Athens Journal of Education - Volume 9, Issue 3, August 2022 – Pages 487-506

Investigating the Effectiveness of Reflective Teaching

Activities in Secondary English Classes1

By Mevlüt Aydoğmuş* & Ahmet Kurnaz±

The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of reflective thinking-based
teaching activities on academic achievement, retention and attitude towards
English course in secondary school English classes. The research was carried
out with pre-test-post-test design with experimental-control groups. The study
was carried out in a private secondary school for 8 weeks in Konya, in 2016-
2017 academic year. The study included a total of 35 students in the fifth grade,
which included 18 students in the experimental group and 17 in the control
group. In the experimental group, reflective teaching activities were used and in
the control group the activities on the teacher’s guide book based on the current
curriculum were used. There was a significant difference between the post-test
and retention scores of the experimental and control groups. However,
experimental teaching practices did not lead to a significant difference in
students’ attitudes towards the course. It was found that reflective teaching
practices had an impact on students’ success and retention in secondary school
English lessons. 1

Keywords: English teaching as foreign language, reflective teaching, academic

achievement, attitudes towards English, attitude scale for English lesson

Introduction

In today’s world, knowing one or more foreign languages, has been inevitably
become a need in various areas of life. Everywhere in the world, millions of
people spend huge amounts of energy, money and time in order to learn a foreign
language. In the light of the developments in the world, great effort and money are
being spent both as the state and as an individual in the field of language teaching/
learning in our country. Despite this great effort to learn a foreign language, it is
observed that the result obtained is far from being satisfactory and that the labour,
energy and time are wasted (Ekinci, 2019).
With the changes in the experience and perception of language learning,
similar developments have not emerged in the area of language teaching. In
schools, direct teaching approaches based on content and grammar with traditional
methods, are widely practiced. However, rather than teaching the rules of grammar
directly with a traditional approach, environments should be provided for students
to be able to communicate using the language they are learning and use it in their
lives effectively. In addition, cognitive, affective and dynamic areas should be

*
Assistant Professor, University of Necmettin Erbakan, Turkey.
±
Associate Professor, University of Necmettin Erbakan, Turkey.
1
This article is based on the doctoral dissertation entitled “Investigating the Effectiveness of
Reflective Teaching Activities in Secondary School”.

https://doi.org/10.30958/aje.9-3-8 doi=10.30958/aje.9-3-8
Vol. 9, No. 3 Aydoğmuş & Kurnaz: Investigating the Effectiveness of Reflective…

considered together in language teaching. For this reason, in foreign language

courses, focusing on the use of language rather than the structure, communication-
oriented and appropriate course design are important for the students to be more
successful in the course (cognitive) and take pleasure from the course (affective)
and to increase their participation in the course. In this context, an effective foreign
language teaching will increase interests and attitudes of students towards English
lessons, and this will also play an important role in the success in the course. The
development of cognitive, affective and psychomotor characteristics in English
courses with student-centred and reflective learning environments will be possible
with a holistic approach. In order to ensure that students acquire the required level
of English, teaching-learning processes are of vital importance. Reflective teaching
can be considered as an effective approach in terms of allowing teachers and
students to reflect foreign language skills on the basis of learning.
Duban and Yanpar Yelken (2010) reported that the concept of reflective
thinking has various definitions in the literature. Some of these are in-depth
thinking (Gündoğdu, 2009) and thinking meticulously (MEB, 2007). About a
century ago, Dewey (1910, p. 6) defined reflective thinking as “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 conclusion to which it tends”.
According to Ünver (2007), reflective thinking is a process of detecting positive
and negative situations related to method and level in teaching and learning.
According to Semerci (2007), reflective thinking is a way of thinking, which acts
as a bridge between theory and practice, where emotions support the mental
processes of individuals, which can solve all kinds of problems with effectiveness,
determination and concentration and where the results can be shared as experience.
The concepts underlying reflective practice are much older. Examples of
reflective teaching and practices can be found in ancient texts. In particular, the
concept of reflective application was mentioned in the works of the Stoic
philosopher Marcus Aurelius (Bolton, 2010; Schön, 1983). However, the scientist
who systematically dealt with this concept was John Dewey at the beginning of
the 20th century. Dewey introduced the first systematic contents about reflective
practices with his discoveries of experience, interaction and reflection. Soon, learning
psychologists such as Kurt Lewin, Vygotsky, Jean Piaget and Shön included the
concept of ‘reflective’ in their approach to human learning and development (Kolb
& Kolb, 2005; Schön, 1983). At the centre of reflective teaching was an increasing
interest in the integration of theory and practice and the conscious application of
what has been learned from experience. Since the 1970s, there is a growing
literature focusing on experiential learning and the development and application of
reflective practice (Dyment & O’Connell, 2014; Hébert, 2015; Kurnaz, 2007).
As mentioned above, according to Dewey (1910), reflective thinking is an
active, persistent and careful thinking of a form of knowledge that supports any
belief or knowledge and the achievement of the intended results. Reflective
thinking activities enable students to define their own goals, be responsible for
their own learning and see and correct their own mistakes (Ünver, 2003). Reflective
thinking gives the students the opportunity to develop strategies for thinking such

