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EFFECTIVE AND REFLECTIVE TEACHING

Faisal Rahman
University of Ahmad Dahlan
[email protected]
www.ichalyakusa.blogspot.com

Abstract

A teacher (especially English Language teacher) has to know the

way to make the teaching effectively, one of the ways is by
conducting reflective teaching. Reflective teaching is some activity
that is done by a teacher (or a group of teacher) to re-think about
his/her (or their) teaching in a class and decide the future action for
the better and more effective teaching and learning process.

There are several methods of reflective teaching, such as

teaching journal, lesson report, questionnaire, audio or video
recording, observation, and action research.

Keyword: effective, reflective, teaching, re-thinking.

A. Effective Teaching

A teacher has to do his best to make the teaching effective by using several
ways, before we discuss about effective teaching, we should know what effective
is, Fraser (1994) defined that Effectiveness is a measure of the match between
stated goals and their achievement. It is always possible to achieve „easy‟, low-
standard goals. While Erlendsson (2002) defines effectiveness as: the extent to
which objectives are met („doing the right things‟). The UNESCO‟s definition is
Effectiveness (educational): An output of specific review/analyses (e.g.,
the WASC Educational Effectiveness Review or its Reports on Institutional
Effectiveness) that measure (the quality of) the achievement of a specific
educational goal or the degree to which a higher education institution can be
expected to achieve specific requirements. It is different from efficiency, which is
measured by the volume of output or input used. As a primary measure of success
of a programme or of a higher education institution, clear indicators, meaningful
information, and evidence best reflecting institutional effectiveness with respect to
student learning and academic achievement have to be gathered through various
procedures (inspection, observation, site visits, etc.). Engaging in the
measurement of educational effectiveness creates a value-added process through
quality assurance and accreditation review and contributes to building, within the
institution, a culture of evidence (Vlãsceanu et al., 2004). Based on those
definitions, the writer concludes that effectiveness is how the goal of an
institution, organization or management achieved is. It means that effective
teaching is a teaching that success in achieving the teaching or school goal or
objective. How to make the teaching effective? One of the ways is by conducting
a reflective teaching that we are going to discuss below.

B. Reflective Teaching

Before we discuss about reflective teaching, what should know what it is.
Reflective teaching is a process where teachers think over their teaching practices,
analysing how something was taught and how the practice might be improved or
changed for better learning outcomes. Some points of consideration in the
reflection process might be what is currently being done, why it's being done and
how well students are learning. The concept of reflective teaching also stems from
Dewey (1933) who contrasted „routine action‟ with „reflective action‟. According
to Dewey routine action is guided by factors such as tradition, habit and authority
and by institutional definitions and expectations.

Reflective teaching is like investigate a case in the classroom, a teacher

should collect some evidences of his/her teaching, analyse those evidence and
decide what to do later based on the evidence, the evidences can be some data that
taken from the students. In deciding what action that should be done, the teacher
should be wise in analyzing the evidence, if they analyze the evidence incorrectly
will influence their action in the future. It is used by a teacher to know what the
students need in their learning and what should by the teacher. It is about

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remembering and thinking about the teaching and learning process then evaluating
it to make decision about future plans and action, by doing it, the teacher can
make the class more effective.

Besides that, reflective teaching also helps the teacher to develop his/her
professionalism, like (Pollard, et. al, 2008) stated that the process of reflective
teaching supports the development and maintenance of professional expertise. We
can conceptualize successive levels of expertise in teaching, those that student‑
teachers may attain at the beginning, middle and end of their courses; those of the
new teacher after their induction to full ‑ time school life; and those of the
experienced, expert teacher.

In educational management, it can support to increase the quality of

education provided for students. So, reflective teaching should not only do by a
teacher but also the school in general.

C. Methods of Reflective Teaching

To do a reflective teaching, a teacher can uses several methods, such as

teaching journals, lesson reports, surveys and questionnaires, audio and video
recordings, observation and action research (Richard and Lockhart, 2007). Every
method has its own advantages and disadvantages, a teacher should be wise to
decide what method that he/she uses. We discuss about those topics below.

