JACET 50th Summer Seminar: Revisiting our teaching practices through reflection and action research,
August 26th at Meiji Universityｒ

Evolving concepts of Reflection:
Reflective practice with versatile
perspectives on experience
Ken Tamai PhD
Kochi Professional University of Rehabilitation
Kobe City University of Foreign Studies(Professor Emeritus)
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OUTLINE
1. L2 acquisition research and teacher research
2. What is research? : Quantitative/ Qualitative paradigm
3. Reflective Practice： Practice / Research

4. How do we capture ‘experiences’： Epistemological lenses
5. Approach to subjectivity: Reflective Practice withphenomenological perspective
6. Research examples
7. Conclusion
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Target of L2 research• Language learning: How we learn languages• Language teaching: How we learn to teach(Freeman, 1989)
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Teacher research
Researches with a focus on developing teaching skills (能力開発論的研究)
Lesson study( Jyugyo Kenkyu)• forms of collaborative teacher research developed in Japan. Participants
explore ways to improve their teaching by sharing their practice,observing with each other, discussing to identify issues for improvement.

Researches for academic and practical purposes (問題解明論的研究)
Action Research, Reflective Practice• Process of systematic and autonomous inquiry on the issues found in theclassroom with a view for change, solution and new understanding.
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What is research?
• Research is the organized process of investigating a
specific inquiry involving systematic gathering of
information, analysis or interpretation within aconceptual framework and communicating the findings
in a format accessible to the public.
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What makes research a research?
1）A research inquiry2）Systematic data gathering3）Analysis4）Conceptual framework to capture the phenomenon5）Accessibility to the publicHow do we approach the practice of teaching?

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Two types of empirical research (Tamai, 2021, translated and edited by the author)
Quantitative Research of Teaching
Analysis of experience in general,
Goals Generalization of the results
Method Scientific method： Take data throughexperiments and observation. Causal
explanation of results in the relationof elements.

Data

Numbers

Qualitative research of Teaching
Understanding the essence of individual
experiences

Research methods are based on diverse
epistemologies (epistemological awareness),analysis and interpretation of the meaning ofphenomena, pursuit of structure through theinterplay of parts and wholes, collaborativeand dialogic analysis.
Descriptive data:

Objectivity (Repeatable experience） Focus on the first person narrative
meanings of individual experiences
Elimination of contextual difference
Importance of contextual uniquenessCharacteristic Experience in generals
Positioning ofthe

Independent of research objects

Researchers and research subjects are 8
interrelated. Researchers are responsible for
explaining their engagement with the researchThree types of questions (Guba &Lincoln, 1994, p108)
Ontological question

Epistemological question
Methodological question
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Conceptual image was made by Tamai (2021)

How do the reflective practitioner
approach phenomenon? What is reflection
after all?

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Stigmatic ambiguity of reflection• Conceptual confusion surrounding reflective practice”(Kinsella, 2009)• “Vague slogan” (Mclaughlin, 1999)• Subsequent unsureness of practitioners to know whether their practices areproperly done, and amongst of all this, unsureness about what it is to ‘reflect’(Rodgers, 2002).

What is the reason of this ambiguity and what is it that makes definitiondifficult?
11Definitions of reflection (Tamai, 2021)
Kemmis & Mctaggart (1988, p.13)

Johns (2013, p.2)

Context (where)

Educational research, curriculum

Nursing

Sources (on what)

Recorded action in observation

Self and experience.

Purposes/ goals(Why)

To make sense of processes. To evaluate
experiences to know the effects and ways ofproceeding. To build more vivid picture of life
and work in the situation, constraints on action
and of what might be possible.

To realize one’s vision and understanding
why things are as they are. → To gain new
insight into self. Develop practical wisdom
and one’s vision as praxis.

Methods(How)

Take account of a variety of perspectives in thesocial situations and comprehend the issues andcircumstances in which they arise. Aided bygroup reflection. Descriptive.