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as questioning the assumptions, asking questions, summarizing, selecting charts,

making comparisons, etc. (Çubukçu, 2011).
Schaub-de Jong (2012) summarizes the reflective learning outcomes from
different studies as follows: (1) Reflective learning is expected to enable students
to have an in-depth understanding of experiences and a stronger capacity for using
knowledge in new situations. (2) Reflective learning is expected to allow students
to direct and monitor their own learning processes. (3) Reflective learning is
expected to lead students to awareness of emotions or thoughts, which can
encourage students to think in new ways and help them develop alternative
explanations for experiences. (4) The learning outcomes of reflective learning are
expected to help students develop self-awareness; participation in reflective
learning is expected to show how a person is aware of their beliefs and how they
differ from other people’s beliefs.
When the research on reflective thinking is examined, it is seen that studies
are mostly conducted on teacher dimension, the effect of reflective thinking on
professional development of teachers (Altınok, 2002), the opinions and attitudes of
teacher candidates and teachers towards reflective teaching (Duban &Yanpar
Yenkel, 2010; Ekiz, 2003; Evans, 2009; Güney, 2008; Şahan, 2011; Tok, 2008),
reflective teaching practices of teachers of different courses (Duban & Yanpar,
2010; Ekiz, 2003; Evans, 2009; Güney, 2008; Şahin, 2011; Tok, 2008), reflective
thinking practices of school administrators (Dalgıç, 2011). From the theoretical
perspective, studies mostly focused on reflective teaching, development of reflective
thinking scales, among others. It has been observed that there is limited number of
experimental studies (Baş & Beyhan, 2012) on English teaching based on reflective
thinking on primary school students. It is thought that it is very important to
determine the effectiveness of teaching by reflective thinking activities on primary
school students. Determining the reflective thinking skills of primary school
students, the effect of academic achievement, attitude towards the course and the
effect on retention by developing activities based on reflective thinking is a problem.
With this study, it is of great importance to determine the success of the
teaching practices in secondary school English lessons through reflective teaching
activities, determine the level of retention, the students’ opinions about reflective
teaching activities and the strategies related to the subject. In this study teaching
practices based on reflective thinking were planned and implemented according to
the reflective teaching model developed by Sünbül (2010). It is expected that this
study will contribute to literature on teaching English with reflective thinking
activities and help teachers choose their applications within the renewed primary
education program. In this context, the following questions were asked:

Is there a significant difference in the academic achievement levels between the

experimental group in which the reflective teaching activities are used in English
lessons and the control group in which the activities in the teacher’s guide book based
on the current curriculum are used?
Is there a significant difference between the experimental group in which reflective
teaching activities are used in English lessons and the control group in which the
activities of the teacher’s guide book based on the current curriculum are applied
regarding levels of academic retention?

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Is there a significant difference between the experimental group in which reflective

teaching activities are used in English lessons and the control group in which the
activities of the teacher’s guide book based on the current curriculum are applied
regarding levels of attitudes of the students towards English lesson?

Methods

The study investigated the effects of the reflective teaching methods on

students’ English language achievement and attitudes towards language course in
grade 5 (10-11-year-old students) in secondary school, and used experimental
method with pretest-posttest control group design. Within the scope of this study,
in the experimental group, the grade 5 reflective teaching program of English
course and in the control group, the current grade 5 English curriculum were used.
Prior to the research, grade 5 English course achievement test and the attitude
scale for English course were given to the experimental and control groups as pre-
test. The same measurement tools were used as post-test for both groups. 6 weeks
after the post-test, English achievement test was administered as a retention test for
both groups.

