L'interaction en ligne comme soutien à la pratique réflexive des enseignants-stagiaires

Since it is tightly linked to professional action (Schön, 1983), reflective practice is commonly associated with teaching internships that generally punctuate initial teacher training programs in North America. Among the devices supporting reflective practice during teaching internships, online interactions seem particularly relevant since: (1) they help overcome the geographic scattering of student teachers (Karsenti, Lepage and Gervais, 2002); (2) they have a sociocognitive potential (Depover, Karsenti and Komis, 2007), likely to contribute to reflective practice development. However, the relationship between online interaction and reflective practice, even though it looks positive when mentioned, remains hardly addressed in the scientific literature and little problematized at the theoretical level. Yet, this relationship raises questions since reflective practice refers to an intrapersonal process whereas online interaction is, by definition, interpersonal. This apparent paradox instigated this research. The general objective is to better understand the relationship between reflective practice and online interactions during teaching internships of student teachers. To achieve this objective, we present the conceptual framework of interactional reflective practice developed through the association of semiotic mediation (Vygotsky, 1962) with reflective practice (Schön, 1983). The mixed-methodology that we have chosen, though qualitatively prevalent, included the participation of three student teachers groups in the forth year of secondary teaching (N=34) and their academic, university supervisors. We decided that the results obtained from the three student teachers groups ought to be presented in three separate research articles (chapters 6, 7 and 8). The first one aims at examining how reflective practice is built through student teachers’ online interaction. The empirical results indicate that two types of interactions (interpersonal interaction and intrapersonal interaction) seem to intervene jointly in student teachers’ reflective process. Consequently, we improved the conceptual framework of interactional reflective practice by moving from a circular movement of the reflective process to a more binary-like movement. After having refined the conceptual framework of interactional reflective practice in the article 1, the second article aims at establishing its limits and success factors. In doing so, we aimed at informing its implementation in teaching internships. Four types of limits were identified (academic, social, developmental and interactional limits). They lead to four success factors, which leads us up to complete the conceptual framework of interactional reflective practice. Finally, the third article aims at determining the role of online interaction for student teachers’ reflective practice. In other words, this meant “confronting” online interaction with other devices supporting student teachers’ reflective practice in order to better understand its role. It appears that online interactions seem to have a secondary but nevertheless positive role for student teachers’ reflective practice but also for other aspects of teaching practicum, such as social, psychological and emotional aspects. We finish by suggesting some recommendations aimed at initial teacher training stakeholders, as well as future research perspectives.

Keyphrases: Reflective practice, Online interaction, Teaching internships