Through conflict of contradiction,commitment to realize one’s vision andunderstanding why things are as they are.
Guidance is necessary for reflection.

•。

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Bolton (2014, p.7)

Dawson & Kelin (2014, p.28-29)

Rodgers (2002)

Nursing

Drama & theater arts

Education/ Language teaching

Events: What happened, what they
thought or felt, who, when.

Experience.

Experience.

To know who and what we are, Development of awareness of the To move a learner from one experience into the next
why we act as we do, and how choices in situations and recognize with deeper understanding of its relationships with
we can be much more effective. how to achieve the designed results. and connections to other experiences and ideas.
To make continuity of learning possible, and ensure
the progress of the individual and ultimately,society.

By bringing experiences into
focus from as many angles as
possible: Journal writing,critical support with a supervisor
or group. Study theory andtexts from wider space.

Collaborative work or the process:intentional dialogue with self orothers. Unpack experience,
examine from different
perspectives, apply experience toaction and apply past to present.

Systematic, rigorous, disciplined way of
thinking, with its roots in scientific inquiry.
Reflection needs to happen in community, ininteraction with others.
Importance of attitudes that value thepersonal and intellectual growth of oneself
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and of others.

Dewey• Active, persistent, and careful consideration of any
belief or supposed form of knowledge in the light of
the grounds that support it, and the further
conclusions to which it tends constitutes reflective
thought. (1910, p.6)
（あらゆる考え方や知識の形態についてそれを支える基盤に照らして行う積極的，持続的かつ注意深い思考，それが内省的思考である。（玉井，2021））
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Reflection is1） An attempt directed to the experience to connect selfwith further experience through making meaning of it.
2） Critical examination of own belief: Basis of thought
and beliefs3） A process which is open to further inquiry in the stateof uncertainty4） A process of collaborative dialogic work5） A work open to time, space and context
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Definition of reflection

Reflection is a dialogic process of self-knowing
through probing the meaning of experience
with a view to examining the basis of thoughts.
（リフレクションとは、自身の思考の基盤を調べるために、経験の持つ意味の検討を通して行う対話的自己理解の過程）
16Different types of teacher research: Public-Personal andObjective-Subjective scale (2009, Tamai, P.141)
public

実証研究
Quantitative
課題探求型アクシ
Exploratory
ActionResearchョン・リサーチ

subjective

仮説検証型アクHypothesis-testing
ション・リサーチ
ActionResearch

objective

リフレクティブ・
Reflective
プラクティスPractice17

personal

How do researchers approach experiences?

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Theoretical frameworks to capture experiences• Positivistic perspective• Experiential perspective• Phenomenological perspective• Socio-cultural perspective• Critical perspective• Narrative perspective

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Epistemological awareness• It is thus important to understand the philosophicalfoundations underlying different types ofresearch so that you can make informed decisions
as to the design choices available to you indesigning and implementing a research study.
(Merriam, 2009, p.1)
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My concern
is onexperiencein general.

Positivistic perspective
Variable 1

ResultExperience
Variable 3

Variable 2

Experiential learning: Experiences as a source of learning

I assume that amid all uncertainties there is one
permanent frame of reference: namely, theorganic connection between education andpersonal experience” (Dewey, 1938, p.25)
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The Lewinian experiential learning model (Kolb, 1984, p.21))

Concrete experience

testing implications ofconcepts in new situations

Observations and reflections

Formation of
abstract concepts
and generalizations
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Action Research• A form of collective self-reflective enquiry undertaken byparticipants in social situations in order to improve therationality and justice of their own social or educational
practices, as well as their understanding of these practices
and the situations in which these practices are carried out.
(Kemmis & McTaggart, 1988, p.5)
（アクション・リサーチは） 社会的あるいは教育的実践において実践やそれが 行われる状況を理解し、より正しく合理的な方途を 探るために、実践に関わる参加者たちが行う集団的自己省察による研究調査法24Phenomenological perspective
From the philosophy of phenomenology comes a focus on
experience itself and how experiencing something istransformed into consciousness. Phenomenologists are notinterested in modern science’s efforts to categorize, simplify,
and reduce phenomena to abstract laws. (Merriam, 2009, p. 24)（現象学的哲学から来るものは経験そのものに焦点を当てることであり，何かを経験するということがどのようなものとして意識に映るかということである。

