Implementing an Interactive Reflection Model in EAP: Optimizing Student and Teacher Learning through Action Research

In this article, the authors, a teacher-researcher and an English Language Teaching (ELT) professor, report on a colloborative action research study which investigated how integrating systematic reflection into academic English courses at the tertiary level fostered both teacher and student learning. Using constructivist theory as a framework, they developed an interactive reflection model in which the students and teacher engage in a two-way process of reflection to improve their performance. Through reflective dialogue and reflective writing tasks, students explored their strengths and weaknesses in relation to the tasks they performed. Reflecting with students and on students’ reflections became a journey of discovery for the teacher-researcher and contributed to her professional development. Drawing on data from students’ oral and written reflective work, the teacher’s reflective journal and students’ evaluation of the effectiveness of the reflective tasks, the authors identify how adopting an interactive reflection model contributes to the learning process