1. Teaching Journal
A journal is a teacher's or a student teacher's written response to
teaching events that has two purposes, they are events and ideas are
recorded for the purpose of later reflection and also the process of writing
itself helps trigger insights about teaching. Richard and Lockhart (2007)
said that teaching journal can be used to identify different topics such as
personal reactions to things that happen in the classroom or in the school,
questions or observations about problems that occur in teaching,

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descriptions of significant aspects of lessons or school events, ideas for
future analysis or reminders of things to take action on.
Bartlett (1990, cited in Richard and Lockhart, 2007) gives the
following suggestions for what to write about: Our writing will be about
our routine and conscious actions in the classroom; conversations with
pupils; critical incidents in a lesson; our personal lives as teachers; our
beliefs about teaching; events outside the classroom that we think
influence our teaching; our views about language teaching and learning.
To implicate the teaching journal, we can do it after teach a lesson
to write it and then make time to review it. For example:
“An intermediate teacher has been done teach his students class VIII, then
he write a journal about the class today:
Today I taught my students about grammar that focus on present
continuous tense, I ordered the students to work in group and play “what
am I doing” game, there are three group of them, every group practiced
an activity like they are doing something but did not talk anything and
other groups guess what they are doing. After all group finished the
activity, we discuss about the game and I explain about present continuous
tense.
Then he reviews the journal and thinks about the class:
- The game wasted much time, I could not explain about the topic more
detail.
- There were some students who did not active in the class.
- I should manage the time better and explain more about the topic
- I should stimulate all students to active in class.
By the journal, he can prepare himself and what to do for the next class”.
The journal shows that the teacher rethink about his class today, he
find some problem and the solution, then he knows his weakness and how
to be better in the future.

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2. Lesson Report
According to Richard and Lockhart (2007), a lesson report is a
structured inventory or list which enables teachers to describe their
recollections of the main features of a lesson. The purpose of a lesson
report is to give the teacher a quick and simple procedure for regularly
monitoring what happened during a lesson, how much time was spent on
different parts of a lesson and how effective the lesson was. It often serves
as a useful record of many important features of the lesson and can hence
be used to help monitor the teacher's teaching. Published lesson report
forms are available for many aspects of ESL lessons (Pak 1986).
In the procedures of making lesson report, a group of teacher can
works in cooperation, the procedures can be:
- A teacher or a group of teacher should identify and decide what activity,
procedures, resource and media that he will use in the class.
- Prepare the lesson report form.
- A teacher use a lesson report to review what activity, procedures of
teaching, resource and media he/she use to identify how effective the
class.
- Discuss the lesson report with other teachers to compare and discuss the
differences of the report, then every teacher evaluate their own teaching
and think about what action to for the better future teaching.
- If there is just one teacher, he/she can review his/her lesson report
him/herself after the class and try to answer the questions related his/her
class, for examples:
 What were the main goals of the lesson?
 What did the learners actually learn in the lesson?
 What teaching procedures did I use?
 What problems did I encounter and how did I deal with them?
 What were the most effective parts of the lesson?
 What were the least effective parts?

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 Would I do anything differently if I taught the lesson again?
(Richard and Lockhart, 2007)

Example of lesson report form (based on Richard and Lockhart, 2007):

“A teacher named Faizin is going to teach his students about vocabulary

and he chooses „family‟ as the topic, before he teaches his students, Faizin
prepares the lesson report form as below:

1. The main focus in today's lesson was:

a. Family
b. Vocabularies about family
c. Conversation about family
d. Other
2. The amount of class time spent on vocabulary work was:
a. The whole class period
b. Almost all of the class period
c. Less than that (minutes)
3. I decided what vocabulary items to teach:
a. According to what was in the textbook
b. Based on students' performance on a test
c. Based on students' errors in oral and written work
d. Other
4. I taught vocabulary by:
a. Explaining grammar rules
b. Using visual aids
c. Presenting student errors
d. Giving students practice exercises from a textbook
e. Giving students practice exercises that I designed
f. other
5. When assigning student work on vocabulary, I had students:
a. Practice exercises orally in class

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b. Practice exercises orally in the language lab
c. Do exercises for homework
d. Do exercises based on errors noted in their writing
e. Keep a personal record of the errors they make
f. Identify and correct vocabulary errors in writing samples
g. Identify and correct vocabulary errors in their own writing
h. Identify and correct vocabulary errors in other students' writing
i. Other

After the class, Faizin answers the lesson report he prepared and evaluates
his teaching.

