Professional Development

through Reflection on Teacher Cognition

The two leading figures in the field of professional development of English language teachers, Dr. Simon Borg（ELT Consultant, Professor, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences）and Prof. Ken Tamai (Kobe City University of Foreign Studies) will be leading a two-day lecture and workshop. Don’t miss out on this exciting event. We look forward to seeing many of you!

教師認知や省察の分野の第一人者であるサイモン・ボーグ氏（ELT Consultant, Professor, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences）と玉井健氏（神戸市外国語大学教授）をお招きして行う、二日間のセミナー・ワークショップです。教師認知、省察、教師の発達に関心がある方々の参加をお待ちしています。

Through this lecture I would like to discuss and share the meaning of reflection for teacher research in an attempt to prepare a common platform for its practices and researches.Teacher research is a way of knowing our teaching. Reflective practice is one of the ways for both practitioners and researchers to approach teaching and has been accepted widely not only in the area of education but of nursing, sports and social welfare. The definition of reflection, however, is contingent on researchers or contexts of practices, and this versatile interpretation of the concept of reflection seems to inhibit researchers and practitioners from finding a common platform for discussion. My challenge begins with following inquiries surrounding this ambiguity: ‘What is the background behind this ambiguity?’, ‘Does this indefinable concept of reflection have to be considered as a negative impact on reflective practice as a research method?’, ‘Is it not possible to set a "good-enough" definition that can enable researchers to talk about their practices?’ I would like to explore an answer for these questions by comparing different definitions first and next seeking theoretical hints not only from education but from other fields as human sciences and modern philosophy such as phenomenology. The use of multiple lenses helps to capture multiple dimensions of experiences. Experiential Learning and Phenomenological perspective in particular, capture the rich concepts of reflection as they unfold in the classroom and show us directions for what’s and how’s of reflection. Thus by putting ‘experiences’ as the focus of attention, reflection is considered as an act directed toward experiences and the definition of the reflection becomes pinned down to experience. The purpose of reflection becomes to make sense of experiences and, as such, the goal of reflective practice does not remain focused on merely solving problems, but rather in the pursuit of richer understanding of teaching experiences. With a new understanding of events nothing looks the same as before and the next possible action is already in the hands of practitioners.

Teacher research – systematic inquiry by teachers into their own practices - has been discussed in the field of language teaching for many years but more recently it has been the focus of much practical activity internationally as well as discussion in the literature. Yet the concept is still often misunderstood and implemented in ways which are not of value to teachers and students. In this workshop, we will first define teacher research before engaging in the analysis and discussion of twelve tips for making teacher research a more productive activity for language teachers. These tips are based on my experience of supporting teacher researchers over many years and in different countries.