Research Group

The study was carried out in a private secondary school in Meram, Konya in
2016-2017 academic year. Factors such as the permission of the administrators of
this school, the suitability of the research groups and the school environment, the
equivalence of the education and the socio-economic status of parents, and the
willingness of the teachers and administrators in the research were effective in
selecting the groups in the research process. In order to determine the experimental
and control groups of the study, general academic achievements of the students in
all branches of the school in the previous academic year, the scores in English
exams, the results of the test examinations in the school and the distribution of the
classes according to gender variable were taken into consideration. In terms of all
these variables, two grade 5 classes were chosen for the implementation of the
quantitative methods of the study. These two classes were then assigned as
experimental and control groups randomly. Below are the distributions of
experimental and control groups according to gender, achievement and pre-test
scores.
The experimental group which received reflective teaching consisted of 18
students. Of these students, 8 (44.4%) were female and 10 (55.6%) were male. The
control group which received the regular curriculum program consisted of 17
students. Of these students, 8 were female (47%) and 9 (53%) were male. In
general, experimental and control groups were balanced in terms of gender and the
number of students.

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Table 1. Comparison of Achievement Pre-Test Scores of Students in Experimental

and Control Groups
N Mean Rank Rank Sum U P
Experimental Group 18 19.86 357.50 -1.110 0.267
Control Group 17 16.03 272.50
p<0.05.

In Table 1, the results of the Mann Whitney U test of the pre-test scores of the
students in the control group who received the activities in the teacher’s guide
book based on the current curriculum and the students in the experimental group
who received reflective learning activities are shown. The analysis shows that
1.110 Z value was calculated between the pre-test mean scores of the two groups.
Thus, there is no significant difference between the pre-test scores of the
experimental and control groups. The students in the experimental and control
groups had an equal level of success in English language pre-test before the
experimental procedures of the study.

Table 2. Comparison of Attitude Pre-Test Scores of Students in Experimental and

Control Groups
Groups N Mean Rank Rank Sum U P
Experimental 18 18.19 327.50 0.116 0.909
Attit Pre-test
Control 17 17.79 302.50
p<0.05.

Table 2 shows the results of the analysis on attitude scores of the students in
the experimental and control groups before the study. The results illustrate that Z
value was calculated as 0.116 between the scores of the two groups. Thus, there is
no significant difference between the attitude pre-test scores of the groups. It can
be argued that at the beginning of the research, the attitudes of both groups
towards English lesson have equal distribution.

Table 3. Grades in School Report Cards of the Students in Experimental and

Control Groups
Group N Mean Rank Rank Sum U p
Experimental 18 21.28 383 1.91 0.059
Control 17 14.53 247
p<0.05.

In Table 3, the results of the Mann Whitney U Test, which was calculated on
school report cards of the students in the experimental and control groups are
displayed. According to the analysis, Z value was calculated as 1.91 between the
scores of the two groups. The difference is not significant. It is obvious that the
two groups are equivalent in terms of school report cards.

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Table 4. Grades of English Course in the Previous Semester of Students in

Experimental and Control Groups
Group N Mean Rank Rank Sum U p
Experimental 18 22.03 296.5 1.68 0.125
Control 17 13.74 233.5
p<0.05.

Table 4 shows the academic achievement of the English course in the

previous semester of the students in the control group who received teaching based
on regular program and the experimental group who received reflective teaching.
Z value was calculated as 1.68 between the scores of the two groups. Thus, it is
clear that there is no significant difference between the English levels of the
students in both groups before the experimental procedures of the research.

Experimental Procedures

In the study, reflective teaching application steps planned by Sünbül (2010)

were followed in the experimental group. In the control group, the current
curriculum was applied. All the procedures in the study are given below;

(1) Daily plans and study sheets were prepared for use in research from grade
5 English course-books and source books.
(2) In order to familiarize the participants with their strategies, warm-up
activities were done for 2 lesson hours (80 minutes) in the experimental
group.
(3) The pre-test and attitude scale were administered to the students in
experimental and control groups. In this stage, reflective teaching was
carried out in the experimental group and the activities in the teacher’s
guide book based on the current curriculum were carried out in the control
group.
(4) In the experimental group, reflective teaching activities are: Introduction
Activities, Learning Contracts, Writing Learning Journals, Feedback-
Correction, Reflective Journal, Building Concept Maps, Asking Questions,
Participating in Reflective Discussions, Preparing Development File.
These activities are organized as 8 weeks-8 sessions. In units 3 and 4 of the
grade 5 English course book, reflective teaching practices are as follows.
(4.1) Introduction Activities: The course started with visual stimuli,
open-ended questions and interesting information to attract
students’ attention to reflective teaching process, subject and
activities, to arouse and stimulate curiosity.
(4.2) Learning Contract: learning is the participation of students in
decisions regarding the learning process. Contracts were made
with all classes or groups. Students have conducted applications
such as signing contracts for taking responsibility for their own
learning. In this phase, individual and students in groups put their
contracts into effect. At this stage, they worked at different