3. Survey and Questionnaire

A teacher can also use a survey or questionnaire to investigates
his/her class and evaluate the teaching and learning process, for example, a
teacher wants to identify the students‟ responses about the teaching and
learning process, the teacher can use a questionnaire to ask the students‟
opinion and responses toward the teaching and learning process in the
class.
Example of questionnaire:
“A teacher named Akhwan taught his students use the jigsaw strategy and
he wants to know how the students respond toward the strategy and he
uses a questionnaire to investigate it, the questionnaire as below:
The questionnaire uses likert scale to identify how the students‟ responses
toward the teaching and learning process are.
Instruction: give the () symbol in the column that appropriate with your
opinion!

NO. QUESTION 1 2 3 4 5
1 I like the strategy of teaching
2 The teaching and learning process
is effective
3 The teaching and learning process

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is interesting
T
H4 The teaching and learning process
A is fun
A5 The teaching and learning process
is enjoyable
t6 The teaching and learning process
e makes me understand the lesson
a
c7 The teacher has important role in
h the teaching and learning process
e8 The students are active.
r

c9 The teacher should use the strategy

a of teaching more effective
n10 The teacher should use another
strategy in the teaching and
a learning process

add more questions in the questionnaire

By using the questionnaire, akhwan can identify how the teaching
and learning is according to the students and evaluates it to decide what
action to do in the future.
4. Audio or Video Recording
The advantage of the preceding procedures is that they are
relatively easy to carry out. However, a disadvantage is that they obtain
subjective impressions of teaching and by their nature can capture only
recollections and interpretations of events and not the actual events
themselves (Richard and Lockhart, 2007). By using audio or video
recording, a teacher can record what happen in the class, analyze it by
replaying the recording and evaluates it to decide the future action.
The advantages of recording a lesson are (1) it allows choice of
focus; this could be the teacher (if the teacher wears a microphone) or a
particular group of students (if the recorder is placed close to them) and (2)
the recording can be replayed and examined many times and can capture
many details of a lesson that cannot easily be observed by other means,

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such as the actual language used by teachers or learners during a lesson.
Schratz (1992) comments:
Audio-visual recordings are powerful instruments in the
development of a lecturer's self-reflective competence. They
confront him or her with a mirror like "objective" view of what
goes on in class. Moreover, class recordings which are kept for
later use, can give a valuable insight into an individual teacher's
growth in experience over years.

While disadvantages of using audio or video recording are (1) the

recording has limitation range and (2) replaying the recording is time
consuming. It is like Schratz (1992) points out: Setting up the equipment
for a lecture's recording and going through the various analyzing phases
requires a lot of time. For this reason, this type of activity can never
become an activity continued on a day-to-day basis. It will only be applied
on special occasions.
5. Observation
Observation is a method where a teacher try to gather some
important data from his/her teaching, like Richard and Lockhart (2007)
stated that In many language programs, teachers are often reluctant to take
part in observation or related activities since observation is associated with
evaluation. Thus in order for observation to be viewed as a positive rather
than a negative experience, the observer's function should be limited to
that of gathering information. The observation can be conducted by a
group of teacher in cooperation and also by a teacher to observe another
teacher‟s class.
Murphy (1991) suggested a guideline of Observation by a group of
teacher as below:
a. Introduction
1 Teachers are busy professionals. Classroom observations are not
always a welcome intrusion for the classroom teachers involved.
2 The observation of classroom teachers is serious business; it should
not be approached casually.