現象学は現代科学のカテゴリー化，単純化，そして現象を抽象的な法則に還元してしてしまうことに関心は持たないのである。（著者訳））

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Characteristics of phenomenological perspective
1. The purpose of the research is on the understanding of theessence of lived experiences
2. Description of the lived experiences as a means of research

3. Phenomenological reduction as a methodological attitude
4. Life world： Concept to situate experiences in our daily living

5. Intersubjectivity： Our understanding of the world as well as
experience is influenced by the shared experience with others
6. Existential and ontological perspective to the experience

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Cultural perspective• Believing, with max weber, that man is an animal suspended inwebs of significance he himself has spun, I take culture to be
those webs, and the analysis of it to be therefore not anexperimental science in search of law but an interpretive one
in search of meaning. (Geertz ,1973, p.5)

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Experience through power and awareness• Technologies of power, which determine the conduct ofindividuals and submit them to certain ends or domination, an
objectivizing of the subject (Foucault, 1988, p.18)• “People could not comment on their experience unless they
understood how that experience was shaped by their own
situatedness. They could not be free until they realized they
were unfree.” (McNiff, 2013, p.49)
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Narrative as a means to tell experience as history• “History exists in human memory but it exists only in the story
we tell (p.9). “,,,Humans are story telling animals and we halt
the merciless flow of time by telling stories and live life
identifying selves in the thickness of memory and description(Noye, 2005, p.18, translated by tamai).
• “… through reflection we become responsible for our own
history, but this responsibility also comes from a decision towhich we commit our lives” (Merleau-Ponty, 2014, p. lxxxv).
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Reflective Practice as qualitative research

Qualitative researchers are interested inunderstanding how people interpret theirexperiences, how they construct their worlds,
and what meaning they attribute to theirexperiences. (Merriam, 2009)30

Six dimensions of viewing experience(based on Tamai, 2019, p.54)

Interactional

TemporalSociocultural

Process
Experience

Lifeworld

Power
Ontological/ existential perspective

Understanding-oriented Reflective Practice
経験(Experience)

理解(Understanding)

分析(Analysis)

問い(Inquiry)

記述(Description)(Tamai, 2019, p.58)

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Examples of description（Original texts are from Odagiri(2018)）
Dimensions

Lived world（生活世界・権力）

Socio-cultural（社会文化）

Temporal（時間的）

I was frightened to know My job applications wereDuring those fifteenMywhether I really had theyears, I experienced many
always rejected.
historicalability to pass the test or (At the prefectural
disconsolate feelings suchbackground not. …I felt I was being employment test) There were as disappointment withas an English rejected in my existence huge number of applicantsrepeated failures, fear ofteacher
as a teacher by the board and I saw some old highassessment fromof education and thenlabeled myself as a
failure.

school acquaintances who
coworkers, and frustration
attended illustrious
with my position in
universities. Sure enough I
school.
failed in the examination…
The sense of inferiority
I had to make myself look This is how I began my year- lessened a little when I
like a skilled teacher and to- year-contracted work as a managed to pass the test
could not show that I was temporary English teacher. … at my fifteenth
incapable…
attempt.
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Interactional（相互作用的）I was sensitive about beingMy
historical compared with otherteachers and also afraid ofbackgroun getting a bad reputation as
d as anunskilled.
Dimensions

Englishteacher

Process（過程）（採用試験合格後）
Nevertheless, soon I found adifferent kind of inferiority
complex growing …

Power
（権力）
During those fifteen years, I
experienced many
disconsolate feelings suchas… fear of assessment fromcoworkers, and frustration
with my position in school.

