چکیده:
Recently, there is a need for fostering the critical reflective side of L2
teacher education. This study investigated the implications of personal
narrative (PN) and reflective journal (RJ) writing for Iranian EFL
teachers’ reflective writing. Sixty (36 women and 24 men) in-service
secondary school EFL teachers were selected based on the convenience
sampling from Iran. L2 teachers equally divided into PN and RJ writing
groups were provided with particular short stories. L2 teachers in the PN
writing group engendered PN writings in response to themes of stories;
however, L2 teachers in the RJ writing group had to write their reflections
on stories in RJ writings. Hatton and Smith’s (1995) framework was used
for the content analysis of data. The quantitative analysis indicated that
PN writings were lengthier than RJ writings. Also, there was a statistically
significant difference between mean ranks of descriptive and critical
reflection writing types signified in PN and RJ writings. However, no
statistically significant difference was observed between mean ranks of
descriptive reflection and dialogic reflection writing types. Moreover, PN
and RJ writings were more descriptive, less descriptive reflective, less and
less dialogic reflective, and still less critical reflective. The qualitative
analysis revealed that EFL teachers’ PN and RJ writings enjoyed
dialogicity. Despite their unwillingness to express voice, findings indicated
that Iranian English teachers adopted a more critical perspective through
generating PN writings than via engendering RJ writings. In general, the
English language teacher education domain in Iran needs a thinking
renewal to foster critical L2 teaching.
خلاصه ماشینی:
Critical Thinking in Personal Narrative and Reflective Journal Writings by In-service EFL Teachers in Iran: Assessment of Reflective Writing Somayyeh Sabah PhD Student Islamic Azad University, Science and Research Branch of Tehran somayyeh_sabah@yahoo.
Keywords: critical L2 teacher education, critical thinking, personal narrativewriting, reflective journal writing Received: 19/11/2015 Accepted: 25/06/2016 Corresponding author EFL learners should master critical thinking (CT) skills in the L2 because "higher-order thinking skills" are necessary for succeeding in a "knowledge-based" society (Liaw, 2007, p.
Several studies (Barkhuizen, 2011; Chan, 2012; Khordkhili & Mall-Amiri, 2015) underscored the significance of generating PN writings as a reflective practice in L2 teacher education.
In this regard, Chan (2012) explored the role of the narrative inquiry in developing pre-service teachers’ experiences of learning, thinking, and self-reflection in Hong Kong education system and used narrating autobiographies and making self-inquires into stories to engage L2 teacher students in the active learning and knowledge reconstruction.
In the same vein, several research projects have been conducted on the role of generating RJ writings in L2 teacher education at both pre- and in-service levels (Abednia, 2012; Abednia, Hovassapian, Teimournezhad, & Ghanbari, 2013; Lowe, Prout, & Murcia, 2013).
The Present Study The review of the current literature on the role of creating PN and RJ writings in fostering nonnative English teachers’ reflective thinking indicated the dearth of empirical research on this area of investigation at the in-service level of EFL teacher education in Iran.
To fill this gap, the present study quantitatively and qualitatively assessed and compared the implications of generating PN and RJ writings for fostering Iranian in- service secondary school EFL teachers’ reflective writing in English.