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speeds, levels and tasks, focused on the common goals, and tried
to develop independent learning and thinking skills.
(4.3) Writing Learning Journals: They wrote diaries in which students
recorded their personal responses, questions, feelings, changing
opinions, thoughts, learning processes and content.
(4.4) Feedback-Correction: The teacher guided and provided
information to the students about the level of activities and the
level they reached.
(4.5) Reflective Journal: Through reflective journals, students reflected
their own learning processes by establishing a higher level of
relationship between theory and practice.
(4.6) Creating Concept Maps: At this stage, students tried to establish
links between the concepts covered in the course. At this stage,
the teacher guided, and the visuals and the concepts were created
by the students. Relations and repetition of subjects and concepts
were made through these maps.
(4.7) Asking Questions: During the reflective teaching activities,
students tried to answer the following questions individually or in
groups. At this stage, the students were provided with written
questions and answers.
(4.8) “What do I know about this?” “What do I need to learn?” “How
long will it take me to find out?” “What resources do I use?”
“What should I do next?” “Did I get all the information I needed?”
“Do I understand what I’m doing?” “Did I reach my goals?”
“What methods did I use?” “What did I learn?”
(4.9) Participation in Reflective Discussions: Reflective discussions
were made to ensure that students see similarities and differences
in their practice. In these discussions, students were encouraged
to make constructive peer assessment, to make peer correction,
and to reinforce their learnings.
(4.10) Learning Contract-2: At this stage, the activities in learning
contract-1 were repeated.
(4.11) Preparing Development File: This step was made as another
writing-based activity. In this process created by the student, the
students were asked to choose and review their studies, reflect on
the projects they completed and review their old products.
(4.12) Self-assessment: At this stage, students were encouraged to self-
assess and reflect on reflective thinking. This phase was
encouraged to provide a critical perspective on student learning.
(5) In the control group, the current curriculum provided by MoNE for grade
5 students was used. Both the experimental and control group had to cover
the same subjects and gains in the same amount of time.
(6) As post-test for all groups, English achievement test and the attitude scale
for English course scale were applied.
(7) 6 weeks after the application of the post-test, English achievement was
administered to both groups simultaneously as a retention test.

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Data Collection Tools

The attitude scale towards English and grade 5 English achievement test were
used as data collection tools. Information about the data collection tools is given
below.

Attitude Scale towards English

Attitude scale towards Grade 5 English Course was used in the pre-test and
post-test attitude assessments during the research process. The students in the
experimental and control groups were asked about their English language,
emotions, thoughts and behaviour in the scale developed by the researcher to
measure their affective tendencies. In the process of developing the scale, a group
of students at secondary school were asked to write an essay about what they
thought about English lesson, what they felt in the lesson and what they did related
to English in the school or outside the school. The texts written by the students
were examined by three academicians who had PhD in the fields of education
programs, assessment and English education, and they were transformed into
attitude statements. The frequencies of the sentences were rank ordered from most
repeated to least repeated. As a result of the consensus of academicians, “16
attitude items” consisting of positive and negative sentences were determined.
Then, the sentences were examined by an academician from Turkish Language
Education field for proofreading. The scale prepared in the Likert type was
transformed into a 3-grade scale regarding age and grade levels of the students
based on expert opinions. The scale included options as, “yes”, “partly yes”, and
“no”. The attitude scale towards English grade 5 was administered to 458 students
in the same grade level. Exploratory factor analysis, item analysis and reliability
analysis were performed on the data obtained. In order to test the validity of the
scale, KMO and Bartlett tests were done initially. The results indicate that the
KMO value of the English attitude scale was 0.90 and the Bartlett Test value was
1897.797 (p<0.01). These findings indicate that the scale was suitable for the
grade 5 and the factor analysis. The Eigen value was calculated as 1 as a result of
Component Factor Analysis. It shows that the scale has a one-dimensional factor
structure. This single dimension explains about 58% of the variance the scale
wants to measure. In this respect, one factor structure of the scale provides a very
high validity measurement. Subsequently, item factor loadings were calculated on
a single factor of the attitude scale towards English course. In this respect, 14 items
with a factor load of 0.40 and above in the attitude scale towards English, were
determined. The factor loads calculated for the items in this scale vary between
0.51 and 0.69. In addition, the analysis showed that Cronbach Alpha Reliability
Coefficient of Attitude Scale towards English was found as .87. This shows that
the scale has a high internal consistency and reliability.

