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Discovering expatriate reflective practitioners

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DOI: 10.1080/14623943.2013.806297

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Discovering expatriate reflective

practitioners
a
Ulas Kayapınar
a
Royal Commission , Jubail , Saudi Arabia

To cite this article: Ulas Kayapnar (2013) Discovering expatriate reflective practitioners,
Reflective Practice: International and Multidisciplinary Perspectives, 14:4, 435-451, DOI:
10.1080/14623943.2013.806297

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 Reflective Practice, 2013
Vol. 14, No. 4, 435–451, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14623943.2013.806297

Discovering expatriate reflective practitioners

Ulas Kayapınar*

Royal Commission, Jubail, Saudi Arabia

(Received 25 May 2012; final version received 4 April 2013)

Ignoring the effect that expatriate teachers have on English language teaching
around the world is impossible. When there are many people leaving their coun-
tries each year to teach abroad, it seems essential to see whether those teachers
are reflection-oriented or not as they are working throughout the world, and
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reflection plays a major role in teaching and professional development. The pur-
pose of this study is to measure expatriate teachers’ reflection and to reveal to
what extent they are reflective practitioners. The results indicate that most of the
teachers who participated in the study could be called reflective practitioners
within their own classroom setting and few of them are never reflection-
oriented. They usually attribute the problem to others (students, colleagues, or
management) or they have a lack of concern most of the time.
Keywords: expatriate; teacher; reflection; reflective practice; teaching

Introduction
Dewey’s (1933) ‘fork road’ situation (Roberts, 1998) which needs ‘active,
persistent, and careful consideration of any belief or supposed form of knowledge’
leads the way to the importance of professional growth with a lifelong commitment
(Calderhead, 1989; Dewey, 1933). The need for lifelong commitment and
professional growth of any teacher primarily depends on the ‘teacher thinking
paradigm’ (Marland, 1998). Teachers’ contextualized interpretations of any given
methodological framework are actually put to use in the classroom (Gabrielatos,
2002). Edge (1997) claimed ‘one aspect of becoming a teacher is the growth of a
commitment to continuing self-development’ (p. 27). Similarly, Schön (1987)
brought reflection into focus as an understanding of what professionals do. He sta-
ted that an individual finds themself in an uncertain or unique situation which is
experienced by surprise, puzzlement or confusion. Thinking about that confusion or
puzzlement often brings conscience to bear on the actions we undertake (Greene,
1984). Those actions need an adequate specification, a constant remarking and eval-
uation of concerns, an evolving conception of the point of acting, and a reciprocal
relation between the individual and the world (Wiggins, 1978).
In this respect, reflection plays a major role because the nature of practice is
such that improvement can only be fostered by the professional’s own understand-
ing of self and of the nature of the practical (Calderhead, 1987). Gilpin (1999)
described the reflective process as noticing and observing, describing and analyzing,

*Email: ukayapinar@gmail.com

Ó 2013 Taylor & Francis

 436 U. Kayapınar

and evaluating. In this way, it is apparent that reflection can take place in the midst,
during or after an action as an individual’s thoughts turn back to the situation. For
this reason, reflection deserves respect by those individuals who educate or teach
others. Moreover, the essentials of becoming a reflective teacher can be summarized
from Dewey (1933) to Rodgers (2002) as follows:

(1) Being aware of the experience; interpreting the experience;

(2) Naming the problems or the questions that arise out of the experience;
describing the experience;
(3) Generating possible explanations for the problems or questions posed, ana-
lyzing the experience, ramifying the explanations into full-blown hypotheses;
and
(4) Experimenting or testing the selected hypotheses intelligently. (Lee, 2005)

Reflection enables teachers to form a habit of continually learning from their own
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experiences by framing problems of practice in light of various perspectives,

