The Role of Pre-service English Teachers’ Reflection in their Pedagogical Practice: Lessons Learned from MA Students of TEFL

The main objective of this case study was to delve into the perceptions of MA students of Teaching English as a foreign language program, as pre-service teachers, regarding the role of reflection in their pedagogical practices and to find out about the aspects or structure(s) of their reflective practice, e.g. the aspects of teaching practice they most commonly concentrate on, and when they frequently reflect on their practice. To achieve the goal of the study, nine MA students were purposefully selected, after they were informed about the purpose of the research. Data collection was done during a semester the participants attended their teaching practicum course. They were asked to write and keep a profile of after-class written reflection journals. They were also asked to write reflective essays every three weeks, and fill a questionnaire before and after their practicum. The results indicated that the participants viewed reflection as the basic and requisite part of their practice to come up with solutions to deficiencies of their teaching performance, despite the fact that they encouraged to do so due to the requirements of the study. The common structure of their reflections was describing class episodes and events as the preliminary step to reflection. Moreover, disconnection between teaching theory in English and pedagogical practice in teaching contexts was observed. It was concluded that the participants were at a basic level of reflective practice, which implied that the teaching programs in TEFL need to work more rigorously and seriously on this component.