Grade 5 English Course Achievement Test

Grade 5 English Course Achievement Test was used in the pre-test, post-test

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and retention test. In the process of development of this test, Grade 5 English
Lesson Plan and Annual Plan with units were examined. At this stage, the opinions
of experts from teachers from the field, researchers from education program
development and assessment were used. Questions were selected from the units
“3. Hello, Countries and Languages” and “4. Games and Hobbies” as these units
were covered during the study. According to Grade 5 English language curriculum
in the annual plan, Unit 3 and 4 had 10 learning objectives. 4 questions were asked
to represent each objective. Thus, a four-choice test with 40 questions was created
for English lessons in grade 5. At this stage, experts from educational assessment
were consulted in terms of wording and spelling in questions and options. The test
was administered to a group of students in grade 5 in the secondary school
consisting of 284 students in the beginning of the research. After the results were
obtained, item analysis was performed on the test. As a result of the item analysis,
the items with a coefficient of item discrimination (rjx) higher than 0.30 were
included in the achievement test. Thus, an English achievement test consisting of
34 items with high item discrimination coefficient was obtained. Then, the
reliability analysis was performed on the test items. The reliability coefficient as a
result of the analysis performed by KR-20 technique was found to be as .86. This
value shows that the test has a high reliability for use in the research process. The
achievement test was administered to experimental and control groups three times
for pre-test, post-test and retention test. The teacher accompanied the researcher
during tests in the class. A lesson hour (40 minutes) was allocated for the
application of the test. In practice, it was observed that the duration was sufficient.
In the research process, the students were required to attend the pre-test, post-test
and retention tests regularly and the delivery of the tests was completed on the
same day in all groups. In English achievement test, the correct answer was coded
as (1), and wrong and blank answers were coded as (0).

Data Analysis Techniques

Before analyzing the research data, it was tested to see whether it met the
assumptions of normal distribution (Yurt & Sünbül, 2012). According to the
Shapiro Wilk test analysis results, achievement and attitude measurements of the
study did not show normal distribution. Therefore, non-parametric statistical
techniques were used in the analysis of research data.
In this study, the Mann Whitney U test was used to compare the pretest and
attitude scores and the post-test and attitude scores of the groups due to the lack of
normal distribution of the data. According to Lehmann (2006), the Z value
corresponding to the U value is included in the scientific tables in the analysis
results of the Mann Whitney U technique. The significance level of p=0.05 is
taken as the basis for the evaluation of the findings.

Results

The first research question of the study was “is there a significant difference

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in terms of academic achievement between the control group in which the

activities of the teacher’s guide book based on the current curriculum were used
and the experimental group in which reflective teaching activities were used. The
findings related to the first research question are given in Table 5.

Table 5. Comparison of Post-test Scores of Students in Experimental and Control

Groups
N Mean Rank Rank Sum Mann Whitney U/Z p
Experimental Group 18 22.22 400.00 -2.536 0.011
Control Group 17 13.53 230.00
p<0.05.

The results of the Mann-Whitney U test on the post-test achievement scores

of the students in the experimental group who received reflective learning
activities and the students in the control group who received the activities in the
teacher’s guide book based on the current curriculum are shown in Table 5.
According to the analysis, Z value was found as 2.53 for the post-test mean scores
of the two groups. Therefore, there is a significant difference between the post-test
achievement scores of the experimental and control groups. When the mean scores
of the groups were examined, the experimental group students who received
reflective thinking activities had higher post-test achievement scores than their
peers in the control group.
The second research question of the study was “is there a significant
difference in terms of retention test scores between the experimental group in
which the reflective teaching activities are used and the control group in which the
activities in the teacher’s guide book based on the current curriculum are used?”
The findings regarding the second research question of the study are given in
Table 6 below.

Table 6. Comparison of Retention Scores of Students in Experimental and Control

Groups
N Mean Rank Rank Sum Mann Whitney U/Z p
Experimental Group 18 21.53 387.50 -2.100 0.036
Control Group 17 14.26 242.50
p<0.05.

Table 6 shows the results of the Mann Whitney U test performed on the
retention test scores of the students in the control group who received the
traditional teaching practice and the students in the experimental group who
received reflective learning activities. According to the analysis, Z value was
found as 2.10 for the retention test scores of the two groups. Thus, there is a
significant difference between the retention test scores of the experimental and
control groups. When the mean scores of the groups were examined, the students
in the experimental group who received reflective thinking activities achieved
higher retention scores than their peers in the control group.
The third research question was “is there a significant difference with regard
to attitudes towards English at the end of the teaching period between the

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experimental group in which reflective teaching activities are used in English

course and the control group in which the activities of the teacher’s guide book
based on the current curriculum are used?” The findings related to the third
research question of the study are given in Table 7.

