Exploring the Critical Reflection of the English Teacher Candidates at Senior High School: A Case Study

Abstract

Performing reflection in the context of education offers abundant benefits for teachers in their teaching and learning practices. A reflective practice-another popular term in this context-is a mission carried out by the teachers to perform a series of reflections shortly after they have done their teachings. This article intends to report the two English teacher candidates who reflected on their teaching practicum in one of the high schools in Jember, East Java, Indonesia. This current research used a case study to explore their critical reflection during their practices. The data were in the form of teaching videos and interviews aided with photovoice. The observation was also composed by watching the teaching videos thoroughly regarding the emerging issues. The thematic analysis results revealed that they critically reflected on the teaching skills in their practicum. These are management classroom, the use of teaching techniques, and the use of technology. Each reflection presents an issue that was undergone by the English teacher candidates, and how they came up with a solution to cope with the issue. The findings indicated that as teachers, the reflections on teaching practicum are essential to be conducted as feedback or input for the teacher candidates to know the strengths and weaknesses in their teaching practice so that they can improve their weaknesses and develop their teaching quality and performance in the classroom in the future.