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3 Learning how to observe in a manner acceptable to all parties takes
time, careful reflection, personal tact, and creativity.
4 An observer is a guest in the teacher's and the students' classroom.
A guest in the classroom is there thanks to the goodwill of the
cooperating teacher.
5 A guest's purpose for visiting is not to judge, evaluate, or criticize
the classroom teacher, or to offer suggestions, but simply to learn
through observing.
b. Procedures
1 Visitors should contact the cooperating teacher for a brief
orientation to the class.
2 A visitor who is planning to observe a class should arrive in the
classroom a few minutes ahead of time.
3 If something unexpected comes up and the visitor is not able to
observe a class at the agreed-upon time, the visitor needs to notify
the classroom teacher as soon as possible. It is a visitor's
responsibility to keep the classroom teacher informed.
4 Once having entered a classroom, the visitor should try to be as
unobtrusive as possible, sitting where directed by the teacher.
5 If a student in the class asks the visitor a direct question (e.g., What
are you doing here? Are you a teacher too?), the visitor should
answer as briefly as possible. It is important to bear in mind that
the visitor is not a regular member of the class. Visitors should not
initiate or pursue conversations unnecessarily.
6 A visitor should be appreciative and polite. At the earliest
opportunity, the visitor should thank the classroom teacher for
having made possible the opportunity to visit the classroom.
7 A visitor who is taking written notes or collecting information in
some other way should do this as unobtrusively as possible. The
visitor must make sure that the teacher and students are
comfortable with any procedures used for data collection.

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And Richard and Lockhart (1991-1992) suggested a guideline for
an observation by a teacher to observe another teacher class as below:

a. General principles
1 Observation should have a focus. The value of observation is
increased if the observer knows what to look for. An observation
that concludes with a comment such as, "Oh, that was a really nice
lesson," is not particularly helpful to either party. On the other
hand, giving the observer a task, such as collecting information on
student participation patterns during a lesson, provides a focus for
the observer and collects useful information for the teacher.
2 Observers should use specific procedures. Lessons are complex
events with many different activities occurring simultaneously. If
the observer wants to observe teacher student interaction, for
example, a variety of procedures could be used to make this task
more effective.
3 The observer should remain an observer. An observer who is also a
participant in the lesson cannot observe effectively.
b. Suggested procedures
1 Arrange a pre-observation orientation session. Before beginning
the observations, the two teachers meet to discuss the nature of the
class observed, the kind of material being taught, the teacher's
approach to teaching, the kinds of students in the class, typical
patterns of interaction and class participation, and so on.
2 Identify a focus for the observation. For example:
a) Organization of the lesson: the entry, structuring, and closure
of the lesson.
b) Teacher's time management: allotment of time to different
activities during the lesson.
c) Students' performance on tasks: the strategies, procedures, and
interaction patterns employed by students in completing a task.

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d) Time-on-task: the extent to which students were actively
engaged during a task.
e) Teacher questions and student responses: the types of questions
teachers asked during a lesson and the way students responded.
f) Students' performance during pair work: the way students
completed a pair work task, the responses they made during the
task, and the type of language they used.
g) Classroom interaction: teacher-student and student-student
interaction patterns during a lesson.
h) Group work: students' use of LI versus L2 during group work,
students' time-on-task during group work, and the dynamics of
group activities.
3. Develop procedures for the observer to use. For example:
a) Timed samples: the observer notes down specific behavior
displayed at specified time intervals during a lesson.
b) Coding forms: the observer checks the appropriate category on
a set of coded categories of classroom behaviors whenever a
behavior is displayed during the lesson.
c) Descriptive narrative (broad): the observer writes a narrative
summarizing the main events that occur during the lesson.
d) Descriptive narrative (narrow): the observer writes a narrative
focusing on a particular aspect of a lesson. For example, the
observer describes what a single student did and said
throughout the lesson.
4. Carry out the observation. The observer visits his or her partner's
class and completes the observation, using the procedures that both
parties have agreed on.
5. Arrange a post-observation session. The two teachers meet as soon
as possible after the lesson. The observer reports the collected
during the lesson and discusses it with the teacher.

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6. Action Research
Action research typically involves small-scale investigative projects in the
teacher's own classroom, and consists of a number of phases which often
recur in cycles: Planning, Action, Observation and Reflection.
For example:
a. The teacher selects an issue or concern to examine in more detail
(Planning).
b. The teacher selects a suitable procedure for collecting information
about the topic (Planning)
c. The teacher collects the information, analyzes it, and decides what
changes might be necessary (Action).
d. The teacher develops an action plan to help bring about the change in
classroom behavior (Action).
e. Observes the effects of the action plan on teaching behavior and
reflects on its significance (Observation).
f. Initiates a second action cycle (Reflection), if necessary.