Table 7. Comparison of Attitude Post-test Scores of Students in Experimental and

Control Groups
Group N Mean Rank Rank Sum Mann Whitney U/Z P
Comparison of 1.0 18 20.67 372.00 1.60 0.118
Attitude Post-test
Scores of Students
in Experimental 2.0 17 15.18 258.00
and Control
Groups
p<0.05.

Table 7 shows the results of attitude towards English score obtained from
both groups. In the attitude post-test, the mean scores in the experimental and the
control groups were as 20.67, 15.18, respectively. Although the mean scores of the
students in the experimental group were high, the differences in scores of the
groups were not significant (Z=1.60; p<0.05). Thus, it could be argued that
reflective teaching program used in the experimental group did not lead to a
significant difference in students’ attitudes towards English compared to the
control group.
Since there was no difference between the attitude post-test scores of the
students in the experimental and control groups, the attitude pre-test and post-test
scores were compared separately in both groups.

Table 8. Comparison of Attitude Pretest-Posttest Scores of Students in

Experimental Group
N Mean Rank Rank Sum Wilcoxon Z p
Negative Ranks 5b 8.20 41.00 -1.945 0.052
Positive Ranks 13c 10.00 130.00
p<0.05.

In Table 8, the Wilcoxon Z values for the pre-test and post-test scores of the
students in the experimental group are displayed. According to the analysis, 1.94 Z
value was calculated for the attitude pretest-posttest scores of the students in the
experimental group. This finding is not significant at the significance level of 0.05.
Therefore, there was no significant difference between the attitude pre and post
scores of the participants.
The experimental practice did not lead to a significant difference in students’
attitudes towards English course. According to the findings, reflective teaching
activities do not have a significant effect on the attitudes of the students towards
English lesson in groups receiving reflective teaching activities and the activities
in the teacher’s guide book based on the current curriculum.

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Table 9. Comparison of Attitude Pre-Test and Post-Test Scores of Students in

Control Group
N Mean Rank Rank Sum Wilcoxon Z p
Attitude Negative Ranks 8b 7.81 62.50 -0.668c
0.504
Scale
Positive Ranks
Posttest- 9c 10.06 90.50
Pretest Scores
p<0.05.

In Table 9, the Wilcoxon Z values calculated for the attitude pre-test and post-
test scores of the students in the control group are displayed. According to the
analysis, Z value was found as 0.666 for the attitude pre-test and post-test scores of
the students in the control group. The results indicate that there was no significant
difference between the pre-test and post-test scores of the students in the control
group.

Discussion

According to the results based on research findings, reflective teaching

activities are effective in increasing students’ English achievement. It is thought
that reflective teaching activities include student-centred, questioning, interactive
activities and aims to develop foreign language skills by reflecting what students
have learned and reflective thinking teaching increases the effect on students’
learning achievement. Based on this, teachers should include student-centred
educational practices during English language teaching, and ensure that students
reflect what they have learned through questioning and interaction-based learning.
Numerous methods, techniques and activities have been employed to achieve
high level cognitive and affective goals in the processes of teaching, planning,
implementing and evaluating English based on reflective teaching practices. There
was an increase in the foreign language levels of experimental students in reflective
teaching environments where intensive communication and interaction was
provided with both the teacher and the students. For this reason, it will be beneficial
for English teachers to use techniques that provide intensive communication and
interaction among students during teaching.
In Turkey, the studies show that reflective teaching is more effective than the
proposed program in increasing the success of students in different schools and
grades. Similar studies in the literature confirm the results obtained in this study
(Bölükbaş, 2004; Ersözlü, 2008; Tok, 2008; Kırnık, 2010; Keskinkılıç Yumuşak,
2017; Uygun & Çetin, 2014). There is a parallelism between the results of previous
studies and the findings of this study. According to Pitoniak et al. (2009), the
continuity of development of language skills in foreign language is important. In
this study, significant change was observed in the academic success of students in
English and during the semi-structured interviews with both students. All these
findings confirmed the results of the research of Pitoniak et al. (2009).
Schön (1983), one of the pioneers of educational sciences in the field of
reflective teaching, states that reflection involves an approach based on a close

