Service-learning as a reflective pedagogy for pre-service English teachers
Location
MD203, Paul Cardinal Shen Medical Building, Fu Jen University
Start Date
28-5-2015 1:30 PM
End Date
28-5-2015 2:40 PM
Description
Most teachers claim that most of what they know about teaching came from firsthand experiences. They generally say that student teaching was the most valuable part of their experiences during their formal preparation. However, some researchers argue tha t without reflection, these experiences may become a pitfall in the future teaching. In order for pre-service English teachers to build up reflective teaching knowledge, this study uses service-learning as a pedagogy to provide pre-service teachers with classroom-based practice and reflection.
The purpose of this study is to examine the construction of learning to teach by exploring English pre-service teachers' teaching reflections during the service-learning activities in a remote middle school. This study discusses a model of utilizing service-learning as a reflective pedagogy for pre-service English teachers. The reflective activities include journal writings, peer-reviews, teaching problem analysis, video analysis, group discussions, letters to students, and presentations. Qualitative content analysis is used as a research technique to analyze the texts from the data based on four dimensions of critical reflection, continuous, connected, challenging, and contextualized, proposed by Barbara Jacoby (2014).
Research results indicate that pre-service English teachers' reflections upon service-learning activities provide researchers with a true voice from a realistic context. Through variety of reflective activities and dialogues, the pre-service teachers are able to reorganize their own teaching experiences into explanatory framework. Moreover, the research results indicate that a model of well-structured reflective activities through service-learning is able to provide the pre-service teachers with opportunities to critically examine their own perspectives on the students with low motivation and achievement. The model also provides as a bridge for pre-service English teachers to better understand the students in the remote area so that they are able to develop effective teaching strategies for the students.
Recommended Citation
Lu, Y.-H. (2015, May). Service-learning as a reflective pedagogy for pre-service English teachers. Paper presented at the 5th Asia-Pacific Regional Conference on Service-Learning: Love Journey: Community Engagement through Service-Learning, Fu Jen Catholic University, Taiwan.
Service-learning as a reflective pedagogy for pre-service English teachers
MD203, Paul Cardinal Shen Medical Building, Fu Jen University
Most teachers claim that most of what they know about teaching came from firsthand experiences. They generally say that student teaching was the most valuable part of their experiences during their formal preparation. However, some researchers argue tha t without reflection, these experiences may become a pitfall in the future teaching. In order for pre-service English teachers to build up reflective teaching knowledge, this study uses service-learning as a pedagogy to provide pre-service teachers with classroom-based practice and reflection.
The purpose of this study is to examine the construction of learning to teach by exploring English pre-service teachers' teaching reflections during the service-learning activities in a remote middle school. This study discusses a model of utilizing service-learning as a reflective pedagogy for pre-service English teachers. The reflective activities include journal writings, peer-reviews, teaching problem analysis, video analysis, group discussions, letters to students, and presentations. Qualitative content analysis is used as a research technique to analyze the texts from the data based on four dimensions of critical reflection, continuous, connected, challenging, and contextualized, proposed by Barbara Jacoby (2014).
Research results indicate that pre-service English teachers' reflections upon service-learning activities provide researchers with a true voice from a realistic context. Through variety of reflective activities and dialogues, the pre-service teachers are able to reorganize their own teaching experiences into explanatory framework. Moreover, the research results indicate that a model of well-structured reflective activities through service-learning is able to provide the pre-service teachers with opportunities to critically examine their own perspectives on the students with low motivation and achievement. The model also provides as a bridge for pre-service English teachers to better understand the students in the remote area so that they are able to develop effective teaching strategies for the students.