Reflective Practice as Professional Development

Reflective Practice as Professional Development is a fine example of cross-cultural research that takes the reader on a reflective journey full of fascinating insights into how reflective practice is understood and experienced by a group of teachers in Japan, highlighting both important culturally specific elements and aspects of teacher development common to English Language Teachers all over the world.

* Shirley Lawes, UCL Institute of Education, UK *

Reflective Practice as Professional Development, an accessible and well-written study, will resonate with educators interested in reflective practice, professional development, teacher identity, and the Japanese educational context. Drawing upon the work of Schön, while taking into account “the pervasive and inescapable conventions” of Japanese society (tatemae/honne), Watanabe shows how the transformative power of reflection helped her participants negotiate and develop their professional identities, as they made sense of their practice.

* Steve Cornwell, Osaka Jogakuin University, Japan *

Reflective practice is highly context specific and different contexts will demand different approaches to reflection. Atsuko Watanabe has produced a superb study of the reflective practices of seven in-service high school English language teachers in the context of Japan. Thus this book is a blue print for others (teachers, academics, administrators, government officials) wishing to implement professional development of language teachers in Japan through the concept of reflective practice.

* Thomas S. C. Farrell, Brock University, Canada *

Reflective Practice as Professional Development should be recommended to anyone with an interest in RP, especially in carrying out RP as an evidence-based practice. Watanabe’s detailed presentation of her cases and data collection procedures, as well as the rich contextualization of the entire study and focus on open-ended professional development will provide a model for future research in RP...

-- Bill Snyder, Kanda University of International Studies, Japan * JALT Journal (forthcoming 201