critiquing and reframing problems within broader perspectives, and taking action
that is fostered by such reframing. In this sense, teachers may be encouraged to be
reflective practitioners and they may adopt a reflective stance to practice as a means
of on-going professional development (Reis-Jorge, 2007). Teachers’ reflective
abilities can then develop, and their awareness of the potential of engaging in
problem identification can be raised through noticing and questioning events of
everyday practice (Kemmis & McTaggart, 1982). Highly structured forms of
research may be prompted, and the consequent demands of time and expertise may
be imposed on teachers (Allwright, 1992, 1995, 1997; Wallace, 1996).
Given the importance of reflection, its measurement can hold a power for
schooling. It can also be an indicator of teachers’ commitment to teaching, prob-
lem solving and professional growth because commitment is seen as a nested
phenomenon emerging from personal beliefs, self-images, role and identity (Day,
Elliot, & Kington, 2005). There are several elaborately tailored studies on reflec-
tion and reflective practice which could create change and lead to growth and
commitment in professional development. Although each study is held in a dif-
ferent context with different data gathering and analysis instruments such as
online discussions, storytelling, written records and transcript analysis, the source
behaviour and processes in professional development and teaching context basi-
cally emerge from similar problematic classroom contexts and teaching environ-
ment in a global sense (Bulpitt & Martin, 2005; Chiu, 2006; Clarke, 2006;
Conway, 2001; Dinkelman, 2000; Garcia, Sanchez, & Escudero, 2006; Lee,
2005; Reiman, 1999; Ticha & Hospesova, 2006; Tillema, 2000; Whipp, 2003).
While there have been a number of studies undertaken in a variety of different
contexts that have investigated teachers’ ability to reflect, to date there is no
research, especially using quantitative data, related to expatriate teachers. It
seems that employing a study on reflection for expatriate teachers is strongly
needed because they might be the teachers who most need reflection throughout
their professional lives since they are continuously evaluated. Various criteria of
professional development are used to examine an expatriate’s success periodically
on particular assessment criteria such as teaching performance, institutional com-
mitment, professional development, collegiality and personality characteristics,
which are similar to the selection criteria of ‘international assignees’ by global
 Reflective Practice 437

organizations (Caligiuri, Tarique, & Jacobs, 2009). The criteria indicate that con-
tinuous improvement is expected in the quality of instruction. This mostly paves
the way for expatriate teachers to become reflective practitioners consciously or
unconsciously because they have to form a habit of self-inquiry, continuous
learning and professional commitment to self-improvement from their experiences
by framing problems of practice in light of various perspectives, critiquing and
reframing problems within broader perspectives, and taking action that is fostered
by such reframing.
Because reflection emerges from personal beliefs, self-images, role, noticing and
questioning, personality or personal characteristics of a teacher could be an imped-
ing or developing factor for it. The identity or commitment of a teacher plays an
important role here. In a study administered to reveal the possible relationship
between reflection and responsibility, a significant correlation (0.233, p < 0.006)
was found (Erkuş & Sünbül, 2007). This means reflection is closely correlated to
responsibility and this can be one of the problematic natures of reflection. In
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another study undertaken by Kayapinar and Erkus (2009), the relationship between
reflection and internal-external locus of control was examined. The results of the
study showed that reflection scores of the teachers who had internal locus of control
were higher than the reflection scores of the teachers who had external locus of
control (r = 0.448).
In this sense, teachers may be encouraged to be reflective practitioners and they
may adopt a reflective stance to practice as a means of on-going professional devel-
opment (Reis-Jorge, 2007). Teachers’ reflective abilities can then develop, and their
awareness of the potential of engaging in problem identification can be raised
through noticing and questioning events of everyday practice (Kemmis &
McTaggart, 1982). Highly structured forms of research may be prompted, and the
consequent demands of time and expertise may be imposed on teachers (Allwright
1992, 1995, 1997; Wallace, 1996).
Therefore, the purpose of this study is to measure expatriate teacher reflection in
school and classroom settings and to clarify expatriate teachers’ thoughts and
feelings on reflection by using quantitative and qualitative data considering whether
or not they are reflective practitioners. The study also tries to find out whether
teachers attribute the problems or confusions in the professional environment to
external causes or whether they have a lack of concern for those problems occurring
in teaching and learning environment.

Method
Participants
A study group of 137 expatriate teachers, including instructors, lecturers and senior
lecturers, was randomly selected and employed. Their range of experience was 2–
34 years. They all taught English – from beginner to upper-intermediate level – in
preparatory classes in four different colleges. While most of the participants were
native speakers of English (82%), from the USA, England, Canada, Australia, New
Zealand, Ireland and South Africa, others were from countries such as Germany,
Greece, Turkey, India, Pakistan, Jordan, Sudan and the Philippines. Among the par-
ticipants, seven were randomly selected by an open sampling technique (Strauss &
Corbin, 1998).
 438 U. Kayapınar

Research instruments
Teacher Reflection Scale (TRS)
The scale is a standardized one developed by Kayapinar and Erkus (2009) in order
to measure teacher reflection and includes 22 items. It covers two settings of prob-
lematic scenarios which are reflections for classroom settings (RCS) and reflection
for colleagues and management settings (RCMS). The correlation coefficients
between total subscale scores and total scale scores (0.953 for RCS and 0.838 for
RCMS) prove that the scale can be used as a whole and/or as independent parts for
different settings (RCS and RCMS).

