ABSTRACT
During the 1980s, the concepts of reflection and reflective teaching became quite popular among teacher educators and researchers in the field of teacher education. This development was related to the call for the professionalization of teaching and teacher education. The idea that teachers can learn to subject their own behavior to a critical analysis and to take responsibility for their actions met the long felt need for a kind of teacher education that transcends mere training in the use of specific behavioral competencies. Systematic and rational decision making lies at the very heart of professionalism (Kinchleoe, 1990; Yinger, 1986), and this explains not only the popularity of reflection but also the way in which the term has been interpreted by various authors. Although there are many different conceptualizations of reflection and reflective teaching (see chapter 4), most seem to share the underlying assumption that teachers should use logical, rational, step-by-step analyses of their own teaching and the contexts in which that teaching takes place. Language, whether spoken or written, plays a central role in these analyses. It is the vehicle by means of which teachers can express their observations or analyses to another person (often their supervisor) or to themselves.
