Foreign language

Pedagogical Implications of the Study

The findings of the present study point out important pedagogical implications. Analysis of reflection types revealed that when given the opportunity, experienced EFL teachers engage in reflective practices in online, asynchronous discussion platforms by describing themselves as language learners, identifying the impact of their past teaching experiences on their teacher identity, outlining their current teaching practices and anticipating the possible situations and changes in their future practices.

Secondly, the findings of the study might benefit future teacher education programs by suggesting reflective practices in online platforms. By providing threaded online discussions to experienced EFL teachers as a support for face-to-face classes, teachers‟ reflective practices can be enhanced. In this way, teachers may have the chance of evaluating their teaching by associating the things they learn and experience both in and out of the classroom. In addition, the findings can provide alternatives to the content of distance teacher education programs in terms of promoting reflective practices in asynchronous discussion forums. Moreover, at the

local level, this study can also benefit the teachers, administrators and trainers in Turkey on the utilization of online discussion platforms for reflective practices.

Limitations of the Study

The study explored the reflection types that experienced EFL teachers engaged in RP-oriented discussions during their methodology course in a foundation university‟s master‟s degree. Even though generalizability is not the purpose of this qualitative study, a larger number of participants could have offered more insights to the analysis of reflective practices in online platforms.

Another limitation was related to the design of the master‟s program. The program requires participants to attend as full-time students who get permission from their institutions for two semesters to complete the compulsory courses. Therefore, the majority of the participants, except one part-time student who worked for a foundation university in Ankara, Turkey, had temporarily stopped their teaching practices. For that reason, the researcher cannot claim whether the participants will apply the changes they stated in the reflection-for-action. The results indicate only
the participants‟ intentions on changes in teaching practices in their future teaching. The data collection process can be regarded as another limitation in the study.
The researcher received the permission for the study from the institution where the study was conducted in the second semester. Therefore the interviews were collected in the second semester as well. Thus, the probability of participants‟ forgetting reflection papers and the discussion sessions from earlier in the year increased. In order to remind participants of these reflection papers and the discussion sessions, the researcher compiled documents separately for each individual and shared the reflection papers and the comments with each participant before conducting each

interview. In that way, it was expected that the participants would remember their reflective processes.