Teacher self-awareness through journal writing

Reflective practice has now become the leading paradigm in second language teacher education and development programs worldwide. Teacher reflection refers to teachers subjecting their beliefs and practices of teaching and learning to a critical analysis. One way that has been suggested to promote reflective practice for experienced ESL teachers is through journal writing. This case study sought to investigate in what ways regular journal writing promoted reflective thinking in one experienced ESL college teacher in Canada over a two-year period of reflection. Results showed that the teacher wrote mostly about her self-awareness as a teacher and that writing regularly in a journal provided her with some constructive behavior changes both inside and outside the classroom.