Standardized open-ended interviews

Teachers’ views on reflection and reflective practice were taken by using standard-
ized open-ended interviews (Patton, 2002) with seven of the volunteers chosen on
the basis of convenience by an open sampling technique (Strauss & Corbin, 1998)
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in order to explore reflection in greater depth. The interview questions were devel-
oped through careful deliberation to ensure that nothing essential was missed, and
they were examined and tested in practice by two experts of measurement and eval-
uation. Participants were asked questions in the same way and the same order,
which was determined in advance (Patton, 2002) in order to provide the same
stimuli for the interviewees. The interview questions were as follows:

(1) Who is a reflective teacher?

(2) Give an example of a solution you made for a difficulty/problem/confusion,
considering the students?
(3) Give an example of a solution you made for a difficulty/problem/confusion,
considering the colleagues?
(4) Give an example of a solution you made for a difficulty/problem/confusion,
considering the management?

The participants were asked to give an example of a solution they found for a
difficulty/problem/confusion in order to discover practical evidence of reflection in the
process, such as interpreting the experience, naming the problems or the questions
that arose from the experience, generating possible explanations for the problems or
questions posed, analyzing the experience, and taking action or experimenting.
The interview transcripts were analyzed line by line and memos were written
(Glesne, 1999; Strauss & Corbin, 1998). The strategy of probing was used to get
the respondents to achieve depth in terms of penetration, exploration and explana-
tion (Lichtman, 2006; Patton, 2002; Ritchie & Lewis, 2003). For example, further
questions such as ‘Can you tell me some more about that?’, ‘What do you mean
by …?’, and ‘Can you explain more fully?’ were used. Categories or labels were
reviewed and recurring themes, core consistencies and meanings were identified by
using pattern codes (Miles & Huberman, 1994; Patton, 2002).

Data analysis
In order to analyze quantitative data and obtain descriptive statistics for the item
results, SPSS 16.0 was employed. To investigate the correlation between RCS and
RCMS scores, Pearson Product Moments Correlation Analysis was used. The
 Reflective Practice 439

relationship between scores of reflection and scores of attribution of the problem to

external causes, and the relationship between scores of reflection and the scores of
a lack of concern for the problem were also computed by using Pearson Product
Moments Correlation Analysis. An independent sample t-test was used to examine
the difference between the total scores of reflective teachers and non-reflective
teachers.
The first step in analyzing the qualitative data was to organize the data in order
to describe the assessment processes because distinguishing those processes the rat-
ers experienced is the key to illuminating the change in each assessment. In order
to do this, the interview transcripts were analyzed line by line and some memos
were written (Glesne, 1999; Strauss & Corbin, 1998) for a manageable classifica-
tion. After categories were reviewed, recurring themes, core consistencies and
meanings were identified by using pattern codes. Those codes were then identified
as smaller sets, themes or constructs with content analysis (Miles & Hubermas,
1994; Patton, 2002). The process was as follows:
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(a) underlying key terms in the responses;

(b) restating key phrases;
(c) coding key terms;
(d) pattern coding;
(e) constructing themes;
(f) summarizing themes; and
(g) integrating theories in an explanatory framework

Results
Expatriate teachers as reflective practitioners
The analysis of the scale results considered the teachers who were reflection-
oriented in a classroom setting and in both colleagues and management settings. As
shown in Table 1, among the teachers who participated in the study, 86.33% used
reflection in all settings. Within this percentage, most of the teachers reported that
they used reflection for their own teaching (87.18%) and for management issues
(84.62%). However, almost half of them reported that they did not use it for issues
with colleagues (48.72%).
In Table 1, the highest percentage was in reflections for classroom settings, fol-
lowed by management settings. The lowest was for colleague settings. The correla-
tions in Table 2 give further information about the relationship between RCS and
RCMS.

Table 1. Teacher reflection in RCS and RCMS.

%
Reflection 86.33
Reflection (Classroom setting) 87.18
Reflection (Management setting) 84.62
Reflection (Colleague setting) 48.72
 440 U. Kayapınar

Table 2. The relationship between reflection scores for classroom and colleague settings.

Reflection classroom Reflection colleague

setting setting
Reflection (Classroom setting) 1 0.567⁄⁄
N 117 117
Reflection (Colleague setting) 0.567⁄⁄ 1
N 117 117
⁄⁄
Note: Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level.

