Research On Reflection Of Three Student Teachers From A Narrative Perspective:A Case Study

Since the early1990s, the reflective teaching movement has established the legitimacy of teachers’experiences and the necessity for inquiry into those experiences as a mechanism for change in teachers’classroom practices.This paper, from a new perspective, is a case study conducted with three pre-service student teachers of English doing part-time job in the same independent college, to trace the changes of their concerns over a twelve-week period through their reflection upon their teaching lives. Relevant literature review of reflection and reflective practice were presented. The following four research questions were addressed:What are the student teachers’attitudes toward reflective teaching? Will student teachers’concerns in the reflective journey change as the week goes on? Are teaching concerns different among different student teachers? Did student teachers think reflection promote their teaching practice? Questionnaire and interviewing under the qualitative narrative research method were applied.This thesis found that the three student teachers of English all held that reflection about teaching can help teachers identify their teaching problems, and then find effective ways to resolve them; Student teachers’reflection focuses have changed from concern with self to concern with their students, which was in consistence with Fuller’s theory that student teacher or novice in-service teachers’concerns would shift from concern with self to concern with student; Different student teachers’specific concerns were different though undergoing the same process from concern with self to concern with students; At the end of the term, they all believed they have gained a lot from reflecting upon their own teaching practice. Besides, people might think that these student teachers choose to teach for money, but the present study has found that laying foundation for their future teaching career was the initial factor influencing their choosing to take this part-time job.This thesis provides a detailed account of how the study was planned and implemented, and concludes with some implications of student teachers’management for those independent colleges’administrators and recommendations for further research.