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examination of what practitioners actually do. Questions like “Did my application

work? Why did it work? Why didn’t it work? What else can be done?” were
expressed by the students in the experimental group in individual and group
sessions (reflection-on-action). The students’ answers to such questions have
enabled them to learn the foreign language content in a meaningful way.
According to Schön (1983), many experienced practitioners are able to reflect on
their own applications by reflecting during practice (reflection-in-action). In
reflection-in-action, the person conducting the practice has the opportunity to
reflect on his/her experience for a longer time and more in detail because, in this
type of reflection, the person analyzes his/her practice after the action and reaches
results. In short, practitioners shape their future practice by questioning their own
practice in both types of reflection. While reflection-in-action is shaping their work
during practice, reflection-on-action helps them evaluate the practice by focusing
on how known can lead to unexpected results in the practice (Schön, 1983; Ekiz,
2003). In this research, during the reflective teaching activities, the questions like
“Did my practice work? Why did it work? Why didn’t it work? What else can be
done?” have been on the agenda of the students and this has increased the
students’ success in learning English. For this reason, in teaching English, teachers
should work on the students’ reflective learning questions.
According to another result of the research, reflective teaching practices
increase the permanence of success in English course. The retention test measures
information about the behaviour and the retrieval of long-term memory. According
to cognitive theorists, when the stimuli presented in the activities performed in a
lesson are brought into experience and actively processed, it is easier to bring
information back (Hergenhahn, 2009). In this study, the subject that was
emphasized during the reflective teaching practice and activities was to make
students understand foreign language content through their experiences, questions
and interactions. All these applications provided effective learning and retention of
knowledge in the experimental group. In retention test performed 6 weeks after the
implementation, students’ scores in English declined compared to the post-test
scores. The decline was higher in the control group. However, the mean retention
test scores of the students in the experimental group were about 6 points higher
than mean pre-test scores, and there was a high mean of scores in favour of the
experimental group. According to Gass and Selinker (2001), transfer is the transfer
of previously learned to new learning status. Transference can be interpreted as
transferring what is learned to advanced learning or life. This situation provides
the permanence of the learned. In this study, in the experimental group, activities
related to real-life with a reflective and student-centred approach were included
while teaching English language and rules. The words taught and reflective
activities in order to make students learn foreign language permanently were
repeated in the following activities to reinforce what they learned and it is
provided to reinforce what they have learned by associating with daily life.
According to Baş and Beyhan (2012), teachers who can exemplify students
with their reflections, a curriculum that aims to develop reflective thinking skills of
the students, to be a model for the students with their reflections, course content
supporting students’ reflective thinking skills and evaluation methods and tools

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that reveal the development of students are effective in equipping learners with
reflective thinking abilities. All these processes allow them to process information
permanently and learn indirectly. In order to transfer the reflective thinking to
teaching process and English course in the experimental group of the study, first of
all, it was tried to provide an environment to support basic thinking skills. Thus, in
order to realize the reflective learning systematically, writing learning journals,
reflective journals, preparing development files, creating concept maps, asking
questions, participating in reflective discussions, learning contracts and self-
assessment activities were carried out. These activities, which lasted for 8 weeks,
provided an effective retention of the contents in the experimental group. Fergus
and Richardson (1993) stated that the traditional foreign language teaching
strategy does not improve students’ foreign language skills. Accordingly, in order
to ensure retention in the English course, transferring what is learned to the
advanced learning and daily life through reflective teaching activities is effective
in ensuring the retention of English learning. Studies revealed that groups
receiving reflective teaching had higher levels of retention than groups receiving
the regular program following the curriculum in courses like, geography by
Yıldırım and Pınar (2015), social sciences by Ersözlü (2008), Turkish by Bölükbaş
(2004). The results of all these studies corroborate the findings of this study.
In reflective teaching approach, students can consciously determine their own
learning objectives, control learning processes and ensure the continuity of learning
performance (Altınok, 2002; Şahin, 2011; Ünver, 2003). All this contributes to
students’ taking responsibility for their own learning and doing what is needed.
Our study corroborates the results of similar experimental studies which show that
teaching activities based on reflective teaching practices increase the retention
levels of what the secondary school students have learned in English lessons. In
other words, reflective teaching practices increase the retention levels of English
learning.
According to the results of the research, it is seen that reflective teaching
practices have a similar effect on the positive development of students’ attitudes
towards learning English with current teaching practices.
Affective, as well as the cognitive, dimension of the learning process is an
effective factor on many variables. One of the most important goals of all courses
is the development of students’ affective characteristics and the transfer of these
characteristics to following teaching periods. The attitudes of the students towards
foreign language lessons will determine their tendency towards second language
learning in the future. Therefore, one of the most important objectives of this
learning approach, in which a student-centred teaching paradigm is reflected in
practice, is to develop positive affective characteristics of students. In most of the
research on the effects of reflective teaching on student attitudes, it was found that
in classes and courses using these teaching methods and techniques, students’
attitudes were more positive than the ones in groups receiving traditional teaching
(Baş & Beyhan, 2012; Güney, 2008; Wilson & Wing Lesley, 1993). In literature,
it was observed that student-centred reflective teaching practices, rather than
traditional and current teaching practices, increased the sense of sacrifice among
students and had a positive attitude-enhancing effect on subject area and the