Table 3. The relationship between reflection scores for classroom and management settings.

Reflection classroom Reflection management

setting setting
Reflection (Classroom setting) 1 0.656⁄⁄
N 117 117
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Reflection (Management setting) 0.656⁄⁄ 1

N 117 117
⁄⁄
Note: Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level.

As shown in Table 2, although the percentage for the colleague settings was the
lowest, the correlation between reflection scores for the classroom setting and the
colleague settings is significant. The relationship between reflection for the class-
room settings and management settings is shown in Table 3.
The results in Table 3 indicate that the teachers who used reflection for the
classroom settings also used it for the management settings. There is a more of a
relationship between reflection for the classroom settings and management settings
than the relationship between reflection for the classroom settings and colleague set-
tings.
In Table 4, it can be seen that a teacher mentioned that they used reflection for
management settings if they used it for colleague settings in a sense because the
correlation between reflection scores for colleague settings and reflection scores for
management settings is significant.

Non-reflective teachers’ behaviour

The results in Table 5 show that 13.67% of the teachers who participated in the
study mentioned that they did not use reflection at all, not only in RCS but also in

Table 4. The relationship between reflection scores for colleague and management settings.

Reflection colleague Reflection management

setting setting
Reflection (Colleague setting) 1 0.559⁄⁄
N 117 117
Reflection (Management setting) 0.559⁄⁄ 1
N 117 117
⁄⁄
Note: Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level.
 Reflective Practice 441

RCMS. Within this percentage, 12.82% reported that they did not use reflection for
classroom settings, 15.8% stated they did not use reflection for management set-
tings, while the highest percentage (51.28%) stated that they did not use reflection
for colleague settings.
The analyses of the responses to the scale items indicate that these teachers
belong to two different groups. One group attributed the problem to external causes
and the other had a lack of concern for the problem. Table 6 shows the percentages
of non-reflective teachers, considering the group attributing the problem to external
causes and the group with a lack of concern for the problem. As can be seen, a
higher number attributed the problem to external causes rather than just a lack of
concern.
As shown in Table 7, the results indicate that there is a negative correlation
between reflection and non-reflection by attributing the problem to an external
cause.
The results in Table 8 indicate that there is a negative correlation between reflec-
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tion and non-reflection in having a lack of concern for the problem. For a better
understanding, the correlation of non-reflection scores between external causes and
lack of concern can be seen in Table 9. As shown, the correlation between non-
reflection scores of attribution to external causes and non-reflection scores of a lack
of concern for the problem is significant.

The difference between reflective and non-reflective teachers

As evidence of the difference between reflection and non-reflection, a correlation
coefficient between the total scores of the teachers who used reflection and the total
scores of the teachers who did not use reflection in their practice was computed by
using an independent sample t-test, the results of which are shown in Table 10.
Table 10 indicates a significant and meaningful difference (t = 20.045, p =
0.001) in favour of the practice of teachers who have reflection-oriented teaching
and can be called reflective practitioners.

Table 5. Teacher non-reflection in RCS and RCMS.

%
Non-reflection 13.67
Non-reflection (Classroom setting) 12.82
Non-reflection (Management setting) 15.38
Non-reflection (Colleague setting) 51.28

Table 6. Tendency of non-reflective teachers.

%
Non-reflection 13.67
Non-reflection (External cause) 69.23
Non-reflection (Lack of concern) 30.77
 442 U. Kayapınar

Table 7. The relationship between reflection total scores and non-reflection (external cause)
scores.

Reflection External cause

Reflection 1 0.893⁄⁄
N 117 117
Non-reflection (External cause) 0.893⁄⁄ 1
N 117 117
⁄⁄
Note: Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level.

Table 8. The relationship between reflection total scores and non-reflection (lack of
concern) scores.

Reflection Lack of concern

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Reflection 1 0.815⁄⁄
N 117 117
Non-reflection (External cause) 0.815⁄⁄ 1
N 117 117
⁄⁄
Note: Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level.

Table 9. The relationship between scores of external cause and lack of concern.

External cause Lack of concern

Non-reflection (External cause) 1 0.467⁄⁄
N 117 117
Non-reflection (Lack of concern) 0.467⁄⁄ 1
N 117 117
⁄⁄
Note: Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level.

