Continuous Teacher Development Through Reflective Teaching

Continuous Professional DevelopmentLimitation of Reflective Teaching and Action Research:As nothing goes without criticism, action research is not a different case. The first andforemost weakness of action research is that it does not contribute to generalizedknowledge creation. Hence, it differs from experimental research in many ways.Moreover, ethical questions regarding action research results may pose a greatapprehension to any particular community. As may happen in any context that the groupmembers carrying on action research projects may feel reluctant to share their classroomrelated problems with others fearing to develop a negative image of them among theircolleagues.Concerning this problem Thornton (2006) comments-'There is hardly any culture of collaboration, mutual support and sharing ofprofessional experiences among teachers.’ (Thornton,2006)This is true in case of Bangladesh also. Moreover, if there is no incentive exceptprofessional development many individuals will not undertake action research projects.Their unwillingness to carry on action research projects and reflective practice is anotherhindrance to teacher development. Moreover, many teachers only reflect on their classesunmethodically but do not strive for improving classroom practice.The following are some of the major problems of doing reflective teaching and actionresearch in Bangladeshi context:Time Factor: The EFL/ESL teachers along with other subject teachers have to remain sobusy with classes and private tuition and other things that hardly get any time to reflectback on their classes. For this reason, they cannot manage time to implement reflectivepractice and action research projects.Technique: From the observation it is found that most of the teachers of our country donot know the techniques of carrying out action research and they do not even reflect ontheir previous classes systematically. Seer lack of technical knowledge makes them lagbehind.Practice: To practice reflective teaching is a persevering act, but most of our teachers arenot as persevering as that can lead to improve their teaching efficiency.Power Problem: Another practical problem in the continuation of action research andreflective teaching is that of power conflict among the group members. As the processesrequire group activities, no individual can carry on such projects alone. In this regardsometimes problems arise concerning decision making and other aspects of the projects.Contextual Factors: The success of both reflective teaching and action research dependsmuch on some contextual factors e.g. logistic support, infrastructural fitness, educationalatmosphere and ambience, attitude towards education etc. Where there exists a highlyfavorable attitude toward education and a congenial atmosphere for education, thereaction research and reflective teaching are more prone to be successful than wherethere is no highly positive attitude to education. Moreover, the educational settings andinstitutions which are technologically advanced can create more favorable conditions forcarrying on action research and practicing reflective teaching. Moreover, in somecontext sharing of teaching experience may get negative propaganda i.e. weaknessesmay be revealed to a large number of people for personal enmity and other causes. Thisis true in case of Bangladesh where teachers do not share their teaching problems withother lest they should get wide publicity.Subject Factors: One of the many limitations of this paper is that the subjects interviewedare very few in number. That is why the findings, suggestions and other observations maynot be applicable in greater context.Research ImplicationVery little has been discussed about the ways of practicing reflective teaching and actionresearch by the english language teachers at secondary and higher secondary levels inBangladesh and there is dearth of research in this regard. This paper analyses qualitativelythe problems of practicing reflective teaching and action research the english languageteachers at SSC and HSC levels in Bangladesh and the tentative solutions to the problems.http://www.bdresearchpublications.com/journal/77