Achieving self-reflection through videotaped self-observation

Abstract

This study was designed to investigate whether videotaped self-observation contributes to self-reflection and whether teaching experience results in differences between teachers in terms of their levels of reflective thinking. Two trainee teachers attending the METU in-service teacher training course – one experienced and one inexperienced – and two teacher trainers conducting the course participated in this study. Data were collected through reflective narratives written after teacher observations, interviews and think-aloud protocols (TAPs). In this study, one of the teacher observations of each trainee was videorecorded, and the trainees were asked to reflect on their teaching before watching their recorded lesson in an interview, while watching it in a think-aloud protocol, and after watching it in a reflective narrative. Each trainee’s pre- and while-video reflections were compared to explore whether videotaped self-observation contributed to the extent and levels of teachers’ reflection. After analyzing each trainee’s oral and written reflections before and after video, the reflections of the two trainees were also compared to examine whether teaching experience was a determining factor in high levels of reflection. All the data in this study were qualitatively analyzed, and in this analysis the framework for levels of reflective thinking devised by the researcher was used to determine trainees’ levels of reflection. The findings of this study indicated that observing their videotaped lesson contributed considerably to the trainees’ self-reflection, both in terms of the extent and levels of their reflective thinking. Both teachers were able to reflect on an increased number of points in their lessons after self-observation and demonstrated a remarkable growth in high level reflections. However, the extent to which the trainees achieved more detailed and higher level reflections did not seem to result from teaching experience, which might suggest that there may be some other factors contributing to self-reflection.