Expatriate teachers’ views on reflective practice

In order to find out answers to the interview questions, standardized open-ended
interviewing was used for the instrumentation. The interview transcripts were ana-
lyzed line by line and memos were written (Glesne, 1999; Strauss & Corbin, 1998).
Recurring themes, core consistencies and meanings were identified by using pattern
codes after the categories or labels were reviewed (Miles & Huberman, 1994; Pat-
ton, 2002). The following themes were found:

• Commitment to self-development
• Construction of analytic strategies
• Feedback

Table 10. The difference between scores of reflection and non-reflection oriented teaching.

F Sig. t df Sig. (2-tailed) Mean difference Std. error difference

11.255 0.001 20.045 232 0.000 12.1034 0.60382
 Reflective Practice 443

Discussion
Scale results
The results in Table 1 might mean that teachers feel more responsible for their own
teaching environment and students. Reflection within the management setting fol-
lows this. The teachers here questioned themselves more for management setting
than they did for colleague setting. It seems that the majority of teachers stated that
they used reflection in most cases, although some of them did not use it all in their
practice. This might mean that some teachers are not aware of their experience,
which is the first step of reflection, or they cannot interpret the experience and they
think they do not need to question anything or to develop, which should not be
negligible for any educational system.
The results in Table 2 indicate that the teachers who used reflection for the
classroom setting also used it for the colleague settings. In addition, the results sup-
port the idea that teachers usually report that they do not reflect on a problematic
situation in a colleague setting. They usually ignore their colleagues or try to
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question them in order to generate possible explanations for the problems or the
questions posed instead of questioning themselves for any reason. The cause for
this might be the implication that some teachers believe they will be seen as
unqualified or inadequate among others in such a competitive environment in which
teachers are evaluated periodically and there might be no job guarantee for the
following year.
In fact, it seems that teachers feel more responsible to management for their
teaching than they feel to colleagues and they are aware of the experience they have
at the management level, as shown in Table 3. There is a self-questioning and eval-
uation process employed in this respect because management for expatriates means
more in the sense that they are evaluated by the management periodically and they
do not have a clear idea if they will be hired for another year. The pressure felt by
teachers is becoming increasingly important because the environment is getting
more and more competitive. In such an environment, teachers should reflect on their
practice, they should feel responsibility to management, and should produce sound
solutions for the problems or questions posed. Moreover, if a teacher is reflective
within a classroom setting, they will also be relatively reflective for the management
settings.
Table 4 implies that a reflective teacher usually reflects on classroom settings,
management settings and colleague settings. This might refer to the idea that reflec-
tion has a relationship with personal characteristics. Most teachers in this study
reported that they did not reflect on their relationships with colleagues, they ignored
or they blamed others, as they did with the management. However, if they were
reflective, they did so with colleagues and management in the same way as in their
own teaching practice, which might be an indicator of some personal characteristics,
learning ability to reflect and develop.
The results seen in Table 5 might indicate that more than half of the teachers
who mentioned that they did not use reflection at all were mostly not interested in
what their colleagues thought about their performance and they did not feel any
responsibility to them. It also appeared that these teachers usually did not reflect on
any problematic area at the management level as well. Those who ignored problems
were usually the experienced teachers who had been working in the same institution
for many years. This made them more stable, confident and more comfortable with
 444 U. Kayapınar

their practice among their colleagues and those at the management level. It
appeared to be difficult for those teachers to feel any need to describe or interpret a
problem and generate possible solutions or explanations analyzing the experience,
and to reflect especially on colleagues and management settings.
In Table 6, the tendency to attribute a problem to external causes seemed to be
the main cause of non-reflection. Here, the individual seemed to be aware of the
experience and described it by questioning others so that there was no need to gen-
erate possible solutions or explanations for the problems or questions posed. This
might support the idea that reflection emerges from personal characteristics of a tea-
cher as an individual. In addition, lack of concern can be seen as another factor for
non-reflection. So, it could be said that if teachers are not reflective they attribute
the problem to an external cause and do not feel any need to analyze the experience
and question themselves, or just ignore what has happened in the professional
environment.
The results in Table 7 might mean that there is a meaningful negative relationship
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between the two, and as teachers do not use reflection at all, they have a tendency to
attribute the problem to external causes. To discover an external cause or to pass the
responsibility to another person or something else in any problematic situation or
confusion seems to be the first reaction of any teacher who does not reflect at all. In
the same vein, if teachers usually discover an external cause for any problematic sit-
uation or confusion in the professional environment, it is not surprising that they are
not usually reflective and cannot be called reflective practitioners.
There is a meaningful negative relationship between the two in Table 8 and they
have a tendency to ignore the problem. In another way, if teachers just ignore what
is going on or what has happened in the professional environment, this might mean
that they are usually neither aware of the experience or they do not look at the spe-
cific problems or questions that arise out of the experience, and they do not reflect
on their teaching practice, colleagues, or management settings.
The results in Table 9 might indicate that teachers who do not reflect and who
attribute the problem to external causes might have a tendency to have a lack of
concern. Teachers who do not reflect and show a lack of concern have a tendency
to attribute the problem to external causes in the meantime. Basically, blaming oth-
ers or ignoring any problem seem to be indicators of non-reflection. The teachers
who are not reflective practitioners are usually those who blame others and/or
ignore the problems or confusions in the professional environment. Taking notice
would generate possible explanations for the problems or questions posed, so ana-
lyzing the experience and ramifying the explanations into full-blown hypotheses.
The results in Table 10 might mean there is a meaningful difference between
reflective teachers who have developed a sense that reflective teaching is a part of
their practice, and non-reflective teachers who are not interested in encouraging
reflection in different settings, such as teaching, with colleagues or management,
and can be identified by any observation of their practice. As mentioned above,
blaming others or ignoring any problem seem to be the indicators of non-reflection.
These teachers usually behave in a similar manner within their teaching practice
and it can be obviously seen when they are asked to reflect on it after any regular
observation session. They are usually not aware of their experience or they do not
specity the problems or the questions that arise out of the experience. They ignore
the problematic situation or confusion in the classroom and behave as if it does not
exist, and they do not reflect on it by analyzing the experience, generating possible
 Reflective Practice 445

