Reflective Learning Views of Students, Teachers and Instructors: A Mixed-Methods Study

Teachers need to modernize themselves and keep pace with changes in order to adapt themselves to the developing and changing system. At this juncture, the “reflective learning” model becomes an important element of teachers’ professional development. Since the concept of reflection was first used, it has increased its importance as an alternative approach to the existing models of learning that still hold sway. Nevertheless, when the studies that have been conducted over the years were consulted, it was determined that reflective learning is a difficult concept to define, because reflection is an abstract concept, the question how it is to be distinguished from one’s other thoughts and ideas assumes importance. For this reason, research with 102 participants has been undertaken in order to ascertain the awareness of teachers, students and instructors of reflective learning. The participants are broken down thus- 35 students receiving education in the English Language and Literature department of Karabük University; 31 instructors providing in-service English classes in the same university’s Preparatory unit and other Faculties; and 36 English teachers serving in the secondary level schools in the Karabük province in Turkey. The participants have responded to a survey consisting of 33 questions. In the data analysis, SPSS and nonparametric Mann-Whitney-U, Kruskal-Wallis and Student Newman Kleus tests have been used. In addition, 2 teachers have been interviewed, the technique of content analysis has been used and the data has been analyzed by means of NVivo 12 Pro – computer assisted qualitative data analysis programme.