A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF NOVICE VS. EXPERIENCED TEACHERS: REFLECTIVE TEACHING IN FOCUS

Exploring one's teaching practice, also known as reflective teaching, refers to a process of self-observation and self-evaluation in which one reflects on what she/ he is doing in the classroom and whether it is working. The current study focused on the relationship between Iranian EFL teachers' use of reflective teaching and their years of teaching experience. In addition, the purpose was to find out if there was a significant difference in the use of reflective teaching between novice and experienced Iranian EFL teachers. The final aim of this study was to investigate the attitudes of novice and experienced Iranian EFL teachers towards reflective teaching. To collect the data, a sample of ۲۸ Iranian EFL teachers, ۱۴ inexperienced and ۱۴ experienced (both male and female), was selected to participate in the study based on random sampling. All the participants were EFL teachers in different language institutes in Isfahan, Iran. The instruments included Reflective Teaching Inventory and a structured interview. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and the results showed that there was a strong significant negative relationship between EFL teachers' years of teaching and the use of reflective teaching. In addition, the data analysis revealed that there was a significant difference between novice and experienced EFL teachers on the use of reflective teaching. The findings also showed that although most of the experienced teachers were aware of the benefits of reflective teaching, they were demotivated to employ it thoroughly. The findings of this study may have some implications for teacher educators and trainers to create more motivating situations to encourage teachers to use reflective teaching.

کلیدواژه ها:

experienced teachers ، Iranian EFL teachers ، novice teachers ، reflective teaching