explanations or solutions for problems or questions that arise out of the experience,
or they usually blame the students or any other element in the environment other
than themselves or their practice.

Interview results
The interviews focused on four central issues: ‘Who is a reflective teacher?’, with
examples of solutions teachers made for a difficulty/problem/confusion considering
their students, their colleagues and the management. The major purpose of the anal-
ysis was to organize participants’ responses in such a way that their reflective or
non-reflective practices became clear.
It is apparent from the participants’ responses to the interview question ‘Who is
a reflective teacher?’ that the most prominent characteristic of a reflective teacher is
commitment to self-development. The extent and nature of this commitment that
they mentioned is clear evidence of reflective practice which might be seen as a
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valuable aspect of teaching, as supported in most of the transcripts. Some comments

from the respondents follow:

A reflective teacher demonstrates commitment to self-development in some ways such

as continuous education, professional readings, and exposure to seminars so that they
do not zigzag in different directions.

The interview indicated that this teacher thinks that commitment to self-develop-
ment is an indicator of reflective practice. If a teacher believes in continuous
education and continuously educates themself, then it can be said that they are a
reflective practitioner. Professional readings are also another indicator of commit-
ment to self-development. A reflective teacher usually deals with professional
readings such as theoretical and practical support to develop their practice because
a reflective teacher is aware of the experience, and they can interpret that experi-
ence in order to name the problems or the questions that arise out of that experience
and generate solutions. Academic seminars are also helpful for generating possible
explanations for the problems or questions posed, therefore analyzing the experi-
ence or ramifying the explanations into full-blown hypotheses which are needed for
continuous self-development and reflective practice as they provide theoretical and
practical input, so teachers do not get confused and do not draw unreliable conclu-
sions in different situations.

Teaching is a lifelong commitment to form people who can be the best of themselves
after leaving the four corners of the four-walled room and it is important for a teacher
to develop thereby staying abreast with changes.

Another element of reflection that this teacher states about teaching is forming peo-
ple. It is a lifelong commitment to be prepared for any confusion or problem and
be ready for possible changes in the most unexpected ways. In such an environ-
ment, it is important that a teacher should describe and analyze the experience, and
be reflective with a continuous commitment to change and development by produc-
ing possible solutions for the problems or the questions that appear.
 446 U. Kayapınar

A reflective practitioner knows if his students are learning and teaching cannot be
viewed from a single framework. An uncommitted teacher is someone whom you can-
not trust to give his best.

