize reflective practice as the cornerstone of lifelong professional development:

1. In Formal Lesson Planning: Always complete the post-lesson Self-Evaluation section detailing what worked, what failed, and specific action points for next time.
2. On Observed Lessons: Demonstrate flexibility—showing ability to execute Reflection-IN-Action when an activity requires mid-course adjustment.
3. Mentor Feedback: Observers evaluate reflective maturity—valuing teachers who accurately diagnose their own lesson weaknesses over teachers who defensively justify poor staging.

Practical Classroom Application

Action Research Starter Template

Use this 4-step template to launch a 2-week classroom action research project:

• Step 1: Problem Definition: “My intermediate students rely on L1 constantly during fluency pairwork.”
• Step 2: Intervention Plan: Introduce “Functional Phrase Help Sheets” and assign student “Language Captains” in each group.
• Step 3: Evidence Collection:
  • Keep a post-lesson reflection diary.
  • Record 5 minutes of pairwork audio on Days 1, 5, and 10.
  • Administer a 3-question student feedback survey.
• Step 4: Reflection & Action: Analyze audio to check if L1 usage decreased, and adjust the strategy for the next unit.

Reflection & Further Reading

Reflective Question

What is one persistent problem in your classroom that you could investigate systematically using Anne Burns’s Action Research cycle?

Key Reference Areas

• Burns, A. — Doing Action Research in English Language Teaching.
• Schön, D. — The Reflective Practitioner.
• Richards, J. C., & Lockhart, C. — Reflective Teaching in Second Language Classrooms.