Kember and Kelly (1992) suggested a guideline in conducting an action

research as below:

a. Initial Reflection

To start an action research project, you need to decide on a theme. A

theme may start at the level of a general concern, a perceived need, or
a problem with a class you are teaching. For example:

1) The students in my speech class seem to have great difficulty when

2) I ask them to do oral presentations.
3) When students write compositions, they make little use of the
revision strategies I have presented.
4) The answers students give on examinations in my literature class
are mostly reproductions of my lecture notes - there is little
evidence of any reading.

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For these concerns to become the focus of action research, you
need to make each concern more concrete, so that it becomes
susceptible to change or improvement. You need to devise a specific
course of action, which you can try out to see if it affects your original
concern. More specific questions for the preceding concerns might be:

1) What changes could be made to the speech curriculum to give

students the prerequisite skills that are needed for oral
presentations?
2) Are there any different teaching techniques that would better
prepare students for using revision strategies in writing?
3) How can the examination questions be changed so that reading is
encouraged?

Some preliminary observation and critical reflection is usually

needed to convert a broad concern to an action theme. A concern does
not often directly suggest the remedy: educational problems are not
that simple.

The changes you might make will often fall into one of three
categories: (i) Changes to the syllabus or curriculum, (ii) modifications
to your teaching techniques or adoption of a new method, or (iii)
changes to the nature of the assessment.

In action research you are promoting change. To report the effects

of the change you need a record of the situation before and after the
change.

What were the observations which promoted your concern? What

are the current practices and the current situation? Some observation
techniques can be before and after a change takes place to examine the
effect of the change.

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b. Planning

The most important outcome of the planning phase is a detailed

plan of the action you intend to take or the change you intend to make.
Who is going to do what, and by when? What are the alterations to the
curriculum? How do you intend to implement your revised teaching
strategies? Try to work out whether your plans are practical and how
others will react. You also need to make plans for observation or
monitoring your changes. Prepare any questionnaires or other
information-gathering instruments you will use.

c. Action

In carrying out your plan, things will rarely go precisely as

expected. Do not be afraid to make minor deviations from your plan in
light of experience and feedback. Make sure that you record any
deviations from your plan, and the reason you made them.

d. Observation

The detailed observation, monitoring, and recording enable you to

report your findings to others. Those involved in action research
should also keep a detailed diary or journal.

e. Reflection

At the end of an action cycle you should reflect critically on what

has happened. How effective were your changes? What have you
learned? What are the barriers to change? How can you improve the
changes you are trying to make? The answer to the last question or two
will usually lead you to a further cycle.

After conducting an action research, a teacher can identify what

problem that should be solved in the class and decide what action to do in
the future.

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D. Conclusion

Reflective teaching is one of the best way to increase the effectiveness

of teaching because the teacher can identify and re-think about his/her
teaching detail and specifically, so, he/she knows what the problem of
teaching are, what should be evaluate is, what the weakness of the teaching is
and what the students get from the teaching and learning process, and the he
can decide the future action for the better and more effective teaching.

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REFERENCES

Bartlett, L. 1990. Teacher development through reflective teaching. In J.C.

Richard & C. Lockhart. (2007). Reflective Teaching for Second Language
Classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Dewey, J. (1933). How We Think: a Restatement of the Relation of Reflective

Thinking to the Educative Process. Chicago: Henry Regnery.

Erlendsson, J. (2002). Value for Money Studies in Higher Education [online]

available at http://www.hi.is/~joner/eaps/wh_vfmhe.htm accessed 4
January 2002, not available at this address 4 February 2011. Retrieved
September 16 2013.

Fraser, H. (2000). Coordinating improvements in pronunciation teaching for adult

learners of English as a second language.

Kember, D., and Kelly, M. (1992). Using Action Research to Improve Teaching.
Hong Kong: Hong Kong Polytechnic.

Murphy, J.M. (1991). An Etiquette for the non-Supervisory Observation of L2

Classrooms. Paper presented at the 1st International Conference on
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Pak, J. (1986). Find Out How You Teach. Adelaide, Australia: National
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Pollard, A. et.al. (2008). Reflective Teaching 3rd Edition. Ney York: Continuum
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Richards, J.C, and Lockhart, C. (1991-1992). Teacher Development Through Peer

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Schratz, M. (1992). Researching while Teaching: an Action Research in Higher
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