Reflective Practice as Professional Development

This book presents an exploration of reflective practice with Japanese teachers of English as participants. It illustrates how reflective practice facilitated the development of professional identity and teacher cognition. The author reflects on her own engagement in the study and emphasises the importance of reflexivity in conducting research.

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This book presents a researcher’s work on reflective practice with a group of high school teachers of English in Japan. Beginning with a series of uncomfortable teacher training sessions delivered to unwilling participants, the book charts the author’s development of new methods of engaging her participants and making use of their own experiences and knowledge. Both an in-depth examination of reflective practice in the context of Japanese cultural conventions and a narrative account of the researcher’s reflexivity in her engagement with the study, the book introduces the concept of ‘the reflective continuum’ – a non-linear journey that mirrors the way reflection develops in unpredictable and individual ways.