I didn’t have any confidence
I wanted to think that not
to report my teaching practice
improving students’
I had a firm belief that theto other teachers.
English ability was not my I realized that I needed to
way to get the next years job
fault, but the students’change and to improve myself was not to receive a negative
reputation about my classes
faults.
as an English teacher.
from students or their parents,
by following the demands ofother regular permanentteachers.
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35(Yuge,2015)

A moment of T’s belief revised (Yuge, 2015, pp.66-68)• Acceptance of my own raw emotion： “I didn’t want to be ateacher of the autistic class. “• An ontological look at the world of autistic students. → Students
who are ignored and refused ( by Ts) turned out great learners.
• Discovery of a new role as a teacher: Any student is an autonomous
learner by nature. What can I do to support that process?
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M’s moments of awareness 1:
Silent Way Rods

(Matsuno, 2007)

Collaborative Web-journal
Dear Wataru,
it seems that Y hasn’t been able to build her grammar knowledge in the level where she can use it for comprehension.
We don’t know the reason, but we know it must be quite miserable if she cannot trust her own knowledge in guessing
the meaning of sentences. As you wrote pointing out the subject and verb of the sentence might be the most crutial

May 14, Thursday

knowledge she might have to learn. Finding where she is stuck and designing a way with which she could clear the

Lesson Objectives:

hurdle. I can see where your challenge is. Ken

1. Y will improve her reading comprehension by taking sentence structure into consideration . ( Eiken pre2nd level )proble al all. Getting used to the idea of writing T’s challenges takes time to anybody. This tells you are in the midst

2. Y will do better at putting the words in the correct order.( Eiken pre2nd level )of teacher learning. Welcome. Ken>Thank you for your sincere comment, Tamaisensei. And, I’m sorry I didn’t quite follow the format. Wataru <-- No(Wataru, how about putting above objectives into “Ss will be able to ~” form. This form will help you articulate what
you expect Ss to achieve by the end of the class hour.)
Teaching Objectives: (Here, I would like you to write what you would like to challenge yourself as a teacher.
Beginning with “ I would like to ~” might be one way.)
1. I would like to be more patient and not to give too many hints when Y struggles to answer questions.
2. I would like to pay more attention to her understanding and find out her weak points.
My private-lesson student Y is a 3 year high school student. She barely passed the Eiken 3 grade this February. Nowrdrdshe is studying for the Eiken pre2 grade, which is going to take place this Jun. She’s been taking my lesson about halfnda year. When she started, she knew English grammar little. She knew some English phrases, but when she madesentences, she didn’t care about subjects and verbs. Gradually she’s getting used to basic English grammar, but still
her understanding of grammar is not enough to pass the Eiken pre2 grade. Especially when she reads, she tends tondpick up some words and imagine what the sentence means without taking the sentence structure into consideration.

Hi, Togo-san
Now many students in my class are going to take eiken. I have divided students intosome groups according to their levels, and I’m trying a method of cooperative
learning, or “学び合い” in Japanese. When it comes to a private lesson for eiken, I
don’t have any know-hows. I’m looking for effective ways because the exam isgetting close. I hope Y is doing her best for eiken. （Haya）>The ”Manabiai" method sounds really interesting. Please tell me more about it this weekend! Wataru
Hello Wataru san,I was teaching some classes for Eiken at the school I used to work at. Since it was a primary school, theEnglish level was not so high but some were studying for the 3rd grade. I learned at the school that the Eiken
test can be a strong motivation for some students. I usually taught in groups but you teach your student manto-man so you seem to know her strength and weaknesses a lot. It must be a huge advantage for her to beable to depend on you whenever she wants to ask questions and need encouragement.
Junko Takagi
Hello Wataru,

Also, she is not good at putting the words in the correct order.

