PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TESL METHODOLOGY

Reflective thinking skill patterns and their justification

Reflective writing is that type of writing where an individual re accounts a past-experience or their own experience and is generally done in an unstructured manner i.e. there is no particular structure that is to be followed (Choy, Yim and Tan, 2017). The reflective thinking and writing, for me, can be done by following some particular patterns:

Remembering the past-experience:

Under this I identify a significant experience in the past that affected me deeply and the impact that, that particular experience had on me. For instance, I still remember the time when I was leading the football team and the day we played the homecoming game for my school was in particular a very enthralling experience. Although we lost the match, yet the responsible manner in which we played and the support of my team that I was able to garner were some key things that I remember. I think all of them relied on me and really trusted that I will take decisions that will be beneficial for the entire team and the support of entire brotherhood of my team made it a very empowering experience.

Analysing the event:

Here I analyse different aspects that occurred during the entire event and I try to incorporate the different perspectives that were associated with the event.

Johns Model of reflection

It is one such reflective model that can be used to analyse the entire experience (A basic introduction to reflective writing, 2019). Through this model I can analyse the experience of the poetry club that I began in my school. In the first stage of reflection, I can state that my main motive was to enhance involvement of students in some literature clubs as well because we were not getting adequate exposure to such literary or enhancing activities. Then at the second stage of Johns model, I illustrate the influencing factors.

For opening the poetry club, the major factors that influenced me was that I was good at writing and framing sentences and I found put that there were many like me who loved writing. I decided that the creative ideas of all of us needed to be portrayed through a medium. In the third stage, I evaluate that whether the task could have been done in a better way and when I think back, I conclude that my awareness campaign regarding the club was not very effective and I could have made more members attached to my club. If I had the adequate members for my club, it would have been more influential. The last stage expects me to detail my learning and I can state that I learnt a lot regarding the manner in which club is handled. I learnt how to manage different people and the vast amount of activities that are to be integrated together in order to perform the job successfully. I can also conclude that I learnt how to delegate different roles and duties and then evaluate the performance of club members assigned with such duties and roles. Get Assignment Examples.Talk to our Experts!

Thinking carefully:

Under this, the contribution of a particular event in the progress of the individual and its contribution in their development is evaluated. Here I can elucidate that there have been many instances when I have been able to develop learning that have contributed me in present and will contribute in the future. When I was a part of the study group in my class, I had tough time integrating with other class members and I often found my ideas clashing with those of others. By the assistance of this group I learnt how to coordinate with different people and I also learnt how to present my view without contradicting or offending someone who has a different opinion. 

Therefore, I can adequately state that the tools related to reflection that have been specified in the book by authors, Sukhato and et.al., (2016), such as the Johns model of reflection, Gibbs Model, Schon Model etc., are effective tools in understanding, analysing and recounting the entire experience which is the ultimate objective behind understanding the concept of reflective learning. These models help in distinguishing the good experiences from the bad ones, and they also help in identifying that what was the learning amongst all this. I have had many such experiences and by the use of such categorization and models, I was able to effectively charter those experiences and was able to pinpoint those learnings. When we lost the homecoming match under my leadership., I learnt that how I had to still keep up the motivation level of people who were working under me and who trusted me. I learnt from poetry club that despite the criticism which I am bound to face in life, I have to stay true to my cause and similarly, working in these teams and with other people have taught me some important virtues of leadership.

The tools and models help in further developing the reflective skills where one can learn to critically evaluate and justify that how an experience can be used as learning and the enhanced reflective skills also help in improving the judgement and decision- making in academic, professional and personal lives.

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Contribution of ESL teachers in developing reflective thinking

ESL or TESL is basically formulated to improve the language and the communication skills of the students that are originally weaker in such language proficiency. Teachers play a very important role in enhancing the reflective skills of ESL students where they can comprehend things better when they are able to think in more critical way (Reflective thinking, 2017.). Reflective thinking is a part of critical thinking and when a person uses reflective thinking while indulging in critical thinking, it assists them in making judgements regarding the experiences that are happening to them. There are certain strategies that can be adopted by teachers in order to enhance the reflective thinking skills of ELS students:

Give time to reflect:

The teachers should ensure that the students have adequate time to reflect on whatever they are being taught. When they will be able to develop an understanding of their own regarding the activities that they are indulging in, it will automatically expand their reflective skills. Additionally, after the students have been given apt time to reflect, they must be cross questioned by the teachers. When the students will give reasons regarding why they perceive the situation to be like that the teacher will be able to develop an insight into the pattern in which the student is thinking. This will help them in moulding the thinking in the correct direction so that the students are able to develop their critical thinking skills in the correct direction. Ultimately, this will help the students in learning correctly and reflect relevantly so that correct understanding can be

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