This quote is another perspective, that reflective practitioners know who their
students are and they can describe the experience or learning they have with their
students. They should evaluate students’ learning, generate possible explanations for
the problems or questions that have occurred, and develop themselves in different
ways to do their best for learning because teaching cannot be seen from a single
point of view. It must make use of different ways to do the best for students to
learn. This is done by a committed reflective practitioner who generates possible
explanations for the problems or questions that arise out of the experience. An
uncommitted teacher is never reflective and nobody can trust their practice and
work because they do not give their best for students’ learning.
From what the respondents stated here, it seems that reflective teachers should
be committed to continuous learning, professional development, and take responsi-
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bility for their own learning and development through a process of professional
readings and seminars in order to find solutions or ways to deal with the problems
or questions that arise out of experience in the teaching and learning environment.
This will help them to construct personal theories so they know how to react in dif-
ferent situations and how not to move in a random manner. The respondents also
emphasized the importance of commitment and development in the teaching process
by updating themselves in their profession and believed that this commitment
should be lifelong, therefore making the best of themselves by the end of the teach-
ing and learning process. As Edge (1997) stated that one aspect of becoming a tea-
cher is the growth of a commitment to continuing self-development, Schön (1987)
similarly brought reflection into focus as an understanding of what professionals do
by saying an individual’s thinking serves to reshape what they are doing.
The responses to the question that asked for an example of a difficulty in the
classroom environment revealed that teachers should have some conceptual tools
and strategies to be used in the classroom. These strategies differ from authoritarian
to reflective, as seen in the following quotes:

I try to engage them in interactive activities and discussions about real life language
situations that bear a personal connection. Because I don’t want to lose their interest, I
try to maintain their interest and attention.

By using these strategies, it is clear that this teacher was trying to be reflective
because he named the problem from the experience with the students, described it,
analyzed it, and experimented this hypothesis by trying not to lose the learners’
interest and to maintain their interest and attention. This might mean that if he lost
their interest he would also try to find other new ways to cope with the problem.

You have to establish your authority in order to have a conducive teaching environ-
ment. The students must see that you can direct the learning activities and you also
have to be consistent with your rules not to encounter any problem, impose any disci-
plinary measures, and to make them quiet.

In this quote the teacher seems to be authoritarian and self-centered as he

overtly says that a teacher should establish his authority and direct the learning
 Reflective Practice 447

environment by being consistent with the rules set. In this way, no problems will
be encountered and there will be silence. It is difficult to expect this teacher to
be reflective because he does not appear to reflect on his practice in the class-
room as he mentions that he makes the rules and directs the students’ learning
activities in a consistent way. This also gives the idea that he names the prob-
lems by questioning the students and attributing any problem or confusion that
occurs in the learning and teaching environment to the students as they need to
be quiet.

Teaching in multicultural environment can have its share of difficulties/problems. The

teacher has to set clear guidelines and encourage mutual questioning, respect and toler-
ance. You should be sensitive.

In a sense, this teacher seems reflective because he admits that there are difficulties
and problems in a multicultural environment and the teacher should have clear
guidelines. In order to have clear guidelines, the teacher should name the problem,
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describe it, and generate possible questions and explanations. With these guidelines,
he should question himself and make the students question themselves, be respect-
ful and tolerant. It might mean that teachers should be sensitive to any confusion or
problem in the learning and teaching environment.

I have to spend time if a student does not want to learn. As a teacher, you have to
check out the root cause and find it out. It maybe you, maybe someone else or some-
thing else.

Here the teacher seems to be reflective because he says a teacher should find
out the cause of the difficulty, problem or confusion in the learning environ-
ment. The cause should not always be because of someone else; it might be
because of the teacher. For this reason, a teacher should spend time looking at
any learning irregularities or motivational issues. Most of the teachers here
appear to be reflective as they are aware of the experience and name the prob-
lems or the questions that arise in the teaching environment. They generate
some possible explanations and solutions by trying to apply some guidelines and
conceptual tools or strategies to understand, question or assess these problematic
situations or confusions in order to experiment their hypothesis and find a solu-
tion. In a situation which can be called difficult or problematic in the teaching
environment, teachers usually say that they should have clear guidelines and
strategies to monitor the problem and find out the cause and the solution in a
consistent manner in order to maintain students’ motivation, interest and atten-
tion. Teachers also have the idea, emerging from attributing the problem to oth-
ers or a lack of concern, that they should have authority in such a way that the
students should be well-behaved and silent. Then they do not need to take any
disciplinary actions.
The views of the teachers for the colleague settings are seen in the following
quotes:

I have to sincerely talk to my colleague if I have any problem.

I try to listen to my colleague and ignore the ideas which I do not agree.
 448 U. Kayapınar

I respectfully tell him to end the problem.

I would listen to my colleague and I would agree what he says if it is important.