Oh, my！ Eiken exams. I know those exams are important for students in Japan. My 2nd daughter is

She got seven correct answers out of ten questions at the reading exercise. I made her translate the sentences that havetaking level 3 soon. Her choice, not mine. I had her take a free practice exam from the STEP Eiken

answers of the questions she couldn’t answer. She couldn’t translate them correctly, mostly because she didn’t know

website to see where her weaknesses are, which I did with my 1st daughter as well, but it seems you havealready identified several areas of knowledge that you can work with. I wonder if she has learned any test-

the words in the sentences. Also, she ignored pronouns and didn’t really understand what or who the subjects or

taking strategies? The word order section is particularly difficult I think, and sometimes students don’t

objects were. I told her to always make sure to understand what pronouns stand for.

know that they can write on their test booklet to help them keep their thoughts organized. I often try to

At the exercise of putting the words in the correct order, she got six correct answers out of ten questions. Even thoughcombine test-taking strategies to help students learn how to be better guessers. Good luck to all the Eiken
test takers! -Joan

there were some hints written on the handout, she did better than I thought. She could pay more attention to subjects
and verbs more than before. I found that she doesn’t know much collocation which is really important for this kind ofquestion. Also, she couldn’t make complicated subjects such as “No other student in this class”.

Hello! Wataru-san,These days, it seems that Ss didn't learn grammatical terms in junior high school. When I ask my Ss about parts ofspeech, they sometimes answer like 『助詞』or『形容動詞』, which do not exist in English. Moreover they sometimes

For her homework, I gave her a list of 50 collocational phrases like “get rid of, and participate in”. She’s taking the

don't concern the order of words. They often put the English words in the Japanese grammatical order when they write

test on Jun 5 , so she has only 3 more weeks to study for it. Because there isn’t much time for the test, I will focus not

English sentences. So I often struggle to teach English word order. As you wrote, I try to make Ss focus on subjects andthon teaching grammar so much but improving her vocabulary.

verbs first. (Mari)Perspectives of phenomenological reflective practice
1. Reflection is a means to capture the essence of lived experience.

2. Experience is a complex, dynamic and multi-dimensional process
which is open to new understanding.
3. The complex and multi-dimensional features of experience invite
versatile definitions. It’s researchers’ responsibility to articulate their
theoretical discipline.
4. PRP uses first-person narratives. The significance is that only the
first-person narratives tell how an experience was lived by the person.
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5. Description of experience gets deepened and refined through thedialogical sharing. When it is refined to the level sharable withcredibility it is called phenomenological description.
6. It is difficult to know our teacher belief (basis of thoughts) . It isonly possible to get a glimpse of that when we know how ourteaching has been lived by learners. We never learn about our
teaching without trying to see the lived experience of learners.
7. Ask “How is my teaching lived by the learner?”“How is he/she experiencing my teaching?”

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Practitioner’s exploration is in theprocess of teaching with our wholebody open to learners in front.
Challenge is in what we do tounderstand the actuality oflearner’s experience in their life
world.
Ken
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引用文献
野家啓一（2005） 『物語の哲学』 岩波現代文庫.
玉井健(2009) 「リフレクティブ・プラクティス―教師の教師による教師のための授業研究」 吉田達弘・今井裕之・横溝紳一郎・柳瀬陽介・玉井健 (編著）『リフレクティブな英語教育をめざして』 (PP.119-190) ひつじ書房.
玉井健（2019） 「リフレクションについて」玉井健・渡辺敦子・浅岡千利世（編著）『リフレクティブ・プラクティス入門』（PP. 33–65）
ひつじ書房.
玉井健・渡辺敦子・浅岡千利世（編著）（2019）『リフレクティブ・プラクティス入門』 ひつじ書房.
玉井健(2021) 「リフレクティブ・プラクティスー授業実践研究のための理論的基盤と方法ー」 JACET Kansai Journal, 23, 67-95.

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