Foreign language

Conclusion

This study examined the online reflective practices of nine experienced EFL teachers who were students in a master‟s program in teaching English as a foreign language in Ankara, Turkey. The study investigated reflection types (reflection-in-, - on- and -for-action) the participants engaged in during online RP-oriented discussions. To this end, this chapter presented the findings from participants‟ reflection papers, online discussion sessions and one-to-one interviews conducted with each participant organized around the three reflection types: reflection-in- action, reflection-on-action and reflection-for-action. The next chapter will provide

discussion of the findings, pedagogical implications, limitations of the study, and suggestions for further research.

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION

Introduction

This study investigated EFL teachers‟ participation in reflective practice oriented (RP-oriented) online discussion forums. More specifically, explored the reflection types (reflection-in, on and for-action) the participants engaged in.

Thus, the study sought answers to the following research question:

1. In what types of reflection (reflection-in, on and for-action) do the experienced English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers engage in during their reflective practice oriented online discussions?

Data were collected through different instruments: a background information questionnaire, reflection papers written as a part of a Methodology course along with reflective practice oriented (RP-oriented) online discussions sessions, and semi- structured interviews conducted with each participant about the reflection papers and the discussion sessions. The background information questionnaire was administered to analyze participants‟ background in teaching and learning processes. The reflection papers and discussion sessions were used to examine whether participants engaged in reflective practice or not. Semi-structure interviews were utilized to see whether engaging in online reflective practices would create a change in the

teachers‟ beliefs as well as their teaching and learning techniques. All the qualitative data were analyzed according to Boyatzis‟ (1998) thematic analysis. After the data were read several times to discover first the codes and then the themes that naturally emerged, they were color-coded. As the final step, the themes generated in the initial analysiswere related to three sensitizing concepts, which were a) reflection-on-

action b) reflection-in-action and c) reflection-for-action according to the temporality of reflection types suggested by Wilson (2008).

This chapter discusses the findings of the study in the light of the relevant literature. Following that, the pedagogical implications of the study are discussed. After that, the limitations of the study are described and suggestions are made for further research.