As can be seen, most of the respondents show a tendency for a lack of concern and
to attribute problems to their colleagues. They seem to talk to their colleague or tell
them to end the problem before considering the cause of it because most probably
they think the problem is caused by their colleagues and they ignore the idea that
they might be the cause of the problem. Only one of them said he would listen and
agree with what was being said if it was important. This shows a degree of reflection
because there is awareness and analysis of the experience, but again only if it is seen
as important by the teacher himself. It is also difficult to find a self-questioning
process in this sense; it is more likely wanting to blame and question others. The
responses have a similar tendency when the management is considered, but are not
the same.
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I would give the management feedback and suggest solutions.

I would try to clarify the issue and let them know what I feel about the mistake.

I would tactfully inform them of errors, offer solutions, and hope they correct them.
These are usually errors which are recoverable and they do not have direct conse-
quences.

I respectfully bring the mistake to their attention.

I would try to have a talk with my immediate supervisor.

The respondents seem to have a tendency for discussion to find a solution when
there is a problem or confusion with the management. Some want to describe and
clarify the issue, and inform the management. Others would try to analyze the expe-
rience, talk about the issue and suggest solutions to the problems. However,
although they do not seem to have a lack of concern or ignore problems, none of
them accept the idea that they could be the cause of the problem and include them-
selves in it. Instead, they attribute the problem to the management, in another sense,
they question and blame others.
Given the importance of reflection in different settings of the teaching environ-
ment, the teachers here tend to apply their personal theories and strategies to
describe, evaluate and put forward possible solutions for the problems by using dif-
ferent strategies if the problem occurs in their own classroom setting. However,
they attribute the problem or confusion to others when it is about their colleagues
as the transcripts infer that they have a certain amount of ignorance or a lack of
concern. Supporting the results of the quantitative data, with regard to the manage-
ment, they do not ignore problems or have a lack of concern, but they have a ten-
dency to attribute the problem to others or the management itself because most of
the teachers do not want to be seen as the cause of any problem to those at the
management level. However, it is clear that they are eager to solve the problem by
giving feedback, discussing the problem and clarifying the issues. In this respect,
most of the teachers interviewed engaged in reflective practice regarding their own
 Reflective Practice 449

classroom setting, which agrees with the results of the quantitative data. However,
teaching is a broad concept and the professional environment has many variables.
Teachers might be affected by colleagues, management and extraneous factors, and
their reactions or attitudes in various educational situations can lead them to reach
different conclusions or create new personal strategies or theories to protect
themselves.

Conclusion
Reflection can be developed via education and experience, especially by teacher
educators who are aware of teacher roles, commitment and development. Measure-
ment of reflection can be a powerful tool for education as teachers’ educational
practices might be an expression of their beliefs and images (Ben-Peretz, 2001).
Reflection can also be an indicator of teachers’ commitment to teaching, problem
solving and professional growth because commitment is seen as a nested phenom-
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ena emerging from personal beliefs, self-images, role and identity. As seen in this
study, expatriate teachers mostly have their own theories and strategies to generate
explanations for the problems they face in the classroom environment and to find
solutions to those problems. Most of them seem to have a tendency for reflection-
oriented teaching and they can be called reflective practitioners in their own teach-
ing environment. However, it cannot be said that they are reflection-oriented when
there is a problem with their colleagues. They usually attribute the problem to oth-
ers or they have a lack of concern. On the other hand, when there is a problematic
situation or confusion in the management setting, they usually try to give or get
feedback about the problem. This might mean that they are likely to be reflection-
oriented when there is a problem which can directly affect their teaching or working
environment. However, they do not usually consider it to be a crucial issue when
there is a problem with their colleagues in the professional environment.
In addition to the fact that the data obtained from the current study are
valuable, there are some limitations which could be considered in future studies
using the scale used in this study in order to make comparisons. First, observation
sessions could be realized to support or compare the findings and the results
because observation is the only way to have concrete evidence about the teacher’s
practice and to observe what is happening in the classroom. Observations could
be done by the researcher or by using video cameras which could help obtain
more accurate results. This would help teachers feel more confident because no
one else would be physically in the classroom observing them. Second, there
could be further comparisons between genders. In most countries, females prefer
teaching jobs more than males. Some schools/colleges prefer to hire females
rather than male teachers in order not to show discrimination. Reflection could be
another indicator for them to have valid measures and see how reflective they
are. Finally, the study could be carried out with a larger population or sample in
order to obtain more reliable and valid results, especially by using both quantita-
tive and qualitative data.

Note on contributor
Ulas Kayapınar is currently head/academic coordinator of McGill University-RCJY
Special (ELT) Projects in KSA. He holds a PhD in English Language Teaching
 450 U. Kayapınar

from Mersin University, Mersin, Turkey. His research interests include teacher
development and language testing (measurement and evaluation).

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