Foreign language

Personal or Narrative Journal.Personal or narrative journal does not necessarily need to include glittering ideas of the practitioner. Instead, the person can state and restate similar ideas in order to change his or her beliefs or values in teaching. Thus, Hubbs and Brand (2005) state that “the personal journal is a narrative description of the student‟s inner processes” (p.67).
Personal or narrative journals have been utilized in teacher education by Lee (2004) to examine first year pre-service teachers of early childhood education. Lee (2004) aimed to see Chinese pre-service teachers‟ professional development and knowledge construction by promoting students‟ thinking and self-reflection with narrative journals via which he wanted the participants evaluate the content and delivery of a Human Development course. The findings of the study revealed that participants engaged in reflective practices by providing suggestions about the course and its insight by constructing their knowledge in teaching for their future practices. In addition, with the help of their reflections, participants shifted their positions from being passive learners to active learners who question, evaluate and provide suggestions on existing conditions. To sum up, narrative journals help teachers to evaluate their beliefs and construct knowledge about teaching.

Portfolios

The use of portfolios to improve professional development in teaching has gained considerable momentum since their first application in the 1980s. However, some debate has also arisen about their effectiveness in providing reflective practice. According to Orland-Barak (2005), reflective practice will not occur as a result of portfolio construction if the portfolio does not require the practitioner to create a link between teaching experiences, existing knowledge, values, and beliefs.

In order to see the use of reflection in professional practice portfolio, Jones (2010) conducted a study on special education teachers who were studying in a post- graduate program. Findings indicated that creating a professional development portfolio supported by teaching, written guidelines and peer interaction enhances the possibility and potential for effective and productive reflective portfolio.