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studies showed that such groups showed higher motivation, attitude and success.
In this study, it is expected that reflective teaching practices will positively affect
students’ attitudes towards learning English. However, the results obtained were
different from those in the literature. During the research process, the same teacher
taught English in the experimental and control groups. Attitudes towards the
course can be influenced by affective factors related to teachers. According to the
researcher’s observations, the English teacher’s attitudes and behaviours in a
private secondary school motivated student. In both the experimental and the
control groups, a significant increase was observed in the post-test scores in the
attitude scale. The increase in the attitude scores of both groups did not lead to a
significant difference. This may be due to the fact that the attitudes have a long-
lasting nature (Genç & Şahin, 2015; Aslan Efe, 2015), that the students do not
reflect their attitudes as they are, and that the duration of the research is not
sufficient for this change. Testing the effects of reflective teaching practices on the
affective tendencies of students in English course in further research will contribute
to the field.

Conclusions

The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of reflective thinking-based

teaching activities on academic achievement, retention and attitude towards
English course in secondary school English classes.
The application and analysis conducted in the study and the finding that
teaching activities based on the reflective teaching approach increase the foreign
language course success of secondary school students are similar to the results of
many studies conducted on this subject and variables in the literature. In other
words, reflective teaching practices increase students’ success.
As a result of the experimental applications carried out, the finding that
teaching activities based on reflective teaching practices increase the retention of
what secondary school students learn in English lessons is in line with the results
of similar studies in the literature. In other words, reflective teaching practices
increase the permanence of what is learned in English lessons.
In parallel with the results of the literature, it was expected that student
attitudes would increase compared to the other group due to the intense student-
centered practices in this study. However, this result was found to be inconsistent
with other research results. This may be due to the fact that attitudes are
characteristics that change in a long time, they do not reflect the attitudes of
students in their measurement and the duration of the research is not sufficient for
this change.

Recommendations

According to the results obtained based on research findings, reflective

teaching activities are effective in increasing students’ English achievement.

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Similar studies can be carried out with all learning objectives, learning areas and
contents for the whole academic year. Thus, the effects of reflective instruction on
the development and teaching of all foreign language skills can be tested.

(1) Teachers of foreign language courses at secondary level may be advised to

include more reflective teaching activities or to use the entire reflective
teaching application steps arranged by Sünbül (2010) in the planning and
implementation phase. Reflective Thinking Activities such as Learning
Contract, Writing Learning journals, Feedback-Correction, Reflective
Journals, Creating Concept Maps, Questioning, Participation in Reflective
Discussions and Preparing Development File could be suggested to be
used effectively in lessons. Before starting the practice, the students should
be informed in detail about the reflective practices and the application
process should be planned carefully.
(2) Student workbooks, teaching materials and tools in accordance with the
reflective teaching approach and techniques can be developed in foreign
language teaching programs at secondary level. In this context, English
teachers can be given trainings on reflective teaching practices and the use
of materials. In service training on reflective teaching can be provided for
teachers to facilitate them with a better knowledge to apply reflective
teaching method in their classes.
(3) Reflective teaching materials for English classes can be prepared in
cooperation with the other colleagues, and these materials can be shared
online. Every teacher may contribute and use the materials developed for a
specific topic.
(4) Future longitudinal (observational) research can be carried out to
demonstrate the long-term effects of reflective teaching practice. Conducting
research to demonstrate the effect of reflective teaching in different language
skills and at all levels of acquisition in foreign language will reveal
important results in a holistic approach.
(5) In the findings of the study, it was found that reflective teaching activities
did not lead to a significant difference in the attitudes of students in the
experimental group receiving reflective teaching towards English course in
comparison to the control group. In this context, more comprehensive
qualitative and quantitative research can be done on the effects of reflective
teaching practices on students’ affective learning products. Teachers’ and
students’ opinions about reflective teaching and learning can be examined.
(6) Further studies are recommended to be conducted in order to obtain
relevant data to facilitate the effective use of reflective teaching in other
classes other than English course to reach the goals and objectives of a
lesson.
(7) Finally, it is recommended to develop scales to measure teachers’ reflective
teaching skills in relation to the variables implemented in the experimental
process of this study.

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