Reflective Writing for Language Teachers

Since the 1980s, the concept of Reflective Practice has gained in popularity and is now a major component of teacher education and professional development programs worldwide. This book is one of the first to show how this technique can be embraced by language teachers. It makes sense that for those whose job it is to teach writing, a good way to be reflective is by writing regularly about their work. Reflective Writing for Language Teachers shows language teachers how they can use writing as a way to subject their beliefs and practices to critical reflection and offer them a means of using this type of reflective practice for professional development purposes.When language teachers write about various facets of their work over a period of time, and then read over their entries looking for patterns in their own thoughts, they may uncover aspects of their practice that they had not realized before beginning to write reflectively. Reflective writing develops language teachers' understanding of their practice and also leads to a clarification of the values and assumptions that underlie those practices.