Developing the Reflective Practice Capabilities of Pre-Service Trainees in TESOL Through Online Means

ITE programmes have long considered practicum in schools as quintessential for teacher learning (Johnson, 1996; Richards, 1998; Derrick and Dicks, 2005; Imig and Imig, 2006; Darling-Hammond, 2006; Liston et al, 2006; Otero, 2006; Furlong et al, 2008; Black and Plowright, 2010; Melville, Bowen and Passmore, 2011). Richards and Crookes (1988) describe practicum as the ‘major opportunity for the student teacher to acquire the practical skills and knowledge needed to function as an effective language teacher’ (p. 9). During this time, neophytes are encouraged to reflect on practice and to carefully consider the teaching and learning provided by the tertiary institute to which they belong. Thus, they are encouraged to critically assess teaching strategies, how their own schooling experiences may affect their classroom techniques and beliefs, and to consider the wider social implications of classroom dynamics. It is not surprising therefore, that some (Derrick and Dicks, 2005; Darling-Hammond, 2006) have likened the teaching practicum experience to clinical placements for the medical profession. Reflective practice in pre-service teacher training In the last decade, reflective practice in teaching has been growing in significance in initial teacher education (ITE) programmes resulting in its establishment as a performance competency for teachers and an accreditation standard for teacher education programmes (Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation, 2013). Through the development of reflective practice in these programmes, it is surmised that trainees can construct links between the attributes that define quality teaching to form an increasingly complex mental schema. This was evidenced by Melville, Bowen and Passmore (2011) who report that reflection helped to build what they term ‘alert novices’: trainees who were better able to absorb course content, and to link this to their own personal experience as well as their classroom practice. However, despite its invaluable benefits (Weiner, 2001; Korthagen, 2001, 2004; McAdams, 2004; Brandt, 2006; Grant and Gillette, 2006; Ostorga, 2006; Davis and Wise, 2008; Furlong et al, 2008; Black and Plowright, 2010; Melville, Bowen and Passmore, 2011), it seems that current trends in school practice today seek not to enable reflection but to coerce trainees to implement prescriptive curricula